So, the new Batman opened last night, reaching all new record numbers at the box office in ticket sales and popcorn consumption. There’s already a certain nostalgic quality to it due to Heath Ledger’s death. A local movie theater showed it at midnight here Thursday on 7 screens and 1400 people showed up. I do want to see it but will probably wait a few weeks. I’m not one for crowded theaters full of people who still can’t manage to turn off their cell phones and shut out the world for more than 3 hours.
I’ve always been a fan of the Batman since Tim Burton directed the first two. I thought the first film with Jack Nicholson as the joker was brilliant, and shook my head at the thought of Michael Keaton but he pulled it off. I immediately invested my tiny paycheck in anything Batman….posters, lapel pins, trading cards, even a rug in my bedroom. I went as the Joker for Halloween that year. It’s still hard to believe that was 1989.
Burton was back for the second installment which I thought was just as good. The villains, Catwoman and Penguin, made this movie so “Burtonisque.” And who doesn’t love Michelle Pfeiffer in that outfit!
Again, it was all about the villains in the third movie, Batman Forever in 1995. I loved Harvey Twoface and he made an excellent Halloween costume again that year. I hated Jim Carey and thought the Riddler role should have gone to Robin Williams. We got out first look at Robin here. Chris O’Donnell was quite the eye candy. Oh, and let’s not forget Batman and those nipples!
Schumacher really ran thin two years later with Batman and Robin. Don’t you remember? Arnold was Mr.
Freeze! “Ice to see you! Allow me to break the ice!” By then, like everyone else, I was tired of Batman and ready for a new hero. No wonder we all thought that would be the end of this movie franchise. Everyone thought Schumacher had killed the Batman!
But Christopher Nolan breathed new life into into it back in 2005 with Batman Begins, going back to the original dark comics and finally giving Batman himself the spotlight. I thought it was different and actually loved it. Would I have loved it back in 1989 had it been that first taste of Batman? Probably not.
But I love it now and I am very excited about the new film, and the new Joker. I also hear that Harvey TwoFace pops up in this one! But I have to wonder, is this the end of Batman finally? Is Hollywood done with him? What makes him so appealing? Outside of Superman, he’s the only other hero with just as much screen time.
With such record numbers at the box office, I seriously doubt this will be it. So if Nolan and Bale come out again to make another, I can’t help but wonder….who will be the villain this time?
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