Batman (1989 film)

Coordinates	37°46′45.48″N122°25′9.12″N
Name	Batman
Caption	Theatrical release poster
Director	Tim Burton
Producer	Peter GuberJon PetersBenjamin MelnikerMichael Uslan
Screenplay	Sam HammWarren Skaaren
Story	Sam Hamm
Based on	Bill Finger}}

| starring = Jack NicholsonMichael KeatonKim BasingerRobert WuhlPat HingleBilly Dee WilliamsMichael GoughJack Palance | music = Danny ElfmanSongs:Prince | cinematography = Roger Pratt | editing = Ray Lovejoy | studio = PolyGram Filmed EntertainmentThe Guber-Peters Company | distributor = Warner Bros. | released = | runtime = 126 minutes | country = | language = English | budget = $48 million | gross = $411,348,924 }} Batman is a 1989 superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name, directed by Tim Burton. The film stars Michael Keaton in the title role, as well as Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl and Jack Palance. The film, in which Batman deals with the rise of a costumed criminal known as "The Joker", is the first installment of Warner Bros.' Batman film series.

After Burton was hired as director, Steve Englehart and Julie Hickson wrote film treatments before Sam Hamm wrote the first screenplay. Batman was not greenlit until after the success of Burton's Beetlejuice (1988). Numerous A-list actors were considered for the role of Batman. Nicholson accepted the role of the Joker under strict conditions that dictated a high salary, a portion of the box office profits, and his shooting schedule.

Filming took place at Pinewood Studios from October 1988 to January 1989. The budget escalated from $30 million to $48 million, while the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike forced Hamm to drop out. Uncredited rewrites were performed by Warren Skaaren, Charles McKeown and Jonathan Gems. Batman was a critical and financial success, earning over $400 million in box office totals. The film received several Saturn Award nominations and a Golden Globe nomination, and won an Academy Award. It also inspired the Emmy Award-winning , paving the way for the DC Animated Universe, and has influenced Hollywood's modern marketing and development techniques of the superhero film genre.

Plot

As a child, billionaire Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton) saw his parents murdered by a mugger. He vows to avenge their deaths in a lifelong battle against crime as the costumed vigilante Batman while concealing his secret identity behind his playboy image. By the time he begins his career as Gotham City's protector, the city is controlled by crime boss Carl Grissom (Jack Palance). Despite the best efforts of newly-elected district attorney Harvey Dent (Billy Dee Williams) and police commissioner James Gordon (Pat Hingle), the police department remains corrupt. Reporter Alexander Knox (Robert Wuhl) and photo-journalist Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) begin investigating the rumors of a shadowy crimefighter dressed as a bat terrorizing Gotham's criminals by night.

Vicki and Knox attend a benefit at Wayne Manor, where Bruce is taken by Vicki's charms. That same night, Grissom's second in command, Jack Napier (Jack Nicholson), is sent to raid the Axis Chemicals factory. After the police receive a tip-off and arrive to arrest him, Napier realizes he has been set up by his boss, angered by his affair with Grissom's mistress. In the midst of the shoot-out, Batman arrives and takes out Napier's henchmen. Napier fires at Batman, who deflects the bullet off his steel gauntlet and sends it ricocheting back into Napier's face. Reeling from the pain, Napier topples over a platform rail but manages to grab a lower rail with one hand. Batman tries to pull Napier to safety, but loses his grip, and the criminal falls into a large vat of chemicals. Shortly thereafter, he emerges from an adjacent reservoir, his skin bleached white, his hair dyed green and his lips dyed red. Following a botched attempt at plastic surgery, Napier is left with a permanent rictus grin, giving him the appearance of a clown. Driven insane by his reflection, he fashions himself as "the Joker", kills Grissom and takes over his empire.

