10 Movie Franchises That Became Parodies Of Themselves

8. Batman

Batman And Robin. 'Nuff said. Well, seeing as you demand a bit more insight than just stating the obvious we'll go into it a little more. The dark take on Batman, and the whole notion of comics being for adults, was kicked off much later than many realise. It was only in 1986, with the release of two comic runs dealing with totally adult themes, The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen, that the whole industry was shook. Following suit in cinema shortly after came Tim Burton's Batman, which tackled the material with a gothic sensibility that put the camp of Adam West's TV show well in the past. When Joel Schumacher took over the franchise, he had some slightly different ideas. Misunderstanding the appeal of the character and the previous films, he wanted to make something that served as a modern reinterpretation of the West TV series. Because Schumacher has the directorial ability of a Mars bar, he managed to do this without showing any awareness or talent. And that is how we got Batman And Robin (and the more garish elements of Batman Forever). Unlike other films on this list, Batman actually entered the realms of self-parody (sort of) willingly. That shouldn't take away from the fact that the film is, in the most general terms, an unmitigated disaster, ruining the central ethos of countless characters, but it does at least explain why it happened.