Batman Forever

''Batman Forever'' is a 1995 American superhero film based on the DC Comics character Batman by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. It is the third installment of the ''Batman'' film series, acting as a standalone sequel to ''Batman Returns''. Directed by Joel Schumacher and produced by Tim Burton and Peter MacGregor-Scott, it stars Val Kilmer as Bruce Wayne / Batman, replacing Michael Keaton, alongside Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey, Nicole Kidman, and Chris O'Donnell. The film follows Batman as he attempts to prevent Two-Face (Jones) and the Riddler (Carrey) from uncovering his secret identity and extracting information from the minds of Gotham City's residents, while at the same time navigating his feelings for psychologist Dr. Chase Meridian (Kidman) and adopting orphaned acrobat Dick Grayson (O'Donnell)—who becomes his partner and best friend, Robin.

Schumacher mostly eschewed the dark, dystopian atmosphere of Burton's films by drawing inspiration from the Batman comic books of the Dick Sprang era, as well as the 1960s television series. After Keaton chose not to reprise his role, William Baldwin and Ethan Hawke were considered as a replacement, before Val Kilmer joined the cast.

''Batman Forever'' was released on June 16, 1995, to mixed reviews from critics, who praised the visuals, action sequences, and soundtrack, but criticized the screenplay and tonal departure from the previous two films. The film was a box office success, grossing over $336 million worldwide and becoming the sixth-highest-grossing film of 1995. It was followed by '' Batman & Robin'' in 1997, with Schumacher returning as the director, O'Donnell returning as Robin, and George Clooney replacing Kilmer as Batman.

Plot

In Gotham City, Batman defuses a hostage situation orchestrated by the criminal Two-Face, formerly district attorney Harvey Dent, who escapes. Flashbacks reveal that Batman failed to prevent Dent's disfigurement with acid by mobster Sal Maroni, causing Dent to develop a split personality, make decisions based on the flip of a coin, and swear vengeance against Batman.

Edward Nygma, an eccentric and egotistical researcher at Wayne Enterprises, approaches his employer, Bruce Wayne, to present an invention that can beam television signals directly into the brain, demanding immediate approval directly from Bruce. Bruce rejects the device, as he is irritated by Nygma and is concerned that the technology could manipulate minds. After killing his abusive supervisor and staging it as a suicide, Nygma resigns and plots revenge against Bruce, sending him riddles. Criminal psychologist Chase Meridian diagnoses Nygma as psychotic.

Bruce attends a circus with Chase. Two-Face hijacks the event and threatens to detonate a bomb unless Batman reveals his identity. Dick Grayson, the youngest member of the Flying Graysons family of acrobats, manages to throw the bomb into a river, but Two-Face kills his family in the process. Bruce invites the now-orphaned Dick to live at Wayne Manor as his ward, where he discovers that Bruce is Batman. Seeking to avenge the death of his family, Dick demands to join Batman in crime-fighting, hoping to kill Two-Face, but Bruce declines in order to help Dick move on instead, as he is considering retirement.

Nygma becomes the Riddler and teams up with Two-Face. They commit a series of robberies to finance Nygma's new company and mass-produce his brainwave device dubbed the Box, which steals information from minds and transfers it to Nygma's, increasing his intelligence but also slowly causing him to lose his grip on reality. At a party hosted by Nygma, Batman pursues Two-Face and is almost killed until Dick saves him.

Batman visits Chase, who explains that she has fallen in love with Bruce, and Bruce reveals his secret identity to her. Having discovered Bruce's secret through the Box, on Halloween night, Two-Face and the Riddler destroy the Batcave, shoot Bruce, and abduct Chase. As Bruce recovers, he and his butler, Alfred Pennyworth, deduce that Nygma is the Riddler. Bruce finally accepts Dick as his best friend and partner, Robin.

At the Riddler's lair, Robin defeats Two-Face but chooses to spare him, allowing Two-Face to capture Robin at gunpoint. The Riddler reveals his final riddle: Chase and Robin, representing the two sides of Batman's personality, are trapped in tubes above a deadly drop, and he only has the time to save one. Batman distracts the Riddler with a riddle himself, before destroying the Riddler's brainwave receiver with a Batarang, damaging the Riddler's mind and enabling Batman to rescue both when he sees the floor is an optical illusion. Two-Face corners them and flips his coin to decide their fate, but Batman throws a handful of identical coins in the air, causing Two-Face to fall to his death.

Committed to Arkham Asylum, Nygma exclaims that he is Batman, having become completely delusional due to his scrambled memories. Bruce resumes his crusade as Batman, with Robin as his partner.

