30 Things You Didn't Know About Tim Burton's Batman

7. Two Reels Of Footage Were Stolen From The Set

As if Batman's generally tumultuous production wasn't enough, numerous attempts were made to leak footage and images from the movie early.

One news outlet even paid a cameraman to fly over one of the sets in a helicopter with a telephoto lens, and a unit publicist was offered £10,000 to provide the first picture of Jack Nicholson as The Joker (which they summarily refused).

But the public hunger for Batman reached a fever pitch when two reels of footage, containing about 20 minutes of footage, were stolen and copied in the hope of creating a bootleg, causing the police to be called to the set.

It's easy to take our leak-heavy culture for granted nowadays, given that everybody and their grandma has a camera-phone in their pocket, but back in '89, catching a glimpse of a top secret blockbuster project was quite the Herculean feat indeed.