8. Batman Forever
Batman Forever was when the death bell on the first Batman film franchise first began ringing. Parents complained that Tim Burtons
Batman Returns being too frightening for children, and Warner Bros. told Burton he either had to lighten up the sequel considerably or leave the project, and Burton chose to leave. Joel Schumacher was hired to replace him, and after Michael Keaton dropped out, he was replaced by Val Kilmer as Batman. The project wasnt always intended to be as over-the-top as the theatrical version was, however. Schumacher has been credited many times with killing the franchise, and hes accepted most of the criticism in stride. But in reality, Schumacher gets unfairly blamed for things that were far beyond his control. Originally, Schumacher wanted his Batman films to have a similar tone to the 1989
Batman. When Schumacher was hired, he wanted to direct an adaptation of
Batman: Year One and do a prequel film, but Warner Bros. refused, saying they were only interested in a sequel. Schumacher conceded, and his initial cut of
Batman Forever was around two and a half hours long.
This initial version was reportedly much darker than the theatrical cut, and far more similar to
Batman than
Batman & Robin. The studio forced the movie through several major edits, with somewhere around forty minutes of footage being cut. As opposed to a much darker version of Two-Face and the Riddler, the more camp aspects of the two became highlighted. Unfortunately, unlike many of the other films on this list, there has yet to be a full directors cut or extended cut of
Batman Forever. Initially there was some talk that it would be released when all the films were re-released on DVD at the same time as
Batman Begins, but only the theatrical cut of
Batman Forever appeared, and many of the deleted scenes were not included among the special features. Maybe the rumored Batman reboot will renew interest and finally get the film released.