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Why Tim Burton's Batman 3 Never Happened:

posted 8 years ago by captainapache
3 replies | jump to latest

Tim Burton’s Batman 3 never happened because of the reaction to Batman Returns, which was swift and brutal throughout the press.

The screenwriter of Batman Returns, Daniel Waters said he was aware of the potential backlash immediately. As a subversive voice who made his bones on the cult classic dark comedy about teen murder and suicide, Heathers, Waters was one of the driving forces that turned the sequel into a near fable about the sameness of freaks, be they cats or bats. And when recalling the first time he saw the movie with an average audience (for the 2005 documentary Shadow of the Bat – Part 4: Dark Side of the Knight), Waters said, “It’s great. The lights are coming up after Batman Returns, and it’s like kids crying, people acting like they’ve been punched in the stomach, and like they’ve been mugged. Part of me relished that reaction, and part of me to this day is like, ‘Oops.’”

For the same documentary, director Burton also seemed bemused and baffled by the mixed reactions 13 years later. Says Burton, “One person would come in and go, ‘This is so much lighter than the first movie.’ And then the next person would come in and go, ‘Oh, this is so much darker than the first movie.’ And it’s like, light and dark are opposites! But it was 50 percent passionately one way and 50 percent the other.”

Many more details surrounding the demise here:

http://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/batman/239632/why-tim-burtons-batman-3-never-happened

[–] moshbabylon 8 years ago

Read that article recently. It's a good read. I still have that Batman Returns Happy Meal toy of Batman in that weird BatSkiBoat vehicle.

Also the article says "there coincidentally were no more major parts played by African-Americans in the Batman franchise" after talking about Marlon Wayans and Billy Dee Williams not being used for Batman 3. Totally wrong since Morgan Freeman went on to play Lucius Fox 3 times, but it's true back in the Burton/Schumacher series black actors only played minor roles; policemen, thugs/henchmen, or politicians.

[–] HarveyManfredSinJohn 8 years ago

Don't blame Burton.

The point is that after Batman Returns and Burton's attempt to cast Marlon Wayans as a black Robin, the franchise, under Schumacher, didn't feature any more African-American actors in significant parts.

Also, Burton should be commended for casting Billy Dee Williams as 'Harvey Dent'; one of the first instances of 'race swapping' in a movie franchise as far as I'm aware.

Clinton/Kaine 2016

[–] Intothenightalone 8 years ago

I didn't find returns darker, perhaps more "gothic" but the good guys won, the bad guys died and the 'not sure' catwoman was left as a question mark.

Penguin was a little bit overly lustful with comments like "I'd like to fill her void" and "I'll show her the french flipper trick" and then lusting over catwoman and offering her different lubes while on his bed. Besides the line "I'd like to fill her void" the rest was too much. Penguin was actually cited as an example of sexism in cinema with those comments.

I think the problem with Returns was the weak storyline of Max Shreck. He seemed like he was just there to unite catwoman and penguin. He didn't exist in the comic book world so he also felt a little unnatural.

If I had written it, I'd write the Riddler as the criminal mastermind who unites these two (and he wouldn't be anything like Jim Carey's version).