Batman Returns
Directed by	Tim Burton
Written by	Characters: Bill Finger (Uncredited) Bob Kane Story: Sam Hamm Daniel Waters Screenplay: Daniel Waters Wesley Strick (Uncredited)
Produced by	Tim Burton Denise Di Novi
Starring	Michael Keaton Danny DeVito Michelle Pfeiffer Christopher Walken
Cinematography	Stefan Czapsky
Edited by	Chris Lebenzon Bob Badami
Music by	Danny Elfman
Distributed by	Warner Brothers
Release dates	June 19, 1992 July 10, 1992
Running time	126 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$80,000,000[1]
Box office	$282,800,000

Batman Returns is a 1992 superhero thriller based on the Batman character created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. Tim Burton directed the film, which stars Michael Keaton as Batman, as well as Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer and Christopher Walken. The film is a sequel to Batman which has Burton and Keaton reprising their respective duties. The film also showcases a darker and obscene texture than it's previous film after Burton was given more creative control by Warner Brothers.

Burton originally felt not to return for a second installment due to his mixed emotions from the original film. However, after being impressed with a script by Daniel Waters, he thought otherwise. The film was entirely shot at Warner Brothers studio in Burbank. Batman Returns received mixed reactions from critics, and a somewhat commercial success. Although the film was successful with its box office run, the film was seen as "too dark" for younger children and spawned a controversy. This is the common reason as to why Burton didn't return for third film, and why the studio opted to hire Joel Schumacher to helm Batman Forever towards a younger audience.

Plot

The story begins 33 years ago, at Christmas in Gotham City. The wealthy Cobblepots, having just given birth to a deformed child, drop him in the sewers, abandoning him. Eventually the child comes to rest at the feet of a group of emperor penguins from the zoo. Thirty-three years later, it is Christmas time again in Gotham, as the ambitious but ruthless business tycoon Max Shreck gives a speech at a treelighting ceremony. The speech is then disrupted by a criminal group of clowns known as the "Red Triangle Circus Gang." They fire guns and terrorize people, but Batman is summoned and is able to restore order. Shreck is kidnapped amidst the chaos and is brought to their leader, a short, deformed man known as "The Penguin." Penguin blackmails Shreck with incriminating evidence of his more dubious activities, and as such, Shreck agrees to help Penguin to run for Mayor of Gotham in return.

Shreck arranges for the Penguin to "rescue" the mayor's infant child from his own gang members. The plan works, and Penguin becomes a hero to all except a suspicious Bruce Wayne. After finding out his original birthname of Oswald Cobblepot, he eventually wins the approval of citizens of Gotham and intends to run for Mayor. Schreck attempts to murder his timid secretary Selina Kyle when she discovers a corrupt secret behind his "power plant." She survives the murder attempt after Shreck pushes her out of a skyscraper, and coming back to life due to a rejuvenation of cats surrounding her. Kyle makes a homemade black vinyl costume and pursues her vigilante life as "Catwoman." She bombs Shreck's department store and meets Batman. She then forms a romantic relationship with Bruce Wayne, and allies herself with Penguin to get back at her previous incident with Batman.

When the subsequent plan is put into action, Batman is framed for kidnapping and murder and finds himself trapped in the Batmobile under Penguin's control, barely surviving. Catwoman and Penguin's alliance falls apart when she rebuffs a sexual advance from him, and Penguin opts to kill Catwoman himself. His campaign to recall the current mayor is quickly destroyed when Bruce Wayne plays selected comments he stated while controlling the Batmobile, comments insulting the people of Gotham. The people of Gotham get angry, forcing Penguin to defend himself with his gun umbrella. The police chase after him, but Penguin flees into the sewers, and reveals his secret plan: to kidnap and kill the firstborn sons of Gotham's most prominent families. Bruce meets Selina at a dance party hosted by Shreck, where she reveals to him her intentions to kill Shreck. The two subsequently discover the other's secret identity, but before they can leave to discuss this development, Penguin storms the hall and tries to take Max's son Chip, with Max persuading Penguin to take him instead, and Bruce and Selina depart. Batman, attacks Penguin's Red Triangle Circus goons, and puts a stop to the kidnappings. Penguin then dispatches an army of rocket-armed Penguins to dispatch and bomb Gotham. Batman manages to jam the birds' control signals and turn them around so that they attack the base instead. Fearing that something is amiss, Penguin resents back to Gotham where he encounters Batman. In response Penguin is killed.

