Batman Returns is a 1992 superhero film based on the Batman character created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane. Tim Burton directed the film, which has Michael Keaton reprising the role of Batman, as well as Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer and Christopher Walken. The film’s plot primarily concerns Bruce Wayne struggling to provide peace in Gotham City after the appearance of a mysterious “Penguin-like man” and the sudden birth of Selina Kyle into Catwoman. In this wake, Bruce romances with Selina, both as Bruce Wayne and Batman while trying to prove Penguin to be a criminal towards the citizens of Gotham.

Burton originally did not want to return for a second installment due to his mixed emotions from the original film. After being impressed with a script by Daniel Waters, he thought otherwise. Wesley Strick would later be brought on for an uncredited rewrite, deleting characterizations of Robin and Harvey Dent. The film was entirely shot at Warner Brothers studios in Burbank, California (the first film was shot at Pinewood Studios in England), with Danny Elfman returning to compose the film score, citing it as a stressful experience, but still overly positive. Batman Returns was both a commercial and critical success, but did spawn controversies (being seen as “too dark” for younger children). Comic book veterans would express mixed thoughts and reviews. The film would also receive nominations at the Academy Awards, MTV Movie Awards and the Razzie Awards.

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Batman & Robin is a 1997 film starring George Clooney as Batman, Chris O’Donnell returning as Robin and introducing Batgirl (Alicia Silverstone), a niece of Bruce Wayne’s butler Alfred (Michael Gough). Michael Gough and Pat Hingle (Commissioner Gordon) are the only two people to feature in all four of the original Batman films. The villains in this movie are Poison Ivy, played by Uma Thurman; Mr. Freeze, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger (who received top billing for this film) and Bane, played by Jeep Swenson. This is the final film in the original Batman movie story arc (1989-1997), as it is reset with 2005’s Batman Begins.

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I basically liked this movie because of the Soundtrack and Alicia Silverstone’s hot…aside from that this movie sucked…

Weird thing : Barbara Gordon is Commissioner Gordon’s daughter not Alfred’s niece…

No Consistency to the real story.. one of the reason why this movie sucked…

Batman Forever is an Academy Award-nominated 1995 superhero film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman. It is the third film in the Batman film franchise and the first one directed by Joel Schumacher, who replaced Tim Burton, the director of the first two films in the franchise, Batman and Batman Returns. It is also the first and only film in the franchise to star Val Kilmer as Batman, who replaced Michael Keaton from the first two films. The film also marked the series debut of Robin. The film’s cast included Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey, Chris O’Donnell, Nicole Kidman, Drew Barrymore and Debi Mazar. However, Michael Gough, who featured in the first two films, returned to reprise the character Alfred in this film.

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The film served as a major departure from its predecessor Batman Returns, whose dark tone was rejected in favor of a lighter tone designed to appeal to younger audiences. This included dramatic changes to the cast, design, and Danny Elfman’s score, which was scrapped completely. Batman Forever was commercially successful at the box office. However, it received mixed reviews from critics.

One of the fine points for this movie goes to the soundtrack which I truly dig!

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In the Dark Knight, Maggie Gyllenhaal replaces Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes. In her interview with Metro.co.uk, she talks about her role defending her character as a damsel in distress.

She said there are moments of that in the film but the director, Chris Nolan, would push her in other ways to make her character powerful. Gyllenhaal plays a lawyer who has real relationship with the people that she’s interacting with in the movie. She speaks of her character as a real rounded and smart person. She says further that since she is the girl in Batman, she’s definitely going to be a damsel in distress at some point; however, she has really great character (referring to her role).

There has been clamor for another installment of the Chris Nolan Batman film franchise, especially with the success of the last film ‘The Dark Knight’, which was made extra memorable by the late Heath Ledger’s awesome and timeless performance.

While many from the film like producer Charles Roven have expressed a positive attitude towards another movie – this sentiment was naturally echoed by Warner Brothers, who are looking to another money train with the release of another Batman movie – all have agreed that the reins lie with Chris Nolan and David Goyer, who developed the story for the last two films.

Chris Nolan, for his part, has refused to commit to another Batman film, citing that he is still looking whether or not there is another storyline he sees himself investing in. However, he says some ideas have been thrown around, so we’d best wait and see what happens.

Heath’s death, weighed heavy on the film but it performed better than expected partly due to the respect many gave to him. The Dark Night had him undergoing extensive research and experimentation to take on the character of the Joker. There are talks of more films but no solid facts have yet been put on paper but the characters have expressed interest.
There have also been no digital editing to the parts he made in the film, in order to preserve his overall character. The death of a stuntman mentioned in the previous post also tainted the film yet Heath topped all issues due to his untimely death being one of the hottest actors in Hollywood to date. He lived to the fullest and died so suddenly, people were so shocked at news of his demise. He is forever going to be part of the movie phenomenon that is Batman.

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The director and co- writer of the Batman Begins and The Dark Knight film Christopher Nolan is not committed to another Batman sequel, clearing up that he does not usually line up projects after finishing a film. Gary Oldman is certain Nolan will return, and Bale said he would return if Nolan did. Oldman hinted in the third film Gordon would have to “hunt down Batman”. He has also speculated that the villain of the upcoming film may be the Riddler. Nolan explained that as long as he is directing, he is not including Robin in the franchise because Bale is still portraying a “young Batman”, which meant “Robin’s not for a few films”. In addition, Nolan considers the Penguin difficult to portray on film, explaining, “There are certain characters that are easier to mesh with the more real take on Batman we’re doing. The Penguin would be tricky.”