Cast

* Val Kilmer as Bruce Wayne / Batman: A wealthy industrialist who duly works as Gotham City's vigilante protector but now struggles with his dual identity, becoming romantically involved with Dr. Chase Meridian and questioning his act of vengeance. Kilmer replaces Michael Keaton from the first two films.
* Tommy Lee Jones as Harvey Dent / Two-Face: The district attorney of Gotham City, who becomes a gangster bent on killing Batman for failing to save him when a crime boss throws acid at him during a trial, scarring half his face and damaging his brain. Billy Dee Williams, who played the role in the first film, was supposed to reprise the role, but Schumacher wanted to work with Jones again after working with him on '' The Client''.
* Jim Carrey as Edward Nygma / The Riddler: A Wayne Enterprises employee who becomes a criminal mastermind leaving riddles and puzzles at crime scenes after his newest invention is personally rejected by Bruce.
* Nicole Kidman as Dr. Chase Meridian: A virtous psychologist and love interest of Bruce who can use martial arts.
* Chris O'Donnell as Richard "Dick" Grayson / Robin: A circus acrobat taken in by Bruce after Two-Face murders his parents, who becomes Batman's sidekick Robin upon discovering the Batcave and learning Bruce's secret identity.
* Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth: The Wayne family's faithful butler and Bruce's confidant.
* Pat Hingle as James Gordon: The police commissioner of Gotham City.
* George Wallace as The Mayor: The unnamed mayor of Gotham City and the successor of Roscoe Jenkins.
* Drew Barrymore as Sugar: Two-Face's "good" angel-esque assistant.
* Debi Mazar as Spice: Two-Face's "bad" goth assistant.
* Ed Begley Jr. as Fred Stickley: Edward Nygma's ill-tempered supervisor at Wayne Enterprises, whom Nygma kills after Stickley discovers the true nature of Nygma's invention. Begley was uncredited for this role.
* Ofer Samra as Harvey's Thug
* Elizabeth Sanders as Gossip Gerty: Gotham's top gossip columnist.
* René Auberjonois as Dr. Burton: Head Doctor of Arkham Asylum.
* Larry A. Lee as John Grayson: Dick Grayson's father and leader of the Flying Graysons
* Glory Fioramonti as Mary Grayson: Dick Grayson's mother
* En Vogue as girls on the corner who are hoping to see Batman.
* Joe Grifasi as Hawkins: A bank guard and Two-Face's hostage during the opening scene.
* Michael Paul Chan as Assistant #1
* Jon Favreau as Assistant #2

Additionally, United States Senator and Batman fan Patrick Leahy makes an uncredited appearance as himself.

Production

Development

''Batman Returns'' was released in 1992 with financial success and generally favorable reviews from critics, but Warner Bros. was disappointed with its box office run, having made $150 million less than the first film. After ''Batman Returns'' was deemed too dark and inappropriate for children, with McDonald's even recalling their Happy Meal tie-in, Warner Bros. decided that this was the primary cause of the film's financial results. After the film's release, Warner Bros. was not interested in Tim Burton's return as director. Burton noted he was unsure about returning to direct, writing: "I don't think Warner Bros. wanted me to direct a third ''Batman''. I even said that to them." Burton and Warner Bros. mutually agreed to part ways, though Burton would stay on as producer. John McTiernan turned down an offer to direct. In June 1993, Joel Schumacher was selected by Warner Bros. while he was filming '' The Client'', and with Burton's approval.

Lee and Janet Scott-Batchler, a husband-and-wife screenwriting team, were hired to write the script. Warner Bros. had lost a bidding war for their spec script titled ''Smoke and Mirrors'' to Disney's Hollywood Pictures. The project ultimately fell through, and Warner Bros. offered the Batchlers several of their film properties to write. Being familiar with the ''Batman'' comics from their childhood, the Batchlers chose to work on the next ''Batman'' film as their next project. In a meeting with Burton, they agreed that "the key element to Batman is his duality. And it's not just that Batman is Bruce Wayne".

