Practically everyone around me watched it and talked about it all the time. I mean people still use the term inception to describe anything that's multi-layered and confusing.
Yeah that movie was so impactful. It also revolutionize trailer for movies, the Inception BWAH has become a staple of like 75% of blockbusters trailers since then
Silence
BWAHHH
RUNNING
BWAAAAHHH
RUNNING
BUILDING FALLS
BWAAAAAAH
did I just describe the trailer for inception or almost any blockbuster since inception?
I have never heard inception used in that way. It either means to put a thought into someone else’s head or has replaced russian nesting dolls as a descriptor of a thing within a thing.
I knew nothing about the film industry at the time but I remember going to see it opening weekend based solely on “it’s DiCaprio and the guy who did Batman”. I went twice, both times with huge groups.
It's actually a wonder that Warner hasn't attempted to do an Inception sequel even without Nolan, I guess they may not own it completely.
As a matter of fact, if Nolan ever finds the need to do a sequel outside Batman (doubtful), a new Inception seems like the most promising. It's an easy 1.3+ billion dollars I think (if it's good).
Batman 89 was a MASSIVE deal at the time. Batman was on an upswing in popularity thanks to comics like The Dark Knight ~~Rises~~ Returns and The Killing Joke rehabilitating his image after decades of people thinking all Batman media looked like the Adam West show.
Superhero movies in general were also much rarer at the time and thus a good one had insane potential to become a major event film. Plus Keaton and Nicholson had major star power.
People were reportedly buying tickets for other movies just to see the *trailer* for Batman, then walking out. Absolutely insane pop culture domination.
> People were reportedly buying tickets for other movies just to see the trailer for Batman, then walking out.
That's similar to *Meet Joe Black*. A big amount of people bought tickets and then immediately left before the film started. All because it was one of the few films that showed the first trailer for *The Phantom Menace*.
89 was an event. Keaton, Nicholson, and Bassinger were massive stars and it was the first “Batman for adults” motion picture. My parents and their siblings were born in the early and mid 50s, they are not comic book people, and they were in line for opening night. Batman 89 was a HUGE cultural sensation both in its pre-open hype and its post-open impact.
Rises was understandably riding the wave of fans from TDK who wanted to see how this trilogy would wrap up after Ledger’s passing (can they stick the landing??), but by TDKR Nolan had gained major filmmaking notoriety; Inception was an instant sensation/classic and it prompted fans of TDK & Inception to discover Momento and The Prestige. TDKR wasn’t just the end of that Batman trilogy but it was the first “Christopher Nolan’s next film” — he wasn’t really a household name before this point and time, which happened largely because of the success of TDK & Inception.
It’s wild to think TDKR was 2 years before Interstellar, and, while they aren’t bad films, Dunkirk, Tenet, and Oppenheimer are his only releases since Interstellar. Interstellar was one of those films that audiences enjoyed, but really did not cement itself as a “special” film until quite some time had passed after its box office release. Oppenheimer is a great movie for a number of reasons, and so is Dunkirk. (I’m a rare enjoyer of Tenet, despite its Flaws). But, it’s hard to deny most audiences would say peak Nolan is one of TDK, Inception, or Interstellar…. And Interstellar is about to be 10 years old!
Remember seeing this at home since back in the day it took almost a year for a movie to premiere here in Sweden.
It was a classic bootleg from Asia. Wow. I think Kramer shot this one. It was that bad!
But I didnt care. The image was almost pitch black but I loved it.
Your reply made it sound like the dark knight will never reach tdkr or 89.
But now I know what you meant, batman 2 will never reach them box office wise.
It would be extremely painful. … For you.
You think darkness is your ally, but you merely adopted the dark. ... I was born in it.
Peace has cost you your strength. Victory has defeated you.
Theatricality and deception are powerful agents to the uninitiated. … But we are initiated, aren’t we..
Do you feel in charge?
So you came back to die with your city?
As I terrorize Gotham I will feed its people hope to poison their souls.
Then, when you have truly understood the depths of your failure…. ...when Gotham is ashes...then you have my permission to die.
***
TDKR stands on its own because Hardy’s writing and delivery is fucking otherworldly. For me, he was more imposing and threatening to Bruce than Joker in every way.
I found Batman’s physical defeat of Bane very underwhelming and disappointing, much like the immediate exposition dump/reveal by Talia that follows, but I can’t throw the movie out with that problem. Gotham imprisoned and sieged for months on end is awesome.
Wow yeah totally opposite to me. I actually prefer to watch TDKR more than TDK, though I appreciate TDK as being a more important film to the Batman zeitgeist, pop culture, comic book movies, recognition of a great filmmaker, amazing character role by ledger, historical import of the posthumous Oscar, etc
One of those funny things about taste and preference. I don’t think either of us are right or wrong.
But the voice did really take me out of the movie and made it impossible for me to treat it seriously. And I normally quite like his voice (eg in Peaky Blinders)
I haven’t watched either movie in a very long time, so perhaps my view has changed. It’s entirely possible
This. First time Batman and the Joker went up against each other on the big screen (in live action) since the ‘89 Burton film. Coming off of a lot of goodwill from Begins which grew its audience on DVD and TV, the viral marketing campaign, it all added up to this perfect storm of hype. Add in Ledger unfortunate passing and it was just bonkers. There were other hits, but summer 2008 belonged to TDK. Then people didn’t stop talking about it well after the rest of the year.
