John Marston Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 (edited) this movie is the definition of an event movie. the movie seemed massively hyped ever since it was announced as a movie that would go back to the original way Batman was in comparison to the way he was portrayed in the 60s TV show. the summer was apparently the summer of "Batmania" Quote In the months pre-dating Batman's release in June 1989, a popular culture phenomenon rose known as "Batmania".[42] Over $750 million worth of merchandise was sold.[31] Cult filmmaker and comic book writer Kevin Smith remembered: "That summer was huge. You couldn't turn around without seeing the Bat-Signal somewhere. People were cutting it into their fucking heads. It was just the summer of Batman and if you were a comic book fan it was pretty hot. in the making of, they talk about people paying to see other movies just to see the trailer and then leaving when the trailer was over. Since there was no Internet then, I can see that. The movie has a listed budget of 35 million but it apparently went over budget to something like 48 million. The movie was of course gigantic. It broke the opening weekend record (just a week after Ghostbusters 2 broke the record) with $40,489,746 which adjusts to $88,220,700 and it finished with $251,188,924 which adjusts to $544,557,400. It was easily the highest grossing movie of the year domestically and beat Indiana Jones 3 for the domestic crown, though worldwide Indy would win. Interestingly, history would repeat itself 19 years later with another Batman film with the Joker and arguably had even more hype and even did better than the 1989 film adjusted. It also went up against an Indiana Jones film and this time, Batman would win worldwide as well. Edited February 24, 2017 by John Marston 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filmlover Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 Why yes, I do have fond memories of seeing this multiple times in theaters when I was 8. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Marston Posted February 24, 2017 Author Share Posted February 24, 2017 here's the only trailer that released for the movie and the one people paid for other movies just so they can see this trailer. it's a pretty bad trailer honestly. Just a bunch of randomly edited clips 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plain Old Tele Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 The teaser poster (the Bat logo) was very iconic. I don't know if they ever even did a regular poster. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolioD1 Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 is it terrible to admit when prince died the soundtrack for this is the first place i went? Scandalous is a legit one of his best slow jams. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddddeeee Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 (edited) This was apparently the first movie to ever have both a song and a score album released. Edited February 25, 2017 by ddddeeee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolioD1 Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 5 hours ago, John Marston said: here's the only trailer that released for the movie and the one people paid for other movies just so they can see this trailer. it's a pretty bad trailer honestly. Just a bunch of randomly edited clips when i did film studies at uni we had to write an essay on a piece of movie marketing and i picked this trailer and wrote 2500 on why it was effective. was ages ago so i don't remember what i wrote but i did get a first on it so thank you batman. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJaros Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 (edited) Massive movie. I recall seeing it a couple of times that summer. Bought the Prince soundtrack as well. The black and yellow "batman" logo took over the culture, it was everywhere that year. To this day, you'll occasionally see a teenager wearing a t-shirt with it, it's now a 'vintage' thing. IIRC, Batman was the #3 movie of the 1980s in nominal dollars, behind only ET and Return of the Jedi (in its original 1983 run). It also broke a kind of slump the movies had been in during the second half of the 80s, as it was the first film since Back to the Future four years earlier to crack the $200 million mark. What Batman didn't do was spawn the kind of huge comic book movie market we have today. The Batman sequels released in 1992 and 1995 were the only big comic book character movies of the 1990s, and they were both small potatoes compared to 1989's Batman. Edited February 25, 2017 by SteveJaros Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Stingray Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 So, what movie had the OW record before Last Crusade, Ghostbusters 2 and Batman broke it back to back to back in 1989? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Gittes Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 16 minutes ago, The Stingray said: So, what movie had the OW record before Last Crusade, Ghostbusters 2 and Batman broke it back to back to back in 1989? Beverly Hills Cop II 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
