The Batman | March 4, 2022 | Warner Bros. | Certified Fresh on RT | 7th Most Profitable Movie of 2023

[Eric S'ennui]

 

[Maggie]

This will break out of course, but why? What is it about the Batman that has people exicted, especially so soon after not so well received two movies with the Bat? It's possible this will make more than Tom Holland's first Spidey.

[XXR & Friends]

Just now, Maggie said:

This will break out of course, but why? What is it about the Batman that has people exicted, especially so soon after not so well received two movies with the Bat? It's possible this will make more than Tom Holland's first Spidey.

In the most basic terms, it’s because it reminds people of The Dark Knight (compared to the Affleck/DCEU stuff). It feels “real”, and it’s giving the audience the type of Batman they want.

[21C]

4 minutes ago, Maggie said:

This will break out of course, but why? What is it about the Batman that has people exicted, especially so soon after not so well received two movies with the Bat? It's possible this will make more than Tom Holland's first Spidey.

I'm telling you,  Batman is a character with compound interest, he's more famous now in terms of sheer number of people that know him and like him than he was 10 years ago, with multiple forms of media across different mediums garnering new fans each year; there's a reason that in the comics space he remains the top dog in sales. Also, I do think people have understimated the difference there is between "solo Batman film" vs. "Crossover film that's a sequel to an extremely divisive film", so in that sense this does feel like Batman coming back after 10 years.  BvS just wasn't perceived by the audience as a proper Batman film.

Edited February 8, 2022 by 21C

[excel1]

Just as JOKER was viewed by many as the sequel they never received to LEDGER, this is like the solo Bat film they never received after TDK.

[WittyUsername]

28 minutes ago, 21C said:

I'm telling you,  Batman is a character with compound interest, he's more famous now in terms of sheer number of people that know him and like him than he was 10 years ago, with multiple forms of media across different mediums garnering new fans each year; there's a reason that in the comics space he remains the top dog in sales. Also, I do think people have understimated the difference there is between "solo Batman film" vs. "Crossover film that's a sequel to an extremely divisive film", so in that sense this does feel like Batman coming back after 10 years.  BvS just wasn't perceived by the audience as a proper Batman film.

I wouldn’t go that far. Batman was plenty popular 10 years ago. 
 

But yeah, being the first “real” Batman movie in 10 years is likely a big selling point. 

Edited February 9, 2022 by WittyUsername

[excel1]

1 minute ago, WittyUsername said:

I wouldn’t go that far. Batman was plenty popular 10 years ago. 

 

TDK had the ULTIMATE marketing tool with ledger's tragic death. EVERYONE knew the film was coming out 6 months before it did were predisposed to think positively of it. 

[Merkel]

29 minutes ago, 21C said:

 Also, I do think people have understimated the difference there is between "solo Batman film" vs. "Crossover film that's a sequel to an extremely divisive film", so in that sense this does feel like Batman coming back after 10 years.  BvS just wasn't perceived by the audience as a proper Batman film.

 

I would agree with this. As a massive Batman fan, I never really felt those movies were true Batman movies, and my excitement for them was ,accordingly, much much lower. I hate seeing Batman shoved into the larger DC universe just to boost the appeal of far less popular characters.

 

This feels like a proper Batman movie. Which exists in its own universe and reality. With sequels, hopefully, but please no crossovers. 

[21C]

7 minutes ago, WittyUsername said:

I wouldn’t go that far. Batman was plenty popular 10 years ago. 
 

But yeah, being the first “real” Batman movie in 10 years is likely a big selling point. 

What I mean by that is by sheer number of people that are fans of him.

Yes, he was plenty popular 10 years ago but all those people that were fans of him then are probably still fans of him now, and then on top of all those, now you have an extra number of people that perhaps were too young to watch the Nolan trilogy back then and discovered those movies in their teenage years, or now you have people that discovered him through the TV shows like Gotham, or the people that discovered him through the Arkham games (which where gigantic, the videogame equivalent of the Nolan trilogy)  or the people that discovered him through Joker, etc. Hell, even the kids that discovered him 5 years ago through LEGO Batman. Bunch of 7 year olds might have found out about him through that movie  and now at 13 are going to see The Batman.

You add all that up, and the character is now more famous than ever. It also helps that his previous movies and shows even before this decade were classics and thus they get discovered by a sizeable number of newcomers each new year. 

