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Batman at 30: Part Four

While movie merchandise tie-ins and promotions had been around since the 1930’s, most of the time they were produced for films catering primarily to children, and even then mostly just for animated pictures. Most studios saw merchandising as an afterthought; in fact, Walt Disney Productions was the only studio regularly and successfully licensing merchandise and promotions before their films entered theaters. The biggest non-Disney Films that had successful merchandising often did it after the fact and only because the outside licensee approached the studio first. In 1989, Warner Bros. wanted to change this, and Batman would be the test case.

In an unprecedented move, Warner Bros. unleashed its merchandising department, typically just used to license Looney Tunes products, to proactively sign up Batman licensees. Initially, it was an uphill battle. While Batman the character was a known quantity, Batman the movie was not. McDonald’s passed on the film, but Taco Bell eagerly signed on. Taco Bell had been trying to shed its reputation as a just a cheap place to eat and it saw Batman as a way to do that. In addition to the direct cash provided by these deals, movies also benefit from the added promotion that the outside partner provides.

In another unprecedented step, Warner Bros. leveraged its portfolio of magazines to publish a catalog of Batman merchandise. People, Time and Sports Illustrated distributed millions of copies of the Batman-Themed catalog in their respective summer issues. Not willing to order from a catalog? No problem! Thousands of stores across the country featured Batman merchandise, most of it featuring the iconic bat symbol. There would be no way for anyone to escape The Bat in the summer of 1989.

With so much at stake, it was easy to see why Tim Burton was nervous about what would be the biggest film he had made up until that point. The expectations- and the possible embarrassment if it failed- were huge.

Batman at 30: Part Three

Originally, Warner Bros. had intended to film Batman entirely at its studio in Burbank, California. The intense publicity and paparazzi interest in the picture led to Warners moving production to Pinewood Studios in the U.K. While this added new issues of how to deal with Jack’s L.A.-centric demands, it afforded the production some privacy. 

The privacy would be short lived. Paparazzi tried to bribe crewmembers to take pictures of Jack Nicholson in full makeup and costume as the Joker. Film canisters were stolen, adding to the stress on the set. By this time, Warner Bros. had clearly placed a ton of high expectations on this film, which put a lot of pressure on Tim Burton. While a box office disaster would be a mere bump in the road for Warner Bros., it would probably kill Tim’s career before it really had a chance to take off. Additionally, this picture was much bigger than anything Tim had worked on before; all leading to one stressed out director.

While Jack Nicholson was, by most accounts, a genial presence on the set, Burton had to factor in some of the contract riders Jack had negotiated into the production schedule. Jack had negotiated time off to attend Lakers games, something he did on all of his pictures. It was always difficult to accommodate him even when filming in Los Angeles. Accommodating him in England proved to be a budget busting nightmare. 

Adding to Tim’s headaches was a writer’s strike that forced the writer of the screenplay to leave the production, meaning that rewrites had to be done by Tim and the producers themselves on the fly. Jon Peters, who was producing the picture, proved to be more hands on than Tim anticipated. Jon took it upon himself to hire Prince to write songs for the film that Tim was expected to just fit into the movie and changed the film’s ending which added $100,000 to an already over budget film. Jon’s change moved the ending to a decrepit cathedral just because it looked cool. Tim was flummoxed by the change because Jon made it without scripting it first. Why would the Joker randomly climb up to the bell tower of a random building, trapping himself in a crumbling tower?

After using almost all filmmaking space at Pinewood Studios, the picture was completed and ready for its premiere. Warner Bros. had high hopes for the film and had lined up an unprecedented number of licensees and promotional partners. Would everyone be smiling after this project was unleashed on the world?

Batman at 30: Part Two

While a potential Batman picture had been in development around the same time that Superman was dazzling audiences and racking up millions at the box office, the project had stalled by the mid-1980’s. The lukewarm reception to Superman III and the complete failure of Superman IV had soured Warner Brothers on producing another superhero picture. Lucky for Batman, however, an up and coming director named Tim Burton was interested in making the film.

Cast out of Disney for being too bizarre, Tim Burton was afraid he’d never work in Hollywood again. His big break came when Paul Reubens insisted that he was the perfect director for Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. Pee-Wee was a hot franchise at the time, so Paul was able to bring in Tim despite the studio’s reservations. The film was a smash success. It sent Pee-Wee’s career into the stratosphere and made Tim Burton a sought after director, practically overnight. Tim could now pick and choose his projects and an adaptation of Batman was at the top of his list. At this point, the project became seemingly unstoppable. Not even the disastrous Superman IV could slow things down.