The Joker holds the city at his mercy by chemically altering everyday hygiene products, causing those using a certain combination of products to laugh to death — leaving them with a post-mortem grin resembling his own. Batman attempts to track down the Joker, who has become obsessed with Vicki, and soon realizes that his foe is the very mugger who murdered his parents. Meanwhile, Bruce's butler and confidante Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Gough) lets Vicki into the Batcave, and she and Bruce promise they will try to work out their feelings for each other once the Joker is defeated.

Batman destroys the factory the Joker used to make the poisoned products. The Joker retaliates by holding a parade through Gotham, luring its citizens on to its streets by dispensing money, intending to kill them with lethal gas. Batman foils his plan, but the Joker kidnaps Vicki and takes her to the top of a cathedral church. Batman fights the Joker to save Vicki, and both realize that they are indirectly responsible for each other's transformations. As the Joker is about to escape, Batman ties his leg to a gargoyle with a grappling hook; the Joker falls to his death when the statue breaks loose of its moorings. Commissioner Gordon unveils the Bat-Signal along with a note from Batman read by Harvey Dent, promising to defend Gotham whenever crime strikes again.

Production

Development

After the financial success of Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985), Warner Bros. hired Tim Burton to direct Batman. Burton had then-girlfriend Julie Hickson write a new 30-page film treatment, feeling the previous script by Tom Mankiewicz was campy. The success of and rekindled Warner Bros.' interest in a film adaptation. Burton was initially not a comic book fan, but he was impressed by the dark and serious tone found in both The Dark Knight Returns and The Killing Joke. It included the Joker and Rupert Thorne as the main villains, with a cameo appearance by the Penguin. Silver St. Cloud and Dick Grayson were key supporting roles. It followed the similar storyline from Englehart's own Strange Apparitions (ISBN 1-56389-500-5). Warner Bros. was impressed, but Englehart felt there were too many characters. He removed the Penguin and Dick Grayson in his second treatment, finishing in May 1986. Hamm decided not to use an origin story, feeling that flashbacks would be more suitable and that "unlocking the mystery" would become part of the storyline. He reasoned, "You totally destroy your credibility if you show the literal process by which Bruce Wayne becomes Batman." Hamm replaced Silver St. Cloud with Vicki Vale and Rupert Thorne with his own creation, Carl Grissom. He completed his script in October 1986, which demoted Dick Grayson to a cameo rather than a supporting character.

Casting

Mel Gibson, Kevin Costner, Charlie Sheen, Pierce Brosnan, Tom Selleck and Bill Murray were all considered for Batman. Tim Burton was pressured to cast an obvious action movie star. Bob Kane, Sam Hamm and Michael Uslan also heavily questioned the casting, Keaton studied The Dark Knight Returns for inspiration.

Tim Curry, Willem Dafoe, David Bowie and James Woods were considered for the Joker. Robin Williams lobbied hard for the part. Burton suggested replacing Young with Michelle Pfeiffer but Keaton, who was in a relationship with Pfeiffer, believed it would be too awkward. She went on to portray Catwoman in Batman Returns. Young's departure necessitated an urgent search for an actress who, besides being right for the part, could commit to the film at very short notice. Peters suggested Kim Basinger: she was able to join the production immediately and was cast. Robert Wuhl was cast as reporter Alexander Knox. His character was originally supposed to die by the Joker's poison gas in the climax, but the filmmakers "liked [my] character so much," Wuhl said "that they decided to let me live." Tim Burton chose Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent because he wanted to include the villain Two-Face in a future film using the concept of an African-American Two-Face for the black and white concept, but Tommy Lee Jones was later cast in the role for Batman Forever which disappointed Williams. The rest of the cast included Pat Hingle as Commissioner Gordon, Jack Palance as Carl Grissom, Jerry Hall as Alicia Hunt, Lee Wallace as Mayor Borg, and William Hootkins as Lt. Max Eckhardt.

Filming

The filmmakers considered filming Batman entirely on the Warner Bros. backlot in Burbank, California, but media interest in the film made them change the location. It was shot at Pinewood Studios in England from October 1988 to January 1989. The original production budget escalated from $30 million to $48 million. With various problems during filming, Burton called it "torture. The worst period of my life!" Hamm criticized the rewrites, but blamed the changes on Warner Bros.

