Batman Forever (1995)

[Juby]

I'll show You how to start such a topic 

 

 

Batman Forever - Smashing hit of 1995. One of the most famous and most important film of my childhood! After disappointing box office results of Batman Returns - although it was a big hit - and box office flop of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (Christmas 1993) no one expected that another Batman will be a big deal and no one really wanted another Batman, especially without Michael Keaton in leading role. Then Batman Forever happened. It was not only a surprise hit, but also one of THE blockbusters of the 90s.  

 

   Production Budget:  $95 million^*

   ^{*Estimated between $90-100M, according to Joel Schumacher "It was the biggest movie of the year and the cheapest “Batman” ever made. It cost under $100 million"}

   Marketing costs:      $12-30 million^*

   ^{*Depending on various sources, before June 1995 it was ~$12M, but probably this costs increased a lot after the film's premiere weekend}

 

   Domestic:     $184.03 million [#24 biggest film of all time when it finished its run]

   Foreign:        $152.5 million

   Worldwide:   $336.53 million [#6 biggest film of 1995]

 

Batman Forever was the very first movie in history with over $20 million from one day (Friday, June 16th) and over $50 million opening weekend ($52.78 million - the biggest opening weekend for almost 2 years)^**. Thanks to the better reception among the viewers, it had better legs than Tim Burton's Batman Returns (Forever opening weekend was 28,7% of all domestic gross, while Returns did 29,3% of all outcome during it's first weekend+previews; also Forever was in cinemas for 21 weeks, Returns "only" for 18 weeks). It was the biggest movie of the summer and for a long time it seemed that the third Batman will be the biggest movie of the year domestically. Unfortunately, Toy Story won that battle thanks to re-issues on February and March 1996.

 

_{**Batman Forever broke almost every record during its opening weekend - biggest single day, opening day, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 1-3 days gross, but because of big theaters number (2,842) its avg. per theater was smaller than Jurassic Park ($18,572 to $19,561). It was the first Batman film without Thursday previews.}

 

Below you can find some interesting articles/interviews about Batman Forever - its marketing, results, impact and legacy:

http://variety.com/1995/more/news/dark-knight-becomes-bat-lite-99127245/

https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/03/business/why-studios-bet-summer-blockbuster-with-bid-debts-big-budgets-hir-are-more.html?pagewanted=2

http://variety.com/2014/film/markets-festivals/qa-joel-schumacher-on-batman-ben-affleck-and-the-batsuit-nipples-1201327631/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2015/06/16/20-years-ago-batman-forever-was-the-jurassic-world-of-its-day/#7c42d61b305c

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/batman-forever-story-behind-surprise-802804

 

Fragments of Variety article (19th June 1995):

 

Batman Forever adjusted number is around $387.5M today. Its worldwide gross would have been over $700M now (without 3D, IMAX and China of course).

 

If anyone want to say something about BF, or know some interesting facts about it - maybe another articles from 1995 - this is topic for You!

 

 

Sorry if I made any mistake. I'm from Poland, my English isn't perfect.

 

Edited May 15, 2018 by Juby

[filmlover]

Always gonna be the best thing to come out of this movie.

 

 

[PPZVGOS]

This was one of the first movies I ever saw in a theater. I was really young and it made a huge impression on me. It was one of the reasons I became a film aficionado (along with Interview with the Vampire, Speed, Seven, Die Hard with a Vengeance and a few other great films from the '94/'95 era) 

 

I also remember than none of my classmates liked it which I still find bizarre. 

 

Another thing, other than the awesome OW, this film should also be remembered for its quite astonishing cinematography, it was terribly unjust when Braveheart won over this in that particular category. 

[Juby]

I disagree. Batman Forever has some great cinematography, but the nomination itself was enough. Braveheart was the very best this year IMHO, but I am the guy who prefer 2.35 : 1 rather than 1.85 :1 aspect ratio, so...  

 

19 hours ago, filmlover said:

Always gonna be the best thing to come out of this movie.

 

 

 

Another fun fact - this song ^^ was composed, performed and released in 1994 as a single, it has also different clip that year, without any Batman moments. They re-release it as a Batman song in June 1995, but it wasn't a true song for this film. This was

 

Both songs 

 

[excel1]

This movie was super hyped. Carrey was an insane mega star at this point and Batman was still super popular. This movie was ultra mid-1990s