After coming on board, Tim Burton quickly threw out most of what had been considered for the film. Before Tim took over, the possible choices for main character Bruce Wayne ranged from an unknown actor to Bill Murray. Tim didn’t consider Bill Murray, but he did invite a pre-fame Ray Liotta to tryout, an opportunity Ray declined to his later regret. Warner Brothers pressured Tim to choose a big name and a who’s who of Hollywood action stars were considered. Tim Burton ended up suggesting Michael Keaton. Warner Brothers was not sold on Keaton until Beetlejuice, his collaboration with Burton became a smash hit. The pre-internet comic book fandom rallied against the choice, feeling that Keaton was a comedic actor and thus unsuitable for the role. By this time, however, the project had gained too much steam and traction at Warner Brothers to be stopped.

By this time, Batman’s origin story had been stripped from the beginning of the picture, replaced with a series of flashbacks. Gone too was Robin. To further streamline things, Tim had chosen to include just one villain in the final film- the Joker. The part was highly sought after, with Robin Williams heavily lobbying for the role. Others considered for the role were Tim Curry and John Lithgow. The number one choice of the studio, producers and fans alike, however, was Jack Nicholson. Jack, however, wasn’t initially enthusiastic about the role and had a standard list of demands that would make production difficult. Warner Brothers was willing to do whatever it took to get him onboard, however, and even agreed to his getting top billing and an unprecedented share of merchandise revenue and the gross. While Jack was only guaranteed a relative pittance, he stood to make a record breaking payday if the movie took off.

Vicki Vale, who would be Bruce Wayne’s love interest in the picture, was originally supposed to be portrayed by Sean Young. Ms. Young had already been heavily involved with pre-production on the film when a horse riding incident forced her to withdraw. With production scheduled to begin a replacement had to be found quickly. Kim Basinger stepped in to take the role. With casting completed, production on the film began in the U.K.

Batman at 30, Part One

In 1989, Tim Burton’s Batman would forever change Hollywood. It’s hard to imagine now, but the film’s success was never guaranteed. The movie had several strikes against it long before production began. The picture’s massive budget (for its time) meant that Warner Brothers was taking a huge risk. This week we’ll take a behind the scenes look at Batman thirty years after its premiere.

While 1966’s campy Batman was the caped crusader’s first major appearance outside of his comic book, Columbia Pictures produced a modestly successful Batman serial that was meant to build on the success of fellow DC Comics star Superman’s serial and radio show. DC Comics was unaffiliated with any Hollywood studio at the time and had merely licensed the character. The serial’s lukewarm reception led Columbia Pictures to let its option lapse. It would take nearly twenty years for Batman to get another chance to prove he could successfully make the transition out of the comics and onto theater and television screens.

ABC optioned Batman in the 1960’s with the hope that it could turn the film into a colorful hit. As the only television network at the time that was not owned by a company that manufactured televisions, it had been slow at adopting color. By the mid-1960’s it had fallen far behind when it came to color programming and a show based on a colorful comic book seemed like an amazing opportunity. ABC brought 20th-Century-Fox in to produce the show who in turn hired Greenway Productions to make the show. Greenway originally wanted to produce a film that would lead into the ABC show. ABC liked the idea, but 20th-Century-Fox, still recovering from the mammoth failure of Cleopatra wanted the show’s first season to come first. This proved to be a smart decision. Batman the TV show was a huge hit, so America was more than ready to make the film an even bigger hit. Eventually, ABC decided that the show was too expensive to produce despite its success and canceled the show. Unfortunately, the show’s sets were destroyed right before NBC swept in to save it. The high cost of rebuilding the sets led NBC to change its mind. Batman was now in hibernation.

It would be Batman’s friendly DC Comics rival Superman who would revive interest in the caped crusader. Superman: The Movie was a huge success and brought about the first golden era of superhero films. Two producers who sought to make a much grittier Batman film purchased the rights in 1979 and began working on a script. The Batman project would go through various hands with different scripts being written causing many production delays. By the mid-1980’s it finally seemed  like the project was finally taking off. Unfortunately, the Superman franchise would very quickly crash and burn, eventually dying after 1987’s Superman IV: The Quest For Peace.

After suffering a huge loss after Superman IV, Warner Brothers reconsidered the Batman project. Lucky for Batman, a director who had just signed a huge new contract with Warner Brothers became interested in the film.

We’re Back- Tomorrow!

Billy Drago, 1945 - 2019