Edited February 9, 2022 by 21C

[WittyUsername]

2 minutes ago, excel1 said:

 

TDK had the ULTIMATE marketing tool with ledger's tragic death. EVERYONE knew the film was coming out 6 months before it did were predisposed to think positively of it. 

Heath Ledger’s death did give TDK a boost in terms of publicity, but there was plenty of buzz for it before that. The movie was made largely because WB was impressed by how well Begins performed on DVD, and there was a pretty strong viral marketing campaign in the months before Ledger died. In any case, TDK was a big hit and the most talked about movie of the year, so it firmly cemented that Batman was back in full force at that point. 

[jking123]

4 minutes ago, Merkel said:

 

I would agree with this. As a massive Batman fan, I never really felt those movies were true Batman movies, and my excitement for them was ,accordingly, much much lower. I hate seeing Batman shoved into the larger DC universe just to boost the appeal of far less popular characters.

 

This feels like a proper Batman movie. Which exists in its own universe and reality. With sequels, hopefully, but please no crossovers. 

fucking hate that far less popular charactersremark tbh. one of dc's main faults is being overly dependent on batman to the detriment of so many interesting character.

 

 

Batman should be interesting anyhow. hope the dceu can give us a good bat family adaptation too.

[belblazer]

 

 

[Menor the Destroyer]

Batman interacting with other DC characters is fun. Has been done very well in animated format, no reason why it can't happen in live action. The problem is just that BvS and JL weren't very good movies. 

[Merkel]

3 minutes ago, jking123 said:

fucking hate that far less popular charactersremark tbh. one of dc's main faults is being overly dependent on batman to the detriment of so many interesting character.

 

 

Batman should be interesting anyhow. hope the dceu can give us a good bat family adaptation too.

 

 

I did not say those characters are not interesting on their own. I'm a DC buff. More reason not to shove Batman in their stories, to let them shine and their own two feet. And it's better for Batman storytelling too. 

 

And Batman is objectively and by far the most popular character in DC's canon. And the second most popular is the Joker. This is not a criticism of other characters. Just stating a fact

[grey ghost]

People love grounded Batman movies partly because of Nolan and partly because they're not "kid's movies" and adults are "allowed" to enjoy them.

 

 

[Merkel]

2 minutes ago, grey ghost said:

People love grounded Batman movies partly because of Nolan and partly because they're not "kid's movies" and adults are "allowed" to enjoy them.

 

 

 

The Animated Series struck the perfect balance in tone, I think. 

[dudalb]

On 2/3/2022 at 12:03 PM, JWR said:

 

Batman & Robin is at least fun to watch as an unintentional comedy.

I am a huge MST3K fan, so I love unintentional laugh riots,(though the silliness and c amp of B and R was anything but uninteional . but B and R is not one of  them.It evens fails at that.

 

Edited February 9, 2022 by dudalb

[dudalb]

On 2/3/2022 at 12:22 PM, Merkel said:

 

 

Not to defend that film, but for better or worse, I don't think anything about it is unintentional

I am convinced they were trying to do a over the top intentionally silly, tongue in cheek Batman like the 1966 TV series but they failed spectacularly. The 1966 series was  ...for the first season and the first half of the second Season  often drop dead funny (though after that it went downhill fact..primarily because the core writers for the series left in a dispute over money) but B and R is just plain unfunny.

Camp, silly shows like the 1966 Batman look like they are easy to do, but in reality they are pretry hard to pull off sucessfully.

Edited February 9, 2022 by dudalb

[WittyUsername]

It’s kind of funny that Spider-Man needed to interact with other heroes to rejuvenate his franchise, while Batman apparently needs to stay away from the rest of the DC universe. 

[dudalb]

55 minutes ago, WittyUsername said:

Heath Ledger’s death did give TDK a boost in terms of publicity, but there was plenty of buzz for it before that. The movie was made largely because WB was impressed by how well Begins performed on DVD, and there was a pretty strong viral marketing campaign in the months before Ledger died. In any case, TDK was a big hit and the most talked about movie of the year, so it firmly cemented that Batman was back in full force at that point. 

Yeah, the idea that Ledger's death was the main reason TDK did so incredibly well is just plain silly.

It is wierd to remember that TDK was almost not greenlighted ; Batman  Begins did not really make the kind of money that Warners had hoped for, and there was a real debate whether or not to continue the franchise.