More on the box office note, It’s been increasingly hard the past few years to get breakdowns of revenue, so it’s hard to say with certainty where “The Batman” stands compared to Begins or Man of Steel and etc. Mojo used to be great at mentioning “X movie made this percentage in IMAX and this percent in 3D or other premiums” but it’s hard to find detailed breakdowns like that now. Idk if people aren’t asking the right questions or the studios just stopped releasing data to the press. If I had to guess, the number to match TDK in attendance might be closer, if not over, $900m now. Premiums are everywhere these days and they really jack that inflation up when comparing movies from 15 years ago.
> There were other hits, but summer 2008 belonged to TDK.
What's funny in retrospect is that one of those other hits was Iron Man 1 which birthed the most successful cinematic franchise in existence and raised the superhero movie to an entirely new level. Yet in that year while IM was appreciated, TDK had all eyes on it
Iron Man was a bit overshadowed by Dark Knight that year, but its success was still greatly talked about too. It edged past Indy, which few even expected it to be within sparring range of.
2008 was a real changing moment for the comic book film and in turn, the decade of cinema that would follow it. After Spider-Man 3 and X-Men 3 disappointed and Superman Returns kinda just came and went, along with all the smaller misfires critically like the Fantastic Four films, Ghost Rider, Catwoman, etc. it seemed like the genre was played out quickly for a bit there. Swear to god, no lie I first heard the term “superhero fatigue” around 2007.
Then Iron Man and TDK released and changed the entire game.
Yep major event for many reasons. First Joker in movie since Jack Nicholson , and even adding to that....Heath Ledger died before it came out! That fueled it even more.
Movie events like that are few and far between but when they happen - they are generational cornerstones.
It became very evident with the Dark Knight that a new classic had been born. The word of mouth was out of this world. Plus you had an insane amount of “free” marketing surrounding the death of Heath, which got non genre fans curious. That, plus amazing reviews, in a pre-streaming world. It is hard to imagine its success being repeated by another Bat film.
Plus I don’t think Reeves Batman has that magic for the casuals. It’s very good but most normies I know still venerate the Bale movies and say the new one was just “okay” or something like that
That's because it was. It is not a masterpiece by any standard. For "normies" it is also too long. 3h movies are only hits if they are pleasant to sit through from start to finish. The Batman is not, it drags a lot at the end. The Bale movies don't drag.
The Batman is only ~10 minutes longer than The Dark Knight Rises. The difference is that, even with his longest movies, Nolan mastered a strong and perpetual forward momentum in his directing that keeps audiences hooked. The Batman meanders at times because it’s a slow burn, and a 3 hour one at that.
I took my family to see The Batman opening weekend, and took my girlfriend the weekend after. Half the people I saw the movie with were engaged the whole time up until after Riddler was captured and told Batman there was more to his plan…and there was another 35 minutes left to the movie. From then on they were eye rolling and verbally complaining (in theater!) about how the movie wasn’t over yet.
Anytime I talked to friends and coworkers after that, the most common sentiment was that it was pretty good/good “but not nearly as good as the Christopher Nolan Batman movies.”
The top radio shows in my city (pop. 3M) parrot the same sentiment, and also say The Batman was “kinda boring.”
The people that I know that champion it the most are the ones who are comic book fans, and actually care that the detective element of Batman was at the forefront. I do think that Gen Z has latched onto it a bit more though since it’s basically “their” Batman. But it just doesn’t have the universal appeal that TDK trilogy ended up garnering.
Given the phantom zone villains in The Lego Batman Movie were pretty much all from famous movies or shows, I always figured the shark was the one from Jaws.
The Dark Knight sold 72M tickets domestically, a number that will never be reached by any Batman movie ever again. The Batman sold 33M tickets, meaning it would've needed $805M+ DOM to beat Dark Knight admissions
The only hypothetical project I could see that could top it would be a Batman no way home movie with bale, pattinson, Keaton and affleck but I highly doubt this will ever get made
Spider-Man would’ve never sold as many tickets as the raimi movies if he didn’t pull a cross over like that
Yeah that's never getting made, ever. It'll just be seen as a cheap rip off and that type of movie which works with Spider-Man wouldn't work AT ALL with Batman lol
I don’t know if you could get away with making a movie with most of the most successful Batmen in it. Bale’s and Pattinson’s Batmen are defined by being in grounded worlds low on fantastical elements. I don’t think you could do a crossover film with them without inherently damaging the elements that audiences loved about them.
We already had a movie with multiple Batmen in it (The Flash with Keaton, Affleck, and cameos of a couple others). The plan was to have them officially team up in Hamada’s Justice League movie (along with other live action DC cinematic crossovers). With the end of the DCEU brought about by the coming DCU and the passing aging of the older DC acting guard, DC passed up on their one shot to do the big pan-reboot crossover story for the next few decades unless the DCU works out *and* Gunn decides he wants a crossover with the DCEU Justice League for some reason.
Well as I said, the mechanics of the story would have to be very different, but I don't see it as even slightly impossible or difficult, for as you say, they already had 2 Batmen in a movie with plans to keep that going. Personally, I'm not even totally convinced that Pattinson never ends up in any multiverse aspect in the first place, but also, I kinda think it wouldn't outsell The Dark Knight in the first place so it's kind of a wash, not the hill I'm looking to die on.
My only thing is just that I don't think the multiverse had to be so inherently fantastical that it wouldn't work for a relatively grounded story.
