Yesterday, Sunday, June 23, marked 35 years since the premiere of ‘Batman’ of Tim Burton in the United States, a date that is not trivial, and if today we talk about a crisis in superhero cinema, in 1989 it was practically non-existent. Only the adaptations of ‘Superman’ with Christopher Reeve they had reached a certain standard of quality on the big screen, and Marvel, for its part, was unable to hit the mark. Thus, in the 80s we would see absolutely mediocre films like ‘Captain America’ or ‘The Punisher’, with Dolph Lundgren. It had to be Burton who set a new bar with the help of Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson.
And none of them were the first choice to play Batman and the Joker respectively, although well, Nicholson actually was, although with a nuance. The already veteran actor received an offer that he initially considered insufficient, so Warner Bros. made another one for Robin Williams that was nothing more than a bluff to pressure Nicholson to accept, something he finally did.. On the other hand, the person in charge of stepping into the shoes of Batman/Bruce Wayne was initially going to be Mel Gibson.
‘Batman’ was a huge success in theaters, far exceeding 400 million in revenue worldwide, and becoming the first film in history to reach 100 million after just ten days in theaters.
One of the keys to that success was the Batmobile, still considered the best ever, with an absolutely groundbreaking design, something that is easy to understand knowing how it was built, and it was a kind of LEGO made up of the best pieces. . Its chassis and interior were that of a Chevrolet Impala, a truly cult vehicle for fans of the classics and which today can easily exceed 60,000 euros on the second-hand market. As if that were not enough, the rear lights of a Ferrari, parts of a fighter engine and even some of a London bus were added, forming a spectacular vehicle that not even the tank type from Christopher Nolan’s trilogy has been able to make us forget. .
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Three sequels would come after this. ‘Batman returns’ managed to repeat the good reception of the original, with practically the same team as that one plus the addition of two stars like Danny DeVito (Penguin) and Michelle Pfeiffer (Catwoman). Unfortunately, the saga went into a tailspin with ‘Batman Forever’, directed by Joel Schumacher and in which Val Kilmer took over from Keaton, with Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones playing Riddler and Two-Face respectively. However, the lowest point was yet to come, with the true nonsense that was ‘Batman and Robin’with Chris O’Donnell (Robin), Uma Thruman (Poison Ivy) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (Mr. Freeze), and with George Clooney in the role of Batman, in a role in which it is enough to know that the most remembered were the infamous nipples from her suit.
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