MovieChat Forums > Batman Forever (1995) Discussion > Did going away from Burton's sets and in...

Did going away from Burton's sets and into CGI save the Franchise?

posted 2 years ago by space1999 (725)
7 replies | jump to latest

Or was it the publicity of Jim Carrey (nearing his peak) and a hot rising star (Tommy Lee Jones) blown up even more by the addition of Robin (a throw back to the TV series) and NEW Batman?

I think Schumacher saved the franchise with the all right ingredients.

But with all the drama noted above...the film still never managed to make 200 million + in the U.S.

And I think that's how it failed from WB standard. At the time anyway..

[–] TandyMan (10317) 2 years ago

This is actually something i've thought about before. If Burton had been allowed to complete a trilogy or something, that might have been the end of it. At least for a long while. Like what happened with Reeve's Superman. It might have been the Batman trilogy and then 20 years would go by before they brought Batman back. By switching gears into a totally different and failed direction, it kind of ensured that Batman would be back again and again and again with different takes.

[–] space1999 (725) 2 years ago

I agree with you.

The franchise should be remembered from people who were there.

The Bat/WB franchise should be remembered as one that was struggling.

WB invested millions upon millions to resurrect an icon.

And they kind of did it.

[–] DoctorThirteen (10112) 6 months ago

That's an interesting way of looking at it.

[–] DarthAckbar (778) 6 months ago

I dont agree with your premise.

The BATMAN series played out exactly the same way as the SUPERMAN series did:

1 a huge hit and a beloved classic
2 different but still good
3 too silly and bad
4 horrible and a franchise killer

[–] TandyMan (10317) 6 months ago

I guess in a way Superman did migrate over to television a few years later with Lois and Clark and a few after that Smallville. It didn't actually disappear.

[–] DarthAckbar (778) 6 months ago

yeah, when i said "franchise killer" i just meant that they both needed film reboots "years later"

[–] TMC-4 (19386) 6 months ago

One thing that I think that Batman Forever did that was better than Batman Returns is the look of Gotham City. The Gotham City in Returns was very claustrophobic in that it always felt cramped and small, like it was obviously done on a soundstage. The Gotham in Forever actually looked like a sprawling metropolis.