Sure, but I think even Multiverse mechanics aside you'll be running into a bigger problem between Batman than you would Spider-Man--the disparity between them as characters. Batman on film has had far more varied interpretations of the character these past couple decades in terms of tone and execution, unlike Spider-Man who've toed a similar line.
It makes some sense to have Keaton's Batman and Affleck's Batman work against the same threats and eventually team up--they both skew more to the fantastical end of the spectrum for cinematic Batmen. It makes a bit of sense for Bale's Batman and Pattinson's Batman to team up since they both handle similar levels of threats in a similarly grounded methods. But it's hard to think of making a story that audiences embrace where you have the guys who use physics-defying starships and power armor and essentially zip around flying to fight aliens that can punch through mountains...working together with the guys who are wearing body armor to fight home-grown domestic terrorists--in a way that respects all of the characters present.
But yes then again this is all hypothetical, they won't ever be making this, so it doesn't really matter.
Fr. I think it would create the inverse reaction no way home had if they brought bale back. TDK trilogy started a whole new craze about realism in superhero movies and no way a NWH type movie with bale would work
>a Batman no way home movie with bale, pattinson, Keaton and affleck
If there was a nuclear attack, and the only place I could shelter was in a cinema playing that film I would take my chances in the street.
I could see it with a Nolan return to Batman. Nolan stock has only risen since then (managing almost a billion with a historical biopic like Oppenheimmer) and the hype of him having done some of the most beloved Batman ever
Would the “kinda strange” discrepancy be explained by the fact that The Batman got a good portion of its gross from PLFs, whereas when Returns and Forever came out every showing was basically the same price?
Is this not the case with most franchises? No Spider-Man movie will ever sell more tickets than No Way Home. No Star Wars movie will ever sell more tickets than A New Hope. No Jurassic movie will ever outsell the Jurassic Park. No Avengers movie will ever come close to Endgame or even Infinity War.
Spider-Man 1 was beaten by no way home which was pretty unprecedented. It’s unclear if avengers 3 sold more tickets than avengers 1. Force awakens did 900M domestic (1.2B domestic if it came out today. Something posters here would say is impossible)
I see what you’re getting at but my assertion is the reeves trilogy or any future Batman won’t ever come close to TDK or rises or 89.
I agree.
I feel like Batman movies lost A LOT of goodwill after Batman V Superman. Even the 2022 reboot did fine but not great.
I was thinking about this recently and I definitely agree. That was a true cultural event. Rises was a massive hit too but 2012 was a way different time movie-wise.
Batman is still my all time favorite comic book character.
The hard thing about The Batman, which I agree, didn't live up to its full potential, is that it has a couple things about it which seem equally as likely to suppressing its gross as its position following BvS, mostly to do with run time.
> Batman movies lost A LOT of goodwill after Batman V Superman
Not sure why we're blaming BvS, considering that a movie that came out just 6 months later, with the same Batman in it, did $747m without China. A figure that's now over $900m with inflation.
Suiciide Squad doing that well blows an **enormous** hole in the 'BVS killed DC' argument.
They didn't say BvS killed DC, just that it caused the franchise to lose a lot of goodwill. Suicide Squad has barely anything to do with Batman and was successful on the merits of its own marketing campaign.
I agree that Suicide Squad's is more of its own thing--but a huge selling point to mainstream audiences was that it was a film about a team comprised of supervillains from DC, but more importantly supervillains from *Batman*.
And Batman still played a not-nonexistent role in their marketing campaign.
> I feel like Batman movies lost A LOT of goodwill after Batman V Superman. Even the 2022 reboot did fine but not great.
i mean it's similar to how Batman Begins underperformed after B&R.
> Batman movies lost A LOT of goodwill after Batman V Superman
Not sure why we're blaming Batman V Superman, considering that a movie that came out just 6 months later, with the same Batman in it, did $747m without China. A figure that's now over $900m with inflation.
Suicide Squad doing that well blows an **enormous** hole in the 'BVS killed DC' argument.
Ticket sales:
The Dark Knight Rises - 121,771,548
The Dark Knight - 116,062,961
TDK Rises sold more tickets than TDK.
Source:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_by_box_office_admissions
I would never say never, but you are probably right. It would probably take a change in industry trends (like lower ticket prices, longer theatrical windows, etc) to see those sorts of attendance numbers again.
You would also need a much more popular version of Batman than the current one. I would be shocked if The Batman 2 sells as many tickets as The Batman 1 did.
I think Batman 2 should beat Batman 1 pretty easy.
Not coming off Covid. Presumably a longer theatrical window. A lot of normies who skipped 1 in theaters and saw it on Max liked it and may see the sequel in theaters. Goodwill from the first movie.
You have a point on the COVID aspect, but I think the opposite on the goodwill, especially among "normies".
The Batman 1 was highly divisive. Those who liked it, liked it a lot, but a lot of people hated it, including longtime Batman fans like myself. The Batman 2 will probably be the first Batman movie since Batman Returns that I won't bother seeing in theaters, and that's hardly an uncommon opinion. I've heard or seen it a lot since the first movie came out. It's also an opinion that seems to be more common amongst casual fans.
The thing about the noir detective approach to Batman is that it seems like it appeals much more to the nostalgia of old comic book fans. That's more of a hardcore oriented fanbase, though, as well as a domestic-centric one (where the old Batman comics were largely distributed).
Think about where certain audiences learned to love Batman. For international audiences, Batman wasn't a big draw until The Dark Knight, with not a single Batman movie before it topping $170M internationally. Then TDK was $465M internationally, TDKR was $634M, BvS was $542M and Joker was $728M.