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The director, Chris Nolan told the LA Times that the foundation of the film is the transformation and tale of Eckhart’s character (Harvey Dent) from a crusading Gotham City prosecutor to being called Harvey Two-Face who is a maniac that has a face ravaged on one side through a horrible injury.

Eckhart also said that the difference between Two-Face and Batman is how they make their point and how far they are willing to go. Batman has a strong sense of justice that is what he is all about. And Harvey Dent also has an extremely strong sense of justice he’s horribly injured, his fiance is killed, but he’s true to himself.

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In a Los Angeles Times interview, Aaron Eckhart dropped some big details about his Two-Face character in the Dark Knight. This is a new Batman film by director Christopher Nolan which is set to hit IMAX and conventional theaters on July 18.

Eckhart said that you will get sick to you stomach when you look at Two-Face. Being the guy that portrayed the character, he said that it was a lot of fun for him. In describing the character, he said that it will be pretty much like meeting someone whose face has been burned off with acid or ripped off.

Hugh Jackman, Ryan Phillippe, Liev Schreiber, and Josh Lucas expressed interest in the role of District Attorney Harvey Dent.

As a joke, one bat suit was made with nipples. It was presented to Christian Bale as the real bat suit, but he knew instantly it was a joke, having seen a few design pictures during preproduction. He did pose for some publicity photos in the nipple suit.

This is the first Batman film to not have Batman in the title.

At the time when the Penguin was rumored to be in the movie, Bob Hoskins appeared as a fan favorite. He stated that he would have loved to portray the role and work with Christopher Nolan, calling him a fantastic director. Nolan then stated he had no intention of using the Penguin, calling him a too far-fetched character.

Robin Williams, Lachy Hulme, Paul Bettany, and Adrien Brody all expressed interest for the role of the Joker before Heath Ledger was cast.

When asked, Why Heath Ledger as the Joker? Christopher Nolan said, Because he’s fearless.

Dwight Yoakam turned down two roles in this movie. Originally he was offered the part of a cop; then he was offered to play a banker who had dealings with the Joker (Heath Ledger). Yoakam passed on both roles because he was working on a Buck Owens tribute album.

Turning down a salary estimated at between $1 million and $2 million an increase over the roughly $1 million she was believed to have earned for Batman Begins (2005) Katie Holmes chose not to reprise her role as Rachel Dawes. This was due to what was described as scheduling conflicts.

Jerry Robinson, who is credited as one of the original creators of the Joker, served as a consultant on the film.

Before Maggie Gyllenhaal replaced Katie Holmes in the role of Rachel Dawes, both Rachel McAdams and Emily Blunt were rumored for the part.

While filming on the streets of Chicago in April 2007, the filming was carried out under the fake movie title Rory’s First Kiss. Fliers regarding the filming carried this fake title, complete with a fake RFK logo for the movie and an address for the films production offices.

One of the extras military uniforms has the name Philo on it, after the films extras casting director, Joan Philo.

On Thanksgiving weekend, 2007, fake four page tabloid size Gotham Times newspapers were distributed at various public events. Headlined City at War Batman Saves Entire Family, every article teased events in the film, and everything in the handout was geared toward the film, including the weather (Gloomy and overcast) and advertisements for Gotham National Bank, the Gotham Girl Guides and recruitment for the Gotham Police Department.

The Jokers character is based on his first two appearances in the comic books, as well as his portrayal in the graphic novel The Killing Joke. To prepare for the role, Heath Ledger lived alone in a hotel room for a month researching the character and developing his performance, which he claims is based upon Sid Vicious and the character of Alex in A Clockwork Orange (1971). Ledger found the role extremely difficult, and suffered insomnia as a result.

Director Christopher Nolan and co-writers Jonathan Nolan and David S. Goyer decided not to explore the origins of the Joker in order to portray the character as absolute.

Christopher Nolan cites the film Heat (1995) as a major influence on this movie.

Off-duty Chicago Police Officers were requested to play Gotham Police officer extras.

Elaborate, interactive marketing campaigns were launched in the months leading up to the release of this film. One of which was an event at the 2007 San Diego Comic-con called Why So Serious, which involved fans following clues hidden around the city. The legions of Joker-painted fans ended up congregating in the street across from the convention center, where one of their numbers was welcomed into a black Escalade (with Gotham license plates) that had just pulled up. After a moment the fan started screaming and the SUV sped away. Later that day, a Gotham City newspaper was circulated reporting that a man believed to be the Joker was found beaten to death. Included were crime scene photos of the fan who had gotten into the Escalade, and a mention that he was found with a playing card in his hand, on which was scribbled See you in December.

Heath Ledgers sudden death on January 22, 2008 prompted immediate speculation as to the state of this film. Late the same day, Waner Bros. released a statement declaring that Ledger had completed all his scenes and post-production work, thus making the Joker the actors final completed appearance in a film.

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