5. Batman And Robin (1997)
Sequel To: Batman Forever, Joel Schumacher's first Batman effort after Tim Burton left the series. Schumacher previously had success with
Flatiners and the cult classic
The Lost Boys.
Who Made It?: Schumacher, who made
A Time to Kill in the meantime.
Why Was It Made?: While
Batman Returns underperformed compared to Warner Brothers' expectations,
Forever was a genuinely big hit. The studio wanted to capitalise upon the film's success and ordered Schumacher to make a sequel quickly.
Why Is It So Bad?: So much has been written about
Batman and Robin being one of the worst films of all time that I almost don't need to flesh out why. The script is terrible, seeming to consist almost entirely of cheesy one-liners. The plot itself is almost totally superfluous, since the film is far more interested in silly action, special effects and the increasingly homoerotic nature of the characters' costumes (not that there's anything wrong with that). On top of all that, the film also betrays so much of what made the Burton films work so well. Instead of Batman hiding in the shadows and going to great lengths to work undercover, in Batman and Robin he's making big public appearances and purchases with the now-infamous Bat Credit Card...
What Happened Next: A sequel was planned called
Batman Triumphant, which would have involved Jack Nicholson reprising the Joker in a dream sequence. But after the disappointing box office of this film, that was abandoned, and the Batman series went into hibernation until
Batman Begins rebooted it in 2005. Schumacher went on to make such film as
Phone Booth and
The Phantom of the Opera.