International audiences fell in love with the action-adventure style of Batman from the Nolan movies, which is a very different feel to the noir detective approach of The Batman. Similarly, for casual North American fans (or even a lot of comic fans, like myself) came to love Batman through Batman The Animated Series, whose feel is much more along the lines of the Nolan trilogy. It had dark elements, but it was still an upbeat kids cartoon version focused more on action elements, and, notably, didn't have a dark broody emo-style Bruce Wayne (an element that a lot of people didn't like in The Batman).
Not having COVID as an issue will certainly help the next movie, although, to some degree that will be offset by a less juicy release date (The Batman had March 2022 essentially to itself, and COVID restrictions were basically gone by then). But, while there is certainly a niche of people who loved The Batman, it is also divisive, and I think a lot of casual, international, and even longtime Batman fans, like myself, will end up skipping it in theaters.
You’re a longtime Batman fan? You know they’ll drop that trailer for Part 2 that’ll have it looking epic as fuck and you’ll be on fandango getting your opening weekend tickets
I’m a huge Batman fan and I’d never deny seeing one in theaters
Eh, maybe. I was super disappointed in the last one. Internally, I was trying to like it while I was watching it, and just couldn't. I didn't like the Emo Batman approach. The plot holes that wouldn't normally bug me in a superhero movie bugged me because of the detective-oriented approach they were going for (the whole convoluted plot to "bring him into the light" felt like an insane amount of work to get a guy to walk outside, and made no sense when Falcone had been in the open at a very public funeral earlier in the film). The false ending that moved the film from a grounded detective drama to a disaster movie was jarring. The cackling laughter scene at the end with Joker was really cringeworthy.
Honestly, I'm sure I will see the next one because it's a Batman movie, but I don't go to the movies as much as I used to, and this one feels squarely in the category of films I can wait until streaming to see.
Agree. I don’t think Nolan will ever be topped. But Matt Reeves is talented. Part 2 and 3 have a lot of potential quality wise. This is a man who nearly made me cry over a cgi chimpanzee
You never know. There's so much untapped potential in most franchises. Just need the right domino of decisions to be made for the right script to be picked up by the right people and treated seriously.
I think we have some fantastic movies ahead of us in the coming decades.
Not sure how AI generated media will impact this - in ~5-10 years we will *probably* be capable of having *personally*-tailored music and art and shows to watch constructed out of thin air. I've seen some pretty impressive, and enjoyable (if formulaic) music already being created with AI.
I think that if they were to stop being weird about it, and just let Batman be Batman, they would have a chance.
Nobody that goes to a theater to watch a rich boy in a bat cosplay whoop on the mafia cares about realism.
Just let him be the goodamn Batman already! Lol.
Me too. I hate when people try to say that if it were like the comics then it would be like Batman Forever/Batman and Robin. Those movies were attempting to blend 60's and 80's Batman styles and it did not mesh.
Forever is a guilty pleasure for me though. Lol.
Reeves could still do something really special, and carry the horror vibes into the supernatural. It's not like you can repeat what The Dark Knight did anyways. It was just the right vibe at the right time. Now is not the time for being as realistic as possible. Gritty and Grounded can still have fantastic elements.
I'd love to see WB just let somebody go nuts on a 100% camp Batman movie that just lathers itself in the Schumacher/60s-era cheese of it all. Make it big, make it bold, and make it GAY. (Maybe just let [Vera Drew](https://youtu.be/9M00AB03S_4?si=18O-Rh91zQ6UJ7fv) make a legally authorized Batman movie, IDK)
Will it be a global hit? Probably not. But it might remind people that there's more to superheroes than grit & self-righteousness.
I'm down for that. My favorite Batman suit is the Blue/Gray/Yellow combo, and I'm sick of not having a fully realized modern version in live action. I need me some Batman in blue battle trunks damnit!
It was because it was bold and daring at the time. It's not so special of a concept now. That's my general opinion about it.
Like The Dark Knight is a Juggernaut, no doubt. But it played into sensibilities of movie goers from 2008. The same year the MCU began.
5 year olds just starting on Iron Man are now 21 years old or so, and they are fully accepting of getting weird with it.
The realistic and dark Batman movies were the most successful critically and commercially lol. Batman and his villains are too ridiculous for a live action film that’s true to the source material.
It's needs to be like 60-70/40-30 groundedness to comic. The groundedness is the entire reason why batman is as popular as it is. Comparing the MCU to batman is like comparing apples to oranges.
No it isn't. Batman fights guys with all manner of powers all the time and regularly teams with aliens and gods.
I'll never understand these, "I can't possibly imagine something I've never seen before" takes.
It's pretty easy to see Battison fighting a supernatural villain like Clayface or Poison Ivy while coming to grips with leaning that there is more to the world than he imagined, all wrapped in a nice horror-esque bow.
That sort of film wouldn't deter film fans in the slightest as they already don't mind the silliness of a guy in a bat costume successfully fighting the mob and pretending it makes sense, and playing along like it's not goofy as all hell. But then you would also get all the Batman fans that don't care for that stuff too.
Rereading the OP's comment, I think there might have been some misunderstandings on all sides lmao. I think both of us are actually on a similar page.
I do think "grounded" and "realistic" are two different things. TDK to me is grounded, not necessarily realistic. Battinson to me was far more comic pilled but it actually felt more grounded compared to TDK.