Batman then discovers Catwoman intends to kill Shreck at Penguin's base. Shreck tries to bribe Batman, though Batman simply ignores him. Batman tries to talk Catwoman out of vengeance, promising they could live happily together, but she refuses to listen. During the argument, Shreck draws a gun he took from a Red Triangle clown and attempts to kill both of them. Batman is shot at, but the bullet missed while Catwoman is hit four times as she approaches Shreck. This leaves her with only two lives left. Shreck tries to shoot Catwoman a fifth time, but the revolver runs out of bullets. Catwoman then sacrifices her next-to-last life by inserting a live taser into her mouth and pressing her lips to Shreck's, while grabbing onto an electrical generator. A huge explosion follows, though as the smoke clears away, Batman tries to find Selina in the debris. The corpse of Shreck is found, but Penguin emerges from the slimy water and tires to kill Batman once again and falls to his death. The film ends as the Batsignal lights up, showing Catwoman starring towards it.

Cast

• Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne / Batman: Continuing his quest as Gotham City's sole-protector, in his wake he meets Selina Kyle, and clashes with newly anti-heroine Catwoman. His situation becomes complicated due to the arrival of a mysterious "Penguin-like Man" spotted throughout Gotham. Keaton wasn't signed for a second installment and only returned after a serious hike in his salary.^[1]
• Danny DeVito as Oswald Cobblepot / The Penguin: Abandoned at birth by due to his hideous appearance by his aristocratic parents, he spends his life living in the sewers of Gotham City. He eventually rises and thickens a plot to take over Gotham as its new Mayor. Although not already being cast in the role, writer Daniel Waters was told many times that DeVito was set to take the role, and wrote the character with DeVito in mind with no other actor under consideration.^[2] Burton only had one meeting with the actor before signing on, in which DeVito would spend two hours a day in make-up.^[1]
• Michelle Pfeiffer as Selina Kyle / Catwoman: Former quiet and shy secretary for Max Schreck, she transforms into Catwoman after an incident with her boss. In the wake, she serves as an adversary for both Batman and Bruce Wayne. According to producer Denise Di Novi, every single actress in Hollywood between the ages of 25 and 42 desperately wanted the role.^[3] Among them included Raquel Welch, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Lena Olin, Ellen Barkin, Cher, Bridget Fonda and Susan Sarandon.^[4] Annette Bening was originally cast in the role after Burton was impressed with her performance in The Grifters. She would eventually drop out during pre-production upon finding out she was pregnant.^[1] Burton felt that Pfeiffer "was the one and only other obvious choice for the role." However, Sean Young, who had been cast as Vicki Vale eventually played by Kim Basinger in the original Batman until she became injured in a horse riding accident, believed the role should have gone to her. She would visit Warner Brothers offices and studio lots dressed up in a homemade costume demanding an audition. She then visited The Joan Rivers Show dressed in the outfit stating that the situation was unfair. Burton then called her costume an "outfit more appropriate for a female wrestling movie."^[5] Young quoted, "I didn't even get to talk to anyone. Hollywood is just a bunch of weenies." Pfeiffer joined the film, but toke a percentage of the box office gross and a signing fee of $3 million ($2 million more than Bening's original salary),^[1] and even going as far as to learn kick-boxing lessons.^[6]
• Christopher Walken as Max Shreck: A powerful business mogul who serves as the boss of Selina Kyle and unusual ally to the Penguin. The character is a reference to the actor of the same name, who is most notably known for portraying Count Orlok in Nosferatu. Casting director Marion Dougherty first suggested Walken, though Burton stated "I'm afraid of him." Burton felt that would be perfect and as such, was cast in the role. Waters stated the character was originally suppose to be "the golden child" of the Cobblepot whereas The Penguin would be the deformed outside. When Wesley Strick took over, the idea was then deleted.^[7]
• Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth: Bruce Wayne's faithful butler.
• Pat Hingle as Commissioner James Gordon: The police commissioner of Gotham City.
• Michael Murphy as The Mayor: The Mayor of Gotham City, who is being interrupted by the election of Oswald Cobblepot.
• Vincent Schiavelli as The Organ Grinder: One of Penguin's many strange assistants.
• Anna Katarina as The Poodle Lady: One of Penguin's many strange assistants.
• Andrew Bryniarski as Charles "Chip" Shreck: The son of Max Schreck.

Sam Hamm originally had Harvey Dent becoming Two-Face in his drafts of the script. Waters claimed he "flirted with it," although it was only to be a very small subplot. Dent was deleted as Burton didn't want the film to have connections with the previous Batman film.^[2] The role was to have been played by Billy Dee Williams who portrayed the character in Batman. Williams stated he accepted the role with the knowledge and expectation that Dent would eventually become Two-Face. He admitted to have had a clause put into his contract reserving the role for him in any sequels, which Warner Brothers had to buy out so they could cast Tommy Lee Jones in the same role for Batman Forever. ^[8] Burton briefly spoke of the situation as well, thinking of the idea to be interesting of using Williams as Two-Face for a possible third Batman installment before giving the directing reins to Joel Schumacher.^[9]