Their original script introduced a psychotic Riddler, real name Lyle Heckendorf, with a pet rat accompanying him. A scene cut from the final film included Heckendorf obtaining his costume from a fortune-telling leprechaun at the circus. Instead of NygmaTech, the company would have been named HeckTech. The story elements and much of the dialogue still remained in the finished film, though Schumacher felt it could be "lighte e down". Keaton initially approved the selection of Schumacher as director and planned on reprising his role as Batman from the first two films. Schumacher claims he originally had in mind an adaptation of Frank Miller's '' Batman: Year One'' and Keaton claimed that he was enthusiastic about the idea. Warner Bros. rejected the idea as they wanted a sequel, not a prequel, though Schumacher was able to include very brief events in Bruce Wayne's childhood with some events of the comic ''The Dark Knight Returns''. Akiva Goldsman, who worked with Schumacher on ''The Client'', was brought in to rewrite the script, deleting the initial idea of bringing in the Scarecrow as a villain with Riddler, and the return of Catwoman. Burton, who now was more interested in directing ''Ed Wood'', later reflected he was taken aback by some of the focus group meetings for ''Batman Forever'', a title he hated. Producer Peter MacGregor-Scott represented the studio's aim in making a film for the MTV Generation, with full merchandising appeal.

Casting

Production went on fast track with Rene Russo cast as Chase Meridian, but Keaton decided not to reprise Batman because he did not like the direction the series was headed in, and rejected the script. Keaton’s departure was announced in July 1994. Keaton also wanted to pursue "more interesting roles", turning down $15 million. A decision was made to go with a younger actor for Bruce Wayne, and an offer was made to Ethan Hawke, who turned it down, but eventually regretted the decision; he would eventually voice the character in the preschool animated series ''Batwheels'' in 2022. Schumacher had seen Val Kilmer in ''Tombstone'', but was also interested in William Baldwin, Ralph Fiennes (who would later voice Alfred Pennyworth in ''The Lego Batman Movie'' in 2017), and Daniel Day-Lewis. While Burton pushed for Johnny Depp to get the role, Kurt Russell was also considered. Kilmer, who as a child visited the studios where the 1960s series was recorded, and shortly before had visited a bat cave in Africa, was contacted by his agent for the role. Kilmer signed on by July 1994 without reading the script or knowing who the director was.

With Kilmer's casting, Warner Bros. dropped Russo, considering her too old to be paired with Kilmer. Jeanne Tripplehorn and Linda Hamilton were considered for the role, which was eventually recast with Nicole Kidman. Kidman later revealed she took the role because she "wanted to kiss Batman." Billy Dee Williams took the role of Harvey Dent in ''Batman'' on the possibility of portraying Two-Face in a sequel, but Schumacher cast Tommy Lee Jones in the role, although Al Pacino, Clint Eastwood, Martin Sheen and Robert De Niro were considered, after working with him on ''The Client''. Jones was reluctant to accept the role, but did so at his son's insistence.

Robin Williams was in discussions to be the Riddler at one point, and was reportedly in competition for the role with John Malkovich. In June 1994, the role was given to Jim Carrey after Williams had reportedly turned it down. In a 2003 interview, Schumacher stated Michael Jackson had lobbied hard for the role, but was turned down before Carrey was cast. Brad Dourif (who was Burton's original choice to portray the Joker and Scarecrow after), Kelsey Grammer, Micky Dolenz, Matthew Broderick, Phil Hartman and Steve Martin were said to have been considered.

Robin had appeared in the shooting script for ''Batman Returns'' but was deleted due to having too many characters. Marlon Wayans had been cast in the role and signed on for a potential sequel, but when Schumacher took over, he decided to open up casting to other actors. Leonardo DiCaprio was considered, but decided not to pursue the role after a meeting with Schumacher. Among others, Matt Damon, Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, Mark Wahlberg, Michael Worth, Toby Stephens, Ewan McGregor, Jude Law, Alan Cumming and Scott Speedman were considered. Chris O'Donnell was cast and Mitch Gaylord served as his stunt double, and also portrayed Mitch Grayson, Dick's older brother, created for the film. Schumacher attempted to create a cameo role for Bono as his MacPhisto character, but both came to agree it was not suitable for the film.

Filming

Principal photography began on September 24, 1994, and wrapped on March 5, 1995. Schumacher hired Barbara Ling for production design, claiming that the film needed a "force" and good design. Ling could "advance on it". Schumacher wanted a design in no way connected to the previous films, and instead inspired by the images from the ''Batman'' comic books seen in the 1940s/early 1950s and New York City architecture in the 1930s, with a combination of modern Tokyo. He also wanted a "city with personality," with more statues, as well as various amounts of neon.

Difficulties and clashes

Schumacher and Kilmer clashed during the making of the film; Schumacher described Kilmer as "childish and impossible," reporting that he fought with various crewmen, and refused to speak to Schumacher for two weeks after the director told him to stop being rude. Schumacher also mentioned Tommy Lee Jones as a source of trouble: "Jim Carrey was a gentleman, and Tommy Lee was threatened by him. I'm tired of defending overpaid, overprivileged actors. I pray I don't work with them again." In a 2014 interview, Carrey acknowledged that Jones was not friendly to him, and recounted an incident wherein Jones told him: "I hate you. I really don't like you ... I cannot sanction your buffoonery."