Design

Burton was impressed with Anton Furst's designs in The Company of Wolves, and previously failed to hire Furst as production designer for Beetlejuice. Furst continued, "we imagined what New York City might have become without a planning commission. A city run by crime, with a riot of architectural styles. An essay in ugliness. As if hell erupted through the pavement and kept on going.'" The 1985 film Brazil by Terry Gilliam was also a notable influence upon the film's production design, as both Burton and Furst studied it as a reference. adding two Browning machine guns. On designing the Batmobile, Furst explained, "We looked at jet aircraft components, we looked at war machines, we looked at all sorts of things. In the end, we went into pure expressionism, taking the Salt Flat Racers of the 30s and the Sting Ray macho machines of the 50s." Burton commented, "Michael is a bit claustrophobic, which made it worse for him. The costume put him in a dark, Batman-like mood though, so he was able to use it to his advantage." Ringwood studied over 200 comic book issues for inspiration. 28 sculpted latex designs were created; 25 different cape looks and 6 different heads were made, accumulating a total cost of $250,000. Comic book fans initially expressed negative feedback against the Batsuit.

Music

Burton hired Danny Elfman, his collaborator on Pee-wee's Big Adventure and Beetlejuice, to compose the music score. For inspiration Elfman was given The Dark Knight Returns. Elfman was worried, as he never had worked on a production this large in budget and scale. In addition, producer Jon Peters was skeptical of hiring Elfman, but was later convinced when he heard the opening number. Elfman later was displeased with the audio mixing of his film score. "Batman was done in England by technicians who didn't care, and the non-caring showed," he stated. "I'm not putting down England because they've done gorgeous dubs there, but this particular crew elected not to." Batman was one of the first films to spawn two soundtracks. One of them featured songs written by Prince while the other showcased Elfman's score. Both were successful, and compilations of Elfman's opening credits were used in the title sequence theme for , also composed by Shirley Walker.

Burton saw Bruce Wayne as two people at one time and a symbol of America. Bruce has pretense of appearing to be one image, while hiding the reality from the world.

A visual motif is present in the scene of Batman's first major act of vigilantism at Axis Chemicals. He is carefully framed so that the single word AXIS, in gigantic red neon letters, looms over him. This parallels his actions and those of the totalitarian governments of World War II. The dangers inherent in these actions include the transformation of Jack Napier into the Joker. Batman also conveys trademarks found in 1930s pulp magazines, notably the design of Gotham City stylized with Art Deco design. Richard Corliss, writing for Time, observed that Gotham's design was a reference to films such as Metropolis (1927) and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920). "Gotham City, despite being shot on a studio backlot," he continued, "is literally another character in the script. It has the demeaning presence of German Expressionism and fascist architecture, staring down at the citizens." Hanke further addressed the notions of Batman being a period piece. "The citizens, cops, people and the black-and-white television looks like it takes place in 1939." However, Hanke later said. "Had the filmmakers made Vicki Vale a femme fatale rather than a damsel in distress, this could have made Batman as a homage and tribute to classic film noir. Portions of the climax pay homage to Vertigo. Over $750 million worth of merchandise was sold. Hachette Book Group USA published a novelization, written by Craig Shaw Gardner. It remained on the New York Times Best Seller list throughout June 1989. Burton admitted he was annoyed by the publicity. David Handelman of The New York Observer categorized Batman as a high concept film. He believed "it is less movie than a corporate behemoth."

Reception

Box office

Batman opened on June 23, 1989, grossing $43.6 million in 2,194 theaters during its opening weekend. This broke the opening weekend record, set by Ghostbusters II one week earlier, with $29.4 million. Batman would eventually gross $251.2 million in North America and $160.15 million internationally, totaling $411.35 million. Batman was the first film to earn $100 million in its first ten days of release, The film is 58th highest ever in North American ranks. Although Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade made the most money worldwide in 1989, Batman was able to beat The Last Crusade in North America, and made a further $150 million in home video sales.