excel1 Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 Batman's opening weekend is the closest thing to maximum capacity we have ever seen. It increased 30% over the previous weekend, which was only 1 week old! That would be like TFA opened to $275m. Batman was an enormous media monster. There are tons of old highlights from spring and summer 1989 with MTV, Entertainment Tonight, etc. In terms of free media buzz, this could be top dog. THE DARK KNIGHT received similar attention, but only because of Ledgers's death. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiffy Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 14 minutes ago, excel1 said: Batman's opening weekend is the closest thing to maximum capacity we have ever seen. It increased 30% over the previous weekend, which was only 1 week old! That would be like TFA opened to $275m. Hmm wouldn't that honor go to ROTJ? It broke the previous OW record by over 60% (the highest percentage increase for any film that's held the record going back at least since Jaws in 1975) and still holds the record for highest adjusted theater average ($63,085) for any wide release in history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
excel1 Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 35 minutes ago, Jiffy said: Hmm wouldn't that honor go to ROTJ? It broke the previous OW record by over 60% (the highest percentage increase for any film that's held the record going back at least since Jaws in 1975) and still holds the record for highest adjusted theater average ($63,085) for any wide release in history. Sorry, I was referring to the modern era of film releases, which really didn't start until late 80s/early 90s. The 1980s and 1990s saw such crazy theater and screen growth that it makes comparisons difficult. For example, ROTJ was only in 1,002 theaters on opening weekend. Compared to 1,764 on weekend 12. Or the 2,200 Batman opened with. So the adjusted theater average is a bit skewed obviously, but in terms of wide releases, yes ROTJ is based on screens it used, but it's far more difficult to tell how it would have fared with a more mature screen count, Temple of Doom broke ROTJs record only a year later, so its hard to claim ROTJ was max capacity. However, it did in 1,680 theaters vs. ROTJ. Beverley hills cop also opened, with 26m opening weekend despite opening on Thursday. Batman opened everywhere and it took 7 years for a film to clearly have more admissions (Independence Day), and it did it with near 3,000 theaters. $43 million was unimaginable in 1989. Probably more so than a $100 million opening weekend was in 2002, a $200m ow weekend in 2012, etc. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
excel1 Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 52 minutes ago, Jiffy said: Hmm wouldn't that honor go to ROTJ? It broke the previous OW record by over 60% (the highest percentage increase for any film that's held the record going back at least since Jaws in 1975) and still holds the record for highest adjusted theater average ($63,085) for any wide release in history. Sorry, I was referring to the modern era of film releases, which really didn't start until late 80s/early 90s. The 1980s and 1990s saw such crazy theater and screen growth that it makes comparisons difficult. For example, ROTJ was only in 1,002 theaters on opening weekend. Compared to 1,764 on weekend 12. Or the 2,200 Batman opened with. So the adjusted theater average is a bit skewed obviously, but in terms of wide releases, yes ROTJ is based on screens it used, but it's far more difficult to tell how it would have fared with a more mature screen count, Temple of Doom broke ROTJs record only a year later, so its hard to claim ROTJ was max capacity. However, it did in 1,680 theaters vs. ROTJ. Beverley hills cop also opened, with 26m opening weekend despite opening on Thursday. Batman opened everywhere and it took 7 years for a film to clearly have more admissions (Independence Day), and it did it with near 3,000 theaters. $43 million was unimaginable in 1989. Probably more so than a $100 million opening weekend was in 2002, a $200m ow weekend in 2012, etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiffy Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 12 hours ago, excel1 said: Sorry, I was referring to the modern era of film releases, which really didn't start until