Design and visual effects

Rick Baker designed the prosthetic makeup. John Dykstra, Andrew Adamson and Jim Rygiel served as visual effects supervisors, with Rhythm & Hues Studios (R&H) and Pacific Data Images also contributing to visual effects work. R&H and PDI provided a CGI Batman for complicated stunts. For the costume design, producer Peter MacGregor-Scott claimed that 146 workers were at one point working together. Batman's costume was redesigned along the lines of a more "MTV organic, and edgier feel" to the suit. Sound design and mixing was created and supervised by Bruce Stambler and John Levesque, which included trips to caves to record bat sounds. A new Batmobile was designed for ''Batman Forever'', with two cars being constructed, one for stunt purposes and one for close-ups. Chris O'Donnell had the area around his eyes painted black and then the Robin mask glued on him. Swiss surrealist painter H. R. Giger provided his version for the Batmobile but it was considered too sinister for the film.

The film used some motion capture for certain visual effects. Warner Bros. had acquired motion capture technology from arcade video game company Acclaim Entertainment for use in the film's production.

Music

Elliot Goldenthal was hired by Schumacher to compose the film score before the screenplay was written. In discussions with Schumacher, the director wanted Goldenthal to avoid taking inspiration from Danny Elfman, and requested an original composition. The film's promotional teaser trailer however used the main title theme from Elfman's score of 1989's ''Batman''.

The soundtrack was commercially successful, selling almost as many copies as Prince's soundtrack to the 1989 ''Batman'' film. Only five of the songs on the soundtrack are actually featured in the movie. Hit singles from the soundtrack include "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" by U2 and "Kiss from a Rose" by Seal, both of which were nominated for MTV Movie Awards. "Kiss from a Rose" (whose music video was also directed by Joel Schumacher) reached No. 1 in the U.S. charts as well. The soundtrack itself, featuring additional songs by The Flaming Lips, Brandy (both songs also included in the film), Method Man, Nick Cave, Michael Hutchence (of INXS), PJ Harvey and Massive Attack, was an attempt to (in producer Peter MacGregor-Scott's words) make the film more "pop".

Release

Marketing

In addition to a large line of toys, video games and action figures from Kenner, the McDonald's food chain released several collectibles and mugs to coincide with the release of the film. Peter David and Alan Grant wrote separate novelizations of the film. Dennis O'Neil authored a comic book adaptation, with art by Michal Dutkiewicz.

Six Flags Great Adventure theme park re-themed their "Axis Chemical" arena, home of the Batman stunt show, to resemble ''Batman Forever'', and the new show featured props from the film. Six Flags Over Texas featured a one-time fireworks show to promote the movie, and replica busts of Batman, Robin, Two-Face, and the Riddler could be found in the Justice League store in the Looney Tunes U.S.A. section until they were removed in 2023. Batman: The Ride opened at Six Flags St. Louis to promote the movie. At Six Flags Over Georgia, The Mind Bender roller coaster was redesigned to look as though it were the creation of The Riddler and some images and props were used in the design of the roller coaster and its queue.

Video games

Video games based on the film were released. A video game of the same name, was released in 1995 for Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Sega Genesis, Game Gear, R-Zone and MS-DOS, it was followed by '' Batman & Robin'' for the PlayStation, to promote the release of the film. Two arcade versions, '' Batman Forever: The Arcade Game'', was released in 1996 and was ported to the three consoles, and a pinball machine based on the film was released in 1995 by Sega Pinball.

Home media

''Batman Forever'' was released on VHS and LaserDisc on October 31, 1995. Over 3 million VHS copies were sold during the first week of release. The film was then released on DVD on May 20, 1997. This release was a double sided disc containing both widescreen (1.85:1) and full screen (1.33:1) versions of the film. ''Batman Forever'' made its Blu-ray debut on April 20, 2010. This was followed by an Ultra HD Blu-ray release on June 4, 2019.

Deleted scenes

''Batman Forever'' went through a few major edits before its release. Originally darker than the final product, the film's original length was closer to two hours and forty minutes, according to Schumacher. There was talk of an extended cut being released to DVD for the film's tenth anniversary in 2005. While all four previous ''Batman'' films were given special-edition DVD releases on the same day as the ''Batman Begins'' DVD release, none of them were given extended cuts, although some scenes were in a deleted scenes section in the special features.

