5. McDonald's, And A Lot Of Parents, Hated The Movie
Nowadays, everyone knows that Batman Returns is a fairly dark and grownup film that might not be the most appropriate comic book movie for young children. At the time of its release, though, the PG-13 age certificate applied the films American release had many parents suspecting that the film would be suitable for children. Once theyd seen it, a large number of American parents disagreed with the allocated age certificate and deemed that the film was unsuitable for children. McDonalds, incensed by this parental backlash, cancelled their Happy Meal tie-in for the movie that had featured toy versions of Batman, Catwoman and The Penguin. This isnt the only merchandising issue created by the films dark tone. Additionally, toymakers Kenner refused to sell as Penguin action figure in Danny DeVitos likeness as they deemed his version of the character too scary for kids. Instead, they repainted some old Penguin action figures from the 1980s (based on the characters comic book likeness) and sold those instead. This backlash didnt stop the film from making a record-breaking $47 million in its first three days of release before going on to rake in $226 million at the worldwide box office. For the time, and from a budget of just $80 million, that was a great result. No thanks to Maccie D's, of course.