The studio desperately wanted Robin to appear in the film. He was originally suppose to appear in the original film, though Burton and Hamm convinced Warner Brothers otherwise. Waters found writing the character very hard as he quoted, "Tim and I personally hate him, he's just the most worthless character in the world, especially with Tim's conception of Batman as the loner of loners." Waters had visioned Robin as the leader of a street gang (though before he was written as an African American), to which he forms a "hard-edged" relationship with Batman.^[2]

Waters and Burton argued that there were too many characters in the script and then visioned another version of the character. He was then written as an intelligent African-American working in a autoshop garage. He was to supposedly fix the Batmobile after Penguin wrecks it. Waters quoted that he costume was to be "an old-fashioned garage mechanic uniform and it just has an 'R' on it." There was also to be a seen where he drives the Batmobile in the seem manner he does in Batman Forever, which Waters feels, "they [the writers of Batman Forever] ripped me off! They didn't even give me free popcorn for that!"^[2] Marlon Wayans was cast in the role, after the filmmakers were impressed with his screen test, and was even paid with a contract of two films. He was, of course, initially cast in the role for Batman Forever, however Wayans quoted, "They decided they wanted somebody white."^[10]

Production

Development

Although a sequel was an obvious move, Tim Burton had not been signed up in advance and after the release of Batman, Burton publicly described a second installment as "a most dumbfounded idea." On the first film, Burton quoted, "There's parts I liked, but it was a little boring at times. Oftentimes with sequels, they're like the same movie except everything gets jacked up a little. I didn't feel I could do that; I wanted to treat this like it was another Batman movie altogether." Sam Hamm of the first film was hired to write the script, though after a disappointing first draft that had The Penguin and Catwoman going after hidden treasure, Burton brought in Daniel Waters.^[1] Burton was impressed with his work on Heathers, and originally brought him in for writing a sequel to Beetlejuice. However, a year later, Burton Burton felt for him to be perfect for Hamm's replacement.^[2] It was at this time that Warner Brothers decided to give him full creative control.^[1]

Burton was excited with Waters' new pitch that had an evil mogul (Max Schreck) backing a bid for the Mayor's office by The Penguin.^[1] Waters claimed that Hamm wrote a "old-fashioned, almost like a Hardy Boys action adventure." On Hamm's original characterization of Catwoman Waters stated that he "went back to the comic book and the way comic books in general treat women, like a fetishy sexual fantasy." Waters felt that he needed to see the film through her Point of View. He felt that Catwoman should "start off just at the lowest point in society," thus Waters went with a secretary.^[2] Wesley Strick would eventually rewrite the shooting script unaccredited.^[1]

Strick stated he was solely brought in for to come up with a solution with "Penguin's lack of a master plan." Strick says he was presented with "the usual boring ideas to do with warming the city, or freezing the city (which ended up in Batman & Robin)." Strick pitched an alternative approach, inspired by the Moses parallels of Walter's prologue, in which the infant Oswald Cobblepot is bundled in a basket and thrown in the river where he floats helplessly until he's saved (and subsequently raised) by Gotham's sewer denizens. He came up with Penguin's "master plan" is to kill the firstborn sons of Gotham City. Both the studio and Burton were impressed with the idea, though Strick claims the toy manufacturers were worried.^[11]

Filming

Although Warner Brothers had, at great expense, kept Anton Furst's sets of Gotham City in Batman at Pinewood Studios, Burton thought elsewhere. He felt the sequel should have a completely different production design and instead went to Warners' lot in Burbank. Furst, the production designer of the first film was offered to once again take the opportunity, though was forced to decline due to "contractual reasons." Burton hired Bo Welch, whom he previously worked with on Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands. Furst would eventually commit suicide three months after Batman Returns began filming in September 1991. To create Penguin's bird army a combination of techniques were utilized including men in suits, computer-generated imagery, robotic creatures and real life Penguins.^[12]

Burton quoted, "They could have brought somebody else in for the sequel, and had the same sets, and shot in London, but I couldn't do that because I'd have lost interest. I wanted to treat it like it was another movie altogether, there's no point in doing the exact same thing again." In early 1991, two of Hollywood's largest sound-stages, Stage 16 at Warner Brothers and Stage 12 at Universal Pictures, were prepared for the production for the sets of Batman Returns. Eight other buildings were used on the Warner Brothers lot, and concluded at least 50% of the studio's outlets were occupied by the filming of Batman Returns. Stage 16 was used primarily for "Gotham Plaza," which was based on New York's Rockefeller Centre. Stage 16 was covered with foam and polyester fabric stuffing to stimulate snowdrifts. Universal's Stage 12 housed the Penguin's underground lair, an enormous tank filled with half-a-million gallons of water and a simulated ice floe island.^[1]