Critical reaction

Batman was criticized in some quarters for being "too dark".

The songs written by Prince were criticized for being "too out of place". By comparison, Metacritic has collected an average score of 66, based on 17 reviews.

Burton biographer Alison McMahan wrote, "fans of the Batman franchise complained when they heard of Michael Keaton's casting. However, no one complained when they saw his performance." Variety felt "Jack Nicholson stole every scene" but still greeted the film with positive feedback. Roger Ebert was highly impressed with the production design, but claimed "Batman is a triumph of design over story, style over substance, a great-looking movie with a plot you can't care much about." His reviewing partner, Gene Siskel, disagreed, however, describing the film as having a 'refreshingly adult' approach with performances, direction and set design that 'draws you into a psychological world'. Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader called it "watchable enough".

Legacy

Anton Furst and Peter Young won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction, while Nicholson was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor (Musical or Comedy). The British Academy of Film and Television Arts nominated Batman in six categories (Production Design, Visual Effects, Costume Design, Makeup, Sound and Actor in a Supporting Role for Nicholson), but it won none of the categories. Nicholson, Basinger, the make-up department and costume designer Bob Ringwood all received nominations at the Saturn Awards. The film was nominated the Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film and the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.

The success of Batman prompted Warner Bros. Animation to create the Emmy Award-winning , as a result beginning the long-running DC Animated Universe. Series co-creator Bruce Timm stated the television show's Art Deco design was inspired from the film. Timm commented, "our show would never have gotten made if it hadn't been for that first Batman movie." Batman initiated the original Batman film series and helped establish the modern day superhero film genre. Burton joked, "ever since I did Batman, it was like the first dark comic book movie. Now everyone wants to do a dark and serious superhero movie. I guess I'm the one responsible for that trend."

Producers Michael Uslan and Benjamin Melniker filed a breach of contract lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on March 26, 1992. Uslan and Melniker claimed to be "the victims of a sinister campaign of fraud and coercion that has cheated them out of continuing involvement in the production of Batman and its sequels. We were denied proper credits, and deprived of any financial rewards for our indispensable creative contribution to the success of Batman."

Reflecting on the twentieth anniversary of its release in a retrospective article on Salon.com, film commentator Scott Mendelson noted that continuing impact that Batman has had on the motion film industry, including the increasing importance of opening weekend box office receipts; the narrowing window between a film's debut and its video release that caused the demise of second-run movie theaters; the accelerated acquisition of pre-existing, pre-sold properties for film adaptation that can be readily leveraged for merchandizing tie-ins; the primacy of the MPAA PG-13 as the target rating for film producers; and more off-beat, non-traditional casting opportunities for genre films.

The film also received recognition from the American Film Institute. Batman was anointed the 46th greatest movie hero on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains. The Joker was anointed the 45th greatest movie villain on the same list. In 2008, Batman was selected by Empire Magazine as number 458 of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.

Home video

Many versions of the film have been released. Included are VHS, Laserdisc, single disc DVD, Special Edition DVD and an anthology set. The Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology released in 2005 included 2-Disc Special Edition DVDs of the Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher Batman films. This anthology set was re-released on Blu-ray on March 10, 2009.

On May 19, 2009 a 20th anniversary stand-alone edition was released. This stand-alone version contains exactly the same special features as its anthology set (both DVD and Blu-ray) counterparts. There are two differences: This version includes a 50-page booklet guide to the film, and a slight variation in packaging from normal Blu-ray cases (Warner Bros. *Digibook*) They both include a digital copy of the film.

References

Further reading

External links

Script review of The Batman IGN reviews Tom Mankiewicz's unproduced script

Behind-the-scenes photos

Screenshots

Category:1989 films Category:Batman films Category:Neo-noir Category:PolyGram films Category:Pinewood films Category:Warner Bros. films Category:Films directed by Tim Burton Category:Films whose art director won the Best Art Direction Academy Award