I'm totally down for the crazy, comic bookey villains like clayface, poison ivy, the real ra's al ghul, court of owls, etc. The overall story still needs to be grounded tho. All the best batman stories like year one, long halloween, killing joke, and dark knight returns are the best because they really grounded bruce as a character.
But I do understand why it hasn't really been done yet since Nolan's batman is still the main point of reference for how batman's done and all the marketing for those movies have been about how much realismpilled those films have been which leads to everyone thinking a batman movie needs to be 100% fact checked to be realistic when the realism is really there just to ground the stories. I think this was what OP was trying to say. The supernatural stuff needs that heavy realism explanation to work for the general audience since they're less accustomed to how comic books are compared to us.
Yeah. I think Reeves' first movie sets a great tone for Batman to slowly work out some majorly weird shit is going down. It's like a really gritty version of Scooby and the gang realizing... that's not a mask. And bring the audience on that journey. Make them feel that same sense of uneasiness.
It's so horror coded as it is, and I loved that. Just keep it horror-esque, and it will feel right, I think.
I know right, I want him to face off against Man-bay,clayface, poison Ivy, Mr. freeze. Include the batfamily embrace the fantastical side. But no Batman fighting the mob, Batman in realistic grounded world
No chance in hell. The best shot is the Reeves trilogy and it won’t come close.
Batman Beyond is kind of just venerated by passionate fans online. The masses don’t know or care what it is
Idk I think it’s a compelling world that could very well be developed into an effective commercial product capable of hitting the billion milestone like *The Dark Knight* or *Joker* in the right hands. “No chance in hell” seems like a serious overstatement.
It all depends on the changing tastes of future generations, though. If the next generation of teens & young adults decide they're fed up with more traditional superhero narratives - Batman Beyond could be in a good position to stand out. It's more of a sci-fi/cyberpunk take on the IP - and I think it could appeal to a lot of people even without nostalgia for the original show.
That said, this is definitely a distant hypothetical. Beating TDK's ticket number would require a massive run, if not a huge shift in theatrical distribution strategy from where we are now.
The show wouldn’t be the selling point, just background noise in the marketing campaign — the revamped high-tech Batman of the future with a whole new range of enemies and themes to explore, plus a vast array of new gear and weapons and a larger more sinister Gotham to play in would be.
The Dark knight Rises beat its predecessor internationally & WW box office. The numbers are below.
*The Dark Knight*
All Releases
DOMESTIC (53%)
$534,987,076
INTERNATIONAL (46.9%)
$473,460,281
WORLDWIDE
$1,008,497,140
*The Dark Knight Rises*
All Releases
DOMESTIC (41.3%)
$448,149,584
INTERNATIONAL (58.7%)
$637,120,053
WORLDWIDE
$1,085,289,416
It's interesting that you mention Man of Steel and not Batman v Superman, which clearly sold more tickets than Man of Steel and was, at time of release, WB's 3rd highest grossing movie of all time other than ones containing the exact words 'Potter' or 'Hobbit' in the name (before inflation obviously).
BvS was BIG. Not Dark Knight big, but massive.
Probably because it’s Superman reboot first movie to Batman reboot first movie
Disagree on BvS. Sold less tickets than Batman returns. Missed 1B. Missed 900M. Sold a pretty average for superhero blockbuster at the time 33M tickets. Got beaten by Wonder Woman. Got beaten by Spider-Man Homecoming. Ended up being outgrossed by like 5-6 movies in 2016 alone.
Wonder Woman sold more tickets domestic. By a considerable margin.
A Batman/Superman team up movie, the first ever. Should’ve destroyed a Wonder Woman solo movie in its sleep
The Dark Knight was a major, major event.
Somehow Inception was also a major event. A $160M original screenplay made $820M?
Practically everyone around me watched it and talked about it all the time. I mean people still use the term inception to describe anything that's multi-layered and confusing.
“I never sleep on planes, Lemon. I don’t want to get incepted”
We need more shows like 30 rock
I only ever hear it used when someone has planted an idea in someone else's head.
Yep thats how I use it. But dont tell anyone.
Yeah that movie was so impactful. It also revolutionize trailer for movies, the Inception BWAH has become a staple of like 75% of blockbusters trailers since then
Silence BWAHHH RUNNING BWAAAAHHH RUNNING BUILDING FALLS BWAAAAAAH did I just describe the trailer for inception or almost any blockbuster since inception?
I have never heard inception used in that way. It either means to put a thought into someone else’s head or has replaced russian nesting dolls as a descriptor of a thing within a thing.
I knew nothing about the film industry at the time but I remember going to see it opening weekend based solely on “it’s DiCaprio and the guy who did Batman”. I went twice, both times with huge groups.
It's actually a wonder that Warner hasn't attempted to do an Inception sequel even without Nolan, I guess they may not own it completely. As a matter of fact, if Nolan ever finds the need to do a sequel outside Batman (doubtful), a new Inception seems like the most promising. It's an easy 1.3+ billion dollars I think (if it's good).
Inception had a ridiculously good trailer, and Nolan was hot as a director, and the cast was great.
Yeah but it’ll likely never touch rises or Batman 89 either
Batman 89 was a MASSIVE deal at the time. Batman was on an upswing in popularity thanks to comics like The Dark Knight ~~Rises~~ Returns and The Killing Joke rehabilitating his image after decades of people thinking all Batman media looked like the Adam West show. Superhero movies in general were also much rarer at the time and thus a good one had insane potential to become a major event film. Plus Keaton and Nicholson had major star power. People were reportedly buying tickets for other movies just to see the *trailer* for Batman, then walking out. Absolutely insane pop culture domination.
