Budget: 125,000,000 Worldwide Box Office: 238,207,122 Two weeks after wrap on Batman & Robin, Warner Bros. Announced that Joel Schumacher had agreed to return and direct another Batman film with a mid 1999 release date. The rumored plans for the film actually sound like it could have been pretty darn good. Schumacher said publicly that he owes the Batman culture a real Batman movie and this would be it. "I would go back to the basics and make a dark portrayal of the Dark Knight." -Joel Schumacher Despite the pomp and circumstance of his two previous Batman films, there is plenty of evidence to support that he was capable of doing it too. Between films like Flatliners, The Client, A Time to Kill and most of all Falling Down, Schumacher proved himself capable of delivering dark, gritty films. The script written by series newbie Mark Protosevich was centred on Scarecrow and potentially may have included the return of Jack Nicholson's Joker in a fear-gas induced fantasy Batman would suffer from. It could have been pretty cool and Bob Daly and Terry Semel (the acting C.E.O. & C.O.O. Of Warner Bros.) loved the dailies of Batman & Robin enough to get the ball rolling. There were just two major problems. Nobody else involved with the series wanted to be a part of it and fans & critics largely hated Batman & Robin. The film was so bad that it currently holds 12 % on Rotten Tomatoes and is even listed on a Wikipedia page titled List of films considered the worst. Chris O'Donnell said of making the film that it was like making a toy commercial. George Clooney was quoted as saying that he terribly destroyed the part. Topped off by what Joel Schumacher said in an interview about the film that comes as part of the Batman Anthology DVD and Blu Ray package. If there's anybody watching this that, let's say loved Batman Forever and went into Batman & Robin with great anticipation. If I disappointed them in any way, then I really want to apologize cause it wasn't my intention. My intention was just to entertain them. That level of honesty and candor is practically unheard of especially when featured on material packaged with the film itself. Im overpaid, overstimulated, over hyped and over age, but I have the distinction of being the only person in our business wholl admit it - Joel Schumacher Schumacher also said this, during his Batman honesty tour I was supposed to do a fifth one I was talking to Nic Cage about playing the Scarecrow. I had begged the studio for The Dark Knight Returns, but they wanted a family friendly, toyetic thing. Shortly after Schumacher left the series to make smaller movies, George Clooney vowed never to revisit the role and the studio came to their senses and moved to reboot the entire franchise. Are there any successful franchise killers that were missed? Do you agree with the decision to put these series out to pastor? Comment below and let us know what you think.
Growing up in London, Ontario, Canada, my parents & brothers started a love for movies and wrestling in me. Discovering comics in my early teens, I've become a pop culture junkie. I love to write about the all of it and am incredibly happy to be able to have people read it. My entertainment writing for the site news for shoppers can be found here: http://www.newsforshoppers.com/journalist/matthew-thomas/