late 80s/early 90s. The 1980s and 1990s saw such crazy theater and screen growth that it makes comparisons difficult. For example, ROTJ was only in 1,002 theaters on opening weekend. Compared to 1,764 on weekend 12. Or the 2,200 Batman opened with. So the adjusted theater average is a bit skewed obviously, but in terms of wide releases, yes ROTJ is based on screens it used, but it's far more difficult to tell how it would have fared with a more mature screen count, Temple of Doom broke ROTJs record only a year later, so its hard to claim ROTJ was max capacity. However, it did in 1,680 theaters vs. ROTJ. Beverley hills cop also opened, with 26m opening weekend despite opening on Thursday. Batman opened everywhere and it took 7 years for a film to clearly have more admissions (Independence Day), and it did it with near 3,000 theaters. $43 million was unimaginable in 1989. Probably more so than a $100 million opening weekend was in 2002, a $200m ow weekend in 2012, etc Yeah, those are valid points to consider, and I'd never presume to understate how huge Batman's opening was at the time. I was moreso referring to the percentage increase from record-holder to record-holder over the past few decades: 2015 The Force Awakens $247,966,675 +18.8% 2015 Jurassic World $208,806,270 +0.7% 2012 The Avengers $207,438,708 +22.6% 2011 Deathly Hallows - Part 2 $169,189,427 +6.8% 2008 The Dark Knight $158,411,483 +4.8% 2007 Spider-Man 3 $151,116,516 +11.4% 2006 Dead Man’s Chest $135,634,554 +18.1% 2002 Spider-Man $114,844,116 +27.2% 2001 Harry Potter $90,294,621 +25.2% 1997 The Lost World $72,132,785 +36.7% 1995 Batman Forever $52,784,433 +12.2% 1993 Jurassic Park $47,026,828 +2.9% 1992 Batman Returns $45,687,711 +12.8% 1989 Batman $40,489,746 +37.4% 1989 Ghostbusters II $29,472,894 +0.4% 1989 The Last Crusade $29,355,021 +11.4% 1987 Beverly Hills Cop II $26,348,555 +4.0% 1984 The Temple of Doom $25,337,110 +10.1% 1983 Return of the Jedi $23,019,618 +60.4% 1982 Star Trek II $14,347,221 +1.7% 1981 Superman II $14,100,523 +18.2% 1979 Star Trek $11,926,421 +15.1% 1978 Superman (Week 3) $10,363,384 +0.9% 1978 Every Which Way But Loose $10,272,294 +1.0% 1978 Star Wars (Re-Issue) $10,166,336 +3.0% 1978 Jaws 2 $9,866,023 +37.1% 1977 Star Wars (Week 11) $7,195,573 +1.9% 1975 Jaws $7,061,513 -- Or if you'd like to include preview amounts: 2015 The Force Awakens $247,966,675 +18.8% 2015 Jurassic World $208,806,270 +0.7% 2012 The Avengers $207,438,708 +22.6% 2011 Deathly Hallows - Part 2 $169,189,427 +6.8% 2008 The Dark Knight $158,411,483 +4.8% 2007 Spider-Man 3 $151,116,516 +11.4% 2006 Dead Man’s Chest $135,634,554 +18.1% 2002 Spider-Man $114,844,116 +27.2% 2001 Harry Potter $90,294,621 +20.9% 1997 The Lost World $74,699,969 +41.5% 1995 Batman Forever $52,784,433 +12.2% 1993 Jurassic Park $50,159,460 +5.1% 1992 Batman Returns $47,720,711 +11.7% 1989 Batman $42,705,884 +44.9% 1989 Ghostbusters II $29,472,894 +0.4% 1989 The Last Crusade $29,355,021 +11.4% 1987 Beverly Hills Cop II $26,348,555 +4.0% 1984 The Temple of Doom $25,337,110 +10.1% 1983 Return of the Jedi $23,019,618 +60.4% 1982 Star Trek II $14,347,221 +1.7% 1981 Superman II $14,100,523 +18.2% 1979 Star Trek $11,926,421 +15.1% 1978 Superman (Week 3) $10,363,384 +0.9% 1978 Every Which Way But Loose $10,272,294 +1.0% 1978 Star Wars (Re-Issue) $10,166,336 +3.0% 1978 Jaws 2 $9,866,023 +37.1% 1977 Star Wars (Week 11) $7,195,573 +1.9% 1975 Jaws $7,061,513 -- In either case, ROTJ broke the previous record by what is (by far) the largest margin of any film dating back since 1975. Its theater count would be equivalent to ~2,500 in today's climate, which is still fairly wide despite not reaching full saturation. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
excel1 Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 (edited) S Edited March 19, 2017 by excel1 Fixing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
excel1 Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 , Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiffy Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAR Posted April 29, 2017 Share Posted April 29, 2017 It might be the only film I remember seeing opening night. Which back then was Friday. And then I saw it that Saturday and Sunday that same opening weekend. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edmkh Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 I love burtons Batman movies so much. I remember being a teenager and wearing the black shirt with the yellow logo making me feel so cool at the time. I mean Nolan's The dark knight was so great but for me Burtons movies are so great i just love them, the atmosphere, the pinguin, i still remember when catwoman first appeared and her interactions with the pinguin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