The sets were kept frozen to simulate the winter time period of the film and for the pleasure of the Penguins at stage 16. Filming was to remain very secretive. Picture ID cards were issued to everyone on set, with an ominous code name, "Dictel" (short, insists Burton, for "Dictatorial") being stamped on sensitive documents. Art department personnel were advised to keep their office curtains closed at all times; no visitors were allowed near the sets, with even Kevin Costner being refused; and everyone involved was required to sign a document guaranteeing that they wouldn't specifically hold interviews with news sources. However, about midway through filming, a few test shots of DeVito in costume found their way into an American entertainment magazine. Warner Brothers hired a group of private investigators to track down the source, though the ploy ultimately failed.^[1]

Music

Danny Elfman stated he was calm on writing the film score for a sequel, as he "didn't have to prove himself,"^[13] in a situation he had to for producer Jon Peters in Batman.^[14] Elfman claims he would not have been interested if he were "to basically perform the same notes from the original film," and was excited for the idea that Tim Burton wanted to make a completely different film. Elfman compared scoring the music with a combination of, "a usual action film score, mixed with a clashing of an Opera, and finally adding the element of silent film-like feel." Elfman called the experience, "the hardest film I've composed yet." His daily work routine consisted of working from Noon up through two in the morning, with small minimal breaks that included dinner and visits with friends/family. Though the stress and the work level was indeed very hard, Elfman found it fun and exhilarating. He claimed he took advantage of the opportunity on writing an additional 20 minutes of music compared to Batman and writing two new themes for The Penguin and Catwoman. In total, Elfman wrote 95 minutes of music for the film, which is twice the amount of the usual guideline. He also compared the action sequences to that of "composing a cartoon in the 1940s."^[13]

Reception

Batman Returns opened in America on July 19, 1992 and shattered its predecessor's record for the most successful three-day opening in history with receipts of $47.7 million, and would eventually gross $268 million worldwide. Even though the film was considered by many to be "too dark," Burton to this day thinks otherwise, feeling that Batman was far darker within itself than Batman Returns. All in all, he garners Batman Returns as his favorite between the two.^[15]

Batman Returns is currently the fourth highest grossing Batman film to date,^[16] and was also the third highest grossing film of 1992 (only losing to Aladdin and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York).^[17] Based on 42 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, Batman Returns received an average 81% overall approval rating;^[18] the film received a 57% with the seven critics in Rotten Tomatoes' "Cream of the Crop."^[19] Currently it is the second highest ranked Batman film, only below Batman Begins.

Those who supported the film were largely enthusiastic. Phillip Thomas of Empire was highly effecting stating, "Burton continues to capture the essence of the Batman legend and more importantly his audiences imagination."^[20] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone supported the main themes that included the story, characters, and visual citing that "Burton uses the summer's most explosively entertaining movie to lead us back into the liberating darkness of dreams."^[21]

Paul Dini was impressed with the characterization of Bruce Wayne, while other comic book enthusiasts thought otherwise. One criticism was that the script lacked any character development for Batman, and instead focused on the villains. In response to this, writer Daniel Waters claimed he originally had an excessive amount of screen time and dialogue for Michael Keaton, though claimed it was personally Keaton's idea to delete objectionable material. Having Batman killing criminals also caused some controversy among comic book fans, they argued that in the comics Batman refrains from killing, fearing he may himself become a criminal. Waters stated "you can't drop bad guys on a spider-web in front of city hall (obviously referring to Spider-Man)." Waters continued saying, "in times like these, you sometimes have to reach desperate measures."^[22]

Bruce Timm was impressed with Michelle Pfeiffer's performance^[23] while Alex Ross was embarrassed to have liked Christopher Walken in a role that was created specifically for the film.^[7] Critics of Tim Burton's work have constantly pointed to what they term his inability to tell a coherent story, and with Batman Returns, he was again accused of sacrificing the narrative for the sake of the visuals. This style of film making is what many consider "style-over-substance." In defense Burton stated, "it's just how my brain works."^[15]

Batman Returns was nominated for two Academy Awards, though not winning either. It lost "Best Visual Effects" to Death Becomes Her and "Best Makeup" to Bram Stoker's Dracula.^[24] Pfeiffer was nominated for "Most Desirable Female" at the MTV Movie Awards, but lost to Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct. Both Keaton and Pfeiffer were nominated for "Best Kiss" but lost out to Marisa Tomei and Christian Slater in Untamed Heart. Danny DeVito would be nominated for "Best Villain" though ended up loosing to Jennifer Jason Leigh in Single White Female.^[25] DeVito was once again nominated for "Worst Supporting Actor" in the Razzie Awards before loosing to Tom Selleck in Christopher Columbus: The Discovery.^[26]

References

External links

• Batman Returns at IMDb
• Batman Returns at Rotten Tomatoes
• Batman Returns at Box Office Mojo