Batman in film
, a superhero created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger for comic books published by DC Comics, has appeared in nearly every form of media, including film since the 1940s. Columbia Pictures supervised the first film adaptations with Batman and Batman and Robin, deviating significantly from the source material. 20th Century Fox then released a theatrical spinoff of the American Broadcasting Company's live-action television series about the character in the 1960s, starring Adam West. After several years in limbo, Warner Bros. Pictures purchased the copyrights and developed a succession of Batman films in the late twentieth century, two directed by Tim Burton and another pair by Joel Schumacher. Michael Keaton portrays Batman in the Burton films, while Val Kilmer and George Clooney feature as the titular hero in the Schumacher films.
Warner Bros. spent the turn of the millennium in another protracted development period, leading to the production of a reboot trilogy featuring Christian Bale as Batman: Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises. The creation of the DC Extended Universe, a media franchise bound by a shared universe, spawned additional works. Ben Affleck plays the character in the DCEU films, beginning with the Zack Snyder-directed entry Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Affleck, Keaton, and Clooney's Batmen have also appeared in crossover films within the DCEU. The Batman and The Brave and the Bold will revamp the established continuity of the live-action films with new incarnations of Batman portrayed by Robert Pattinson and another actor. Joker features a depiction of the character as a civilian, predating his transformation into a vigilante. Numerous actors voice Batman in animated film.
The Batman films are generally successful and comprise one of the highest-grossing franchises of all time, grossing over $6.8 billion globally. Critical opinion of films vary substantially. For example, The Dark Knight trilogy was critically acclaimed, whereas other films, such as Batman & Robin and those of the DCEU, were not well reviewed in the media. Occasionally, Batman films attract Academy Award recognition for acting and technical achievement.
Initial adaptations
Early films
Following the success of comic books featuring Batman in the early 1940s, three major Hollywood studios approached DC Comics to purchase the film rights. Columbia Pictures bought the rights shortly afterward, and, in 1943, released a fifteen-chapter serial film directed by Lambert Hillyer and starring Lewis Wilson as Batman. The story follows Batman and Robin's attempts to sabotage a Japanese spy's plot to aid Axis conquest of the United States by producing a super weapon. Elements of Batman deviate from the source material in significant respects, most notably the addition of a Japanese villain, underscoring the film's propaganda function. Conceived eighteen months after the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Batman reflected a wider cultural shift to arouse mass support for US intervention in World War II. Nevertheless, the serial introduced the Batcave and the Wayne Manor's secret grandfather clock entrance in Batman mythology. It was re-released in theaters in 1965 under the title An Evening with Batman and Robin.In 1949, Columbia developed another fifteen-part serial, Batman and Robin, as the sequel to Batman, compelled by the success of Superman the previous year. Robert Lowery was Wilson's replacement as Batman, leading a new ensemble of actors opposite Johnny Duncan as Robin. Batman and Robin details the duo's retrieval of a stolen remote control machine from criminal mastermind Wizard, whose schemes threaten to disrupt Gotham City's transportation networks. Producer Sam Katzman sought to keep the cost of filming low, and the diminished budget led to further changes to the onscreen world. As a consequence, Batman and Robin fared poorly in reviews from the press.
The American Broadcasting Company's creation of a live-action TV adaptation of Batman in the mid-1960s resurrected the character's popularity. 20th Century Fox released a theatrical film intended to be a precursor to the show in 1966. Featuring Adam West as the superhero, author Matthew J. Smith viewed the projects as campy, yet more faithful interpretations of the comics than the serials. West stated he was hesitant to consider the part because he feared being typecast, but was convinced by his agent. In the film, Batman and Robin confront the main antagonists of the series: the Joker, Penguin, the Riddler, and Catwoman.
Limbo
The cancellation of Batman decreased Hollywood interest in further film adaptations. A concerted effort to produce another film did not begin until a year after the release of Superman. Producers Michael Uslan and Benjamin Melniker purchased the rights with the aim of conceiving a more faithful adaptation of the comics. Superman was another catalyst for Uslan and Melniker's vision of a Batman film. Uslan pitched to multiple studios unsuccessfully, including Columbia and United Artists, prompting him to devise an outline, Return of the Batman, to better articulate his idea.By November 1979, Uslan and Melniker obtained funding through a joint venture with Peter Guber, chairman of the film division of Casablanca Records. Under the arrangement, the producers were entitled to 40 percent of profits yielded by Casablanca. They commissioned a Batman film with a $15 million budget in 1981, but a series of corporate acquisitions prolonged negotiations over the film's distribution, stalling development. Casablanca's preexisting distribution agreement with Universal Pictures dissolved after the company was acquired by PolyGram Pictures. By this point, PolyGram faced bankruptcy after investing $80 million to increase their rate of output, and Guber brokered an agreement to transfer ownership of the Batman film rights to him and associate Jon Peters. Another associate pitched the project to Warner Bros. Pictures executive Frank Wells, and afterwards Peters signed a deal with studio president Terry Semel which overlapped with the Casablanca contract. However, because Uslan and Melniker were unaware of the dealings, they challenged Warner Bros. over the claim that it had breached the Casablanca agreement.
Screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz completed the project's first draft in June 1983, titled The Batman. The draft focused on an origin story chronicling Bruce Wayne's transformation into Batman. Moreover, Mankiewicz developed the story to indicate a sequel following Batman and Dick Grayson as a crimefighting duo. Mankiewicz took inspiration from Batman: Strange Apparitions, a multi-issue limited series by Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers. Though The Batman was announced with a mid-1985 release date, revisions to the script impeded progress on the film. In total, the script underwent nine rewrites from nine separate screenwriters.