Redeemed #3: Batman
Though some would blame George Clooney exclusively for sinking the Batman franchise, there is plenty of blame to go around. Particularly with director Joel Schumacher & scriptwriter Akiva Goldsman. While the Tim Burton films Batman & Batman Returns fared well enough, it would be the 1, 2 punch of Batman Forever & Batman & Robin that would call into question the future of the franchise. Since his inception, Batman has been infused with a weirdness that at times works and at times doesn't. Usually it will meander around, finding itself in the horror section (A Serious House On Serious Earth) and other times in the comedy (the 1960s Batman series). Arguably, Tim Burton's Batman films worked. Infused with his sensibilities as a kooky artist-type, Batman & Batman Returns were simultaneously grandiose and bizarre. They felt more like carnival rides than comic book movies and as such stand out from early adaptations of The Punisher, Captain America or the unreleased Fantastic Four movie. After the departure of Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher would be chosen to direct Batman Forever. Having directed films like Falling Down, St. Elmo's Fire and Flatliners, Schumacher had proven himself a capable director. Still, as novel as it was, Batman Forever performed well enough at the box office to warrant a sequel. That sequel would be the much-reviled Batman & Robin: a film so camp it was discovered living in a shack in the woods writing its manifesto, mailing letter-bombs to universities. The film made a grand total of $98 million worldwide, which was hardly the success Warner Brothers was looking for and shelved the property. It would not be for another 8 years that Batman would return in the Christopher Nolan Batman Begins. The film did well enough: taking in $374 million at the box office. The following two Batman films, The Dark Knight & The Dark Knight Rises, would each take in 1 billion dollars, proving there are some things even Batman & Robin can't ruin, childhood dreams notwithstanding.