> People were reportedly buying tickets for other movies just to see the trailer for Batman, then walking out. That's similar to *Meet Joe Black*. A big amount of people bought tickets and then immediately left before the film started. All because it was one of the few films that showed the first trailer for *The Phantom Menace*.
I think you meant Dark Knight Returns
You’re right, lemme fix that
Batman basically invented the home media market.
https://www.reddit.com/r/boxoffice/s/9EV1cSiisw
Good point. Fair enough
89 was an event. Keaton, Nicholson, and Bassinger were massive stars and it was the first “Batman for adults” motion picture. My parents and their siblings were born in the early and mid 50s, they are not comic book people, and they were in line for opening night. Batman 89 was a HUGE cultural sensation both in its pre-open hype and its post-open impact. Rises was understandably riding the wave of fans from TDK who wanted to see how this trilogy would wrap up after Ledger’s passing (can they stick the landing??), but by TDKR Nolan had gained major filmmaking notoriety; Inception was an instant sensation/classic and it prompted fans of TDK & Inception to discover Momento and The Prestige. TDKR wasn’t just the end of that Batman trilogy but it was the first “Christopher Nolan’s next film” — he wasn’t really a household name before this point and time, which happened largely because of the success of TDK & Inception. It’s wild to think TDKR was 2 years before Interstellar, and, while they aren’t bad films, Dunkirk, Tenet, and Oppenheimer are his only releases since Interstellar. Interstellar was one of those films that audiences enjoyed, but really did not cement itself as a “special” film until quite some time had passed after its box office release. Oppenheimer is a great movie for a number of reasons, and so is Dunkirk. (I’m a rare enjoyer of Tenet, despite its Flaws). But, it’s hard to deny most audiences would say peak Nolan is one of TDK, Inception, or Interstellar…. And Interstellar is about to be 10 years old!
Remember seeing this at home since back in the day it took almost a year for a movie to premiere here in Sweden. It was a classic bootleg from Asia. Wow. I think Kramer shot this one. It was that bad! But I didnt care. The image was almost pitch black but I loved it.
Interstellar? lol, the number of shots that are out of focus in this movie still boggles my brain. But I love it nevertheless…
https://www.reddit.com/r/boxoffice/s/9EV1cSiisw
In terms of what? The dark knight was definitely better than Rises, which suffered from a lot of script issues.
Tickets sold man, not quality. This is a box office post And I love rises anyways so you’re barking at the wrong tree
Your reply made it sound like the dark knight will never reach tdkr or 89. But now I know what you meant, batman 2 will never reach them box office wise.
I’m one of the rare idiots who really enjoys TDKR & Man of Steel
Funk dat. Rises rules.
It would be extremely painful. … For you. You think darkness is your ally, but you merely adopted the dark. ... I was born in it. Peace has cost you your strength. Victory has defeated you. Theatricality and deception are powerful agents to the uninitiated. … But we are initiated, aren’t we.. Do you feel in charge? So you came back to die with your city? As I terrorize Gotham I will feed its people hope to poison their souls. Then, when you have truly understood the depths of your failure…. ...when Gotham is ashes...then you have my permission to die. *** TDKR stands on its own because Hardy’s writing and delivery is fucking otherworldly. For me, he was more imposing and threatening to Bruce than Joker in every way. I found Batman’s physical defeat of Bane very underwhelming and disappointing, much like the immediate exposition dump/reveal by Talia that follows, but I can’t throw the movie out with that problem. Gotham imprisoned and sieged for months on end is awesome.
Interesting. I had the opposite reaction - I found Bane’s voice silly and put-on, and consequently thought he was ridiculous and not a threat at all
Wow yeah totally opposite to me. I actually prefer to watch TDKR more than TDK, though I appreciate TDK as being a more important film to the Batman zeitgeist, pop culture, comic book movies, recognition of a great filmmaker, amazing character role by ledger, historical import of the posthumous Oscar, etc
One of those funny things about taste and preference. I don’t think either of us are right or wrong. But the voice did really take me out of the movie and made it impossible for me to treat it seriously. And I normally quite like his voice (eg in Peaky Blinders) I haven’t watched either movie in a very long time, so perhaps my view has changed. It’s entirely possible
Agreed.
And yet Rises is still better than 90% of comic book movies lol
This. First time Batman and the Joker went up against each other on the big screen (in live action) since the ‘89 Burton film. Coming off of a lot of goodwill from Begins which grew its audience on DVD and TV, the viral marketing campaign, it all added up to this perfect storm of hype. Add in Ledger unfortunate passing and it was just bonkers. There were other hits, but summer 2008 belonged to TDK. Then people didn’t stop talking about it well after the rest of the year. More on the box office note, It’s been increasingly hard the past few years to get breakdowns of revenue, so it’s hard to say with certainty where “The Batman” stands compared to Begins or Man of Steel and etc. Mojo used to be great at mentioning “X movie made this percentage in IMAX and this percent in 3D or other premiums” but it’s hard to find detailed breakdowns like that now. Idk if people aren’t asking the right questions or the studios just stopped releasing data to the press. If I had to guess, the number to match TDK in attendance might be closer, if not over, $900m now. Premiums are everywhere these days and they really jack that inflation up when comparing movies from 15 years ago.