Reception

Box office

''Batman Forever'' opened in a record 2,842 theaters and 4,300 screens in the United States and Canada on June 16, 1995, grossing $52.8 million in its opening weekend, taking ''Jurassic Park''s record for having the highest opening-weekend gross of all time (it was surpassed two years later by '' The Lost World: Jurassic Park''s $72.1 million). For six years, it had the largest opening weekend for a Warner Bros. film until 2001, when it was surpassed by ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone''. The film also achieved the highest June opening weekend, holding that record until it was beaten by '' Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me'' in 1999, which would then be overtaken by ''Hulk'' in 2003. It was the first film to gross $20 million in one day, on its opening day on Friday. The film also beat out '' Congo'' to reach the number one spot. It grossed $77.4 million in its first week, which was below the record $81.7 million set by ''Jurassic Park''.

Additionally, the film held the record for having the highest opening weekend for a superhero film until it was taken by ''X-Men'' in 2000. That year, '' How the Grinch Stole Christmas'' broke ''Batman Forever''s record for scoring the biggest opening weekend for any film starring Jim Carrey. While the film was overtaken by ''Pocahontas'' during its second weekend, it still made $29.2 million. It then became the first film of 1995 to reach $100 million domestically. The film started its international roll out in Japan on June 17, 1995, and grossed $2.2 million in 5 days from 167 screens, which was only 80% of the gross of its predecessor ''Batman Returns''.

The film went on to gross $184 million in the United States and Canada, and $152.5 million in other countries, totaling $336.53 million. The film grossed more than ''Batman Returns'', and is the second-highest-grossing film from 1995 in the United States, behind ''Toy Story'', as well as the sixth-highest-grossing film of that year worldwide.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, ''Batman Forever'' has an approval rating of 39% based on 71 reviews, with an average rating of 5.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Loud, excessively busy, and often boring, ''Batman Forever'' nonetheless has the charisma of Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones to offer mild relief." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Peter Travers of ''Rolling Stone'' wrote: "''Batman Forever'' still gets in its licks. There's no fun machine this summer that packs more surprises." Travers criticized the film's excessive commercialism and felt that "the script misses the pain Tim Burton caught in a man tormented by the long-ago murder of his parents", but praised Kilmer's performance as having a "deftly understated ..comic edge". James Berardinelli of ''ReelViews'' enjoyed the film, writing: "It's lighter, brighter, funnier, faster-paced, and a whole lot more colorful than before."

On the television program '' Siskel & Ebert'', Gene Siskel of the ''Chicago Tribune'' and Roger Ebert of the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' both gave the film mixed reviews, but with the former giving it a thumbs up and the latter a thumbs down. In his written review, Ebert wrote: "Is the movie better entertainment? Well, it's great bubblegum for the eyes. Younger children will be able to process it more easily; some kids were led bawling from ''Batman Returns'' where the PG-13 rating was a joke."

Mick LaSalle of the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' had a mixed reaction, concluding: "a shot of Kilmer's rubber buns at one point is guaranteed to bring squeals from the audience." Brian Lowry of '' Variety'' believed: "One does have to question the logic behind adding nipples to the hard-rubber batsuit. Whose idea was that supposed to be anyway, Alfred's? Some of the computer-generated Gotham cityscapes appear too obviously fake. Elliot Goldenthal's score, while serviceable, also isn't as stirring as Danny Elfman's work in the first two films."

Some observers thought Schumacher, a gay man, added possible homoerotic innuendo in the storyline. Regarding the costume design, Schumacher stated: "I had no idea that putting nipples on the Batsuit and Robin suit were going to spark international headlines. The bodies of the suits come from Ancient Greek statues, which display perfect bodies. They are anatomically correct." O'Donnell felt: "it wasn't so much the nipples that bothered me. It was the codpiece. The press obviously played it up and made it a big deal, especially with Joel directing. I didn't think twice about the controversy, but going back and looking and seeing some of the pictures, it was very unusual."

Accolades

At the 68th Academy Awards, ''Batman Forever'' was nominated for Cinematography (lost to ''Braveheart''), Sound ( Donald O. Mitchell, Frank A. Montaño, Michael Herbick and Petur Hliddal; lost to ''Apollo 13'') and Sound Effects Editing ( John Leveque and Bruce Stambler; also lost to ''Braveheart'').

"Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" by U2 was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song (lost to "Colors of the Wind" from ''Pocahontas''), but was also nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song (lost to "Walk into the Wind" from '' Showgirls'').

At the 22nd Saturn Awards

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