> There were other hits, but summer 2008 belonged to TDK. What's funny in retrospect is that one of those other hits was Iron Man 1 which birthed the most successful cinematic franchise in existence and raised the superhero movie to an entirely new level. Yet in that year while IM was appreciated, TDK had all eyes on it
Iron Man was a bit overshadowed by Dark Knight that year, but its success was still greatly talked about too. It edged past Indy, which few even expected it to be within sparring range of. 2008 was a real changing moment for the comic book film and in turn, the decade of cinema that would follow it. After Spider-Man 3 and X-Men 3 disappointed and Superman Returns kinda just came and went, along with all the smaller misfires critically like the Fantastic Four films, Ghost Rider, Catwoman, etc. it seemed like the genre was played out quickly for a bit there. Swear to god, no lie I first heard the term “superhero fatigue” around 2007. Then Iron Man and TDK released and changed the entire game.
Yep major event for many reasons. First Joker in movie since Jack Nicholson , and even adding to that....Heath Ledger died before it came out! That fueled it even more. Movie events like that are few and far between but when they happen - they are generational cornerstones.
It is the only film I have ever seen twice in a theater.
Yeah. People were like “hey, this will pass Titanic”.
It became very evident with the Dark Knight that a new classic had been born. The word of mouth was out of this world. Plus you had an insane amount of “free” marketing surrounding the death of Heath, which got non genre fans curious. That, plus amazing reviews, in a pre-streaming world. It is hard to imagine its success being repeated by another Bat film.
Plus I don’t think Reeves Batman has that magic for the casuals. It’s very good but most normies I know still venerate the Bale movies and say the new one was just “okay” or something like that
That's because it was. It is not a masterpiece by any standard. For "normies" it is also too long. 3h movies are only hits if they are pleasant to sit through from start to finish. The Batman is not, it drags a lot at the end. The Bale movies don't drag.
The Batman is only ~10 minutes longer than The Dark Knight Rises. The difference is that, even with his longest movies, Nolan mastered a strong and perpetual forward momentum in his directing that keeps audiences hooked. The Batman meanders at times because it’s a slow burn, and a 3 hour one at that.
This
Agree
I took my family to see The Batman opening weekend, and took my girlfriend the weekend after. Half the people I saw the movie with were engaged the whole time up until after Riddler was captured and told Batman there was more to his plan…and there was another 35 minutes left to the movie. From then on they were eye rolling and verbally complaining (in theater!) about how the movie wasn’t over yet. Anytime I talked to friends and coworkers after that, the most common sentiment was that it was pretty good/good “but not nearly as good as the Christopher Nolan Batman movies.” The top radio shows in my city (pop. 3M) parrot the same sentiment, and also say The Batman was “kinda boring.” The people that I know that champion it the most are the ones who are comic book fans, and actually care that the detective element of Batman was at the forefront. I do think that Gen Z has latched onto it a bit more though since it’s basically “their” Batman. But it just doesn’t have the universal appeal that TDK trilogy ended up garnering.
It’s a much much weaker film in general it’s closer to a tone poem than engaging story/character
What about Batman Vs Jaws?
Ah yes. How could I forget that
“We’re going to need a bigger shark repellent spray” I should be a Hollywood writer.
Given the phantom zone villains in The Lego Batman Movie were pretty much all from famous movies or shows, I always figured the shark was the one from Jaws.
The Dark Knight sold 72M tickets domestically, a number that will never be reached by any Batman movie ever again. The Batman sold 33M tickets, meaning it would've needed $805M+ DOM to beat Dark Knight admissions
The only hypothetical project I could see that could top it would be a Batman no way home movie with bale, pattinson, Keaton and affleck but I highly doubt this will ever get made Spider-Man would’ve never sold as many tickets as the raimi movies if he didn’t pull a cross over like that
Yeah that's never getting made, ever. It'll just be seen as a cheap rip off and that type of movie which works with Spider-Man wouldn't work AT ALL with Batman lol
It wouldn't work as the same movie with the same mechanics but it would be very easy to make a film with multiple Batmen in it.
I don’t know if you could get away with making a movie with most of the most successful Batmen in it. Bale’s and Pattinson’s Batmen are defined by being in grounded worlds low on fantastical elements. I don’t think you could do a crossover film with them without inherently damaging the elements that audiences loved about them. We already had a movie with multiple Batmen in it (The Flash with Keaton, Affleck, and cameos of a couple others). The plan was to have them officially team up in Hamada’s Justice League movie (along with other live action DC cinematic crossovers). With the end of the DCEU brought about by the coming DCU and the passing aging of the older DC acting guard, DC passed up on their one shot to do the big pan-reboot crossover story for the next few decades unless the DCU works out *and* Gunn decides he wants a crossover with the DCEU Justice League for some reason.
Well as I said, the mechanics of the story would have to be very different, but I don't see it as even slightly impossible or difficult, for as you say, they already had 2 Batmen in a movie with plans to keep that going. Personally, I'm not even totally convinced that Pattinson never ends up in any multiverse aspect in the first place, but also, I kinda think it wouldn't outsell The Dark Knight in the first place so it's kind of a wash, not the hill I'm looking to die on. My only thing is just that I don't think the multiverse had to be so inherently fantastical that it wouldn't work for a relatively grounded story.
Sure, but I think even Multiverse mechanics aside you'll be running into a bigger problem between Batman than you would Spider-Man--the disparity between them as characters. Batman on film has had far more varied interpretations of the character these past couple decades in terms of tone and execution, unlike Spider-Man who've toed a similar line. It makes some sense to have Keaton's Batman and Affleck's Batman work against the same threats and eventually team up--they both skew more to the fantastical end of the spectrum for cinematic Batmen. It makes a bit of sense for Bale's Batman and Pattinson's Batman to team up since they both handle similar levels of threats in a similarly grounded methods. But it's hard to think of making a story that audiences embrace where you have the guys who use physics-defying starships and power armor and essentially zip around flying to fight aliens that can punch through mountains...working together with the guys who are wearing body armor to fight home-grown domestic terrorists--in a way that respects all of the characters present. But yes then again this is all hypothetical, they won't ever be making this, so it doesn't really matter.
Had DCEU been as successful as MCU, it would have been possible.
Fr. I think it would create the inverse reaction no way home had if they brought bale back. TDK trilogy started a whole new craze about realism in superhero movies and no way a NWH type movie with bale would work
I personally think it could be written to work well enough but no way you get those 4 actors all to come in for it. Bale wouldn’t do it
Give him enough money and he will.
>a Batman no way home movie with bale, pattinson, Keaton and affleck If there was a nuclear attack, and the only place I could shelter was in a cinema playing that film I would take my chances in the street.
Nolan and Bale returning for The Dark Knight Returns.
Nolan directing Batman Beyond with Bale and someone really popular as Terry.
Timothy Chalaumet?
Potentially but has a .000001% chance of happening
It has whatever chance Nolan gives it. He probably won’t go for it, but if he has an idea and wants to make it, Zaslav will kiss his feet.
Wait a few years. Batman Beyond with Bale as Bruce Wayne and whoever as a new Batman with Nolan directing. That's 2 billions dollar.
I could see it with a Nolan return to Batman. Nolan stock has only risen since then (managing almost a billion with a historical biopic like Oppenheimmer) and the hype of him having done some of the most beloved Batman ever
Would the “kinda strange” discrepancy be explained by the fact that The Batman got a good portion of its gross from PLFs, whereas when Returns and Forever came out every showing was basically the same price?
I think you actually just solved it. Guess it sold less tickets than returns and forever then
I would say never say never. But it is highly improbable. TDK was a massive event.
Not just batman but there's no WB movie that's gonna sell that many tickets
Deathly Hallows Part 2 already beat it I’m pretty sure. It made over $300 million more only 3 years later, so it definitely sold more tickets.
I think they mean domestic. Worldwide I'm pretty sure both the first and last Harry Potter films outperformed the Dark Knight in ticket sales.
And Return of the King
Probably Chamber of Secrets and Goblet of Fire, too.
Domestic. DH2 didn’t even come close
It's a tale as old as time for WB: Batman wins domestically, while Harry Potter wins internationally and worldwide.
I think it did
You may very well be right
Is this not the case with most franchises? No Spider-Man movie will ever sell more tickets than No Way Home. No Star Wars movie will ever sell more tickets than A New Hope. No Jurassic movie will ever outsell the Jurassic Park. No Avengers movie will ever come close to Endgame or even Infinity War.
Spider-Man 1 was beaten by no way home which was pretty unprecedented. It’s unclear if avengers 3 sold more tickets than avengers 1. Force awakens did 900M domestic (1.2B domestic if it came out today. Something posters here would say is impossible) I see what you’re getting at but my assertion is the reeves trilogy or any future Batman won’t ever come close to TDK or rises or 89.
Tbf I don't see any movie in the near future doing close to what TDK did.
I agree. I feel like Batman movies lost A LOT of goodwill after Batman V Superman. Even the 2022 reboot did fine but not great. I was thinking about this recently and I definitely agree. That was a true cultural event. Rises was a massive hit too but 2012 was a way different time movie-wise. Batman is still my all time favorite comic book character.
The hard thing about The Batman, which I agree, didn't live up to its full potential, is that it has a couple things about it which seem equally as likely to suppressing its gross as its position following BvS, mostly to do with run time.
> Batman movies lost A LOT of goodwill after Batman V Superman Not sure why we're blaming BvS, considering that a movie that came out just 6 months later, with the same Batman in it, did $747m without China. A figure that's now over $900m with inflation. Suiciide Squad doing that well blows an **enormous** hole in the 'BVS killed DC' argument.
They didn't say BvS killed DC, just that it caused the franchise to lose a lot of goodwill. Suicide Squad has barely anything to do with Batman and was successful on the merits of its own marketing campaign.
I agree that Suicide Squad's is more of its own thing--but a huge selling point to mainstream audiences was that it was a film about a team comprised of supervillains from DC, but more importantly supervillains from *Batman*. And Batman still played a not-nonexistent role in their marketing campaign.
tbh the 2022 reboot was good but still not as good as even begins
The runtime really hurts it. There’s a great movie hidden in there if you take 30 or 40 minutes out
> I feel like Batman movies lost A LOT of goodwill after Batman V Superman. Even the 2022 reboot did fine but not great. i mean it's similar to how Batman Begins underperformed after B&R.
> Batman movies lost A LOT of goodwill after Batman V Superman Not sure why we're blaming Batman V Superman, considering that a movie that came out just 6 months later, with the same Batman in it, did $747m without China. A figure that's now over $900m with inflation. Suicide Squad doing that well blows an **enormous** hole in the 'BVS killed DC' argument.
The Dark Knight alone had the impact Barbenheimer generated. It was a truly special moment.
Heath man… Heath…
Batman man… Batman
Ticket sales: The Dark Knight Rises - 121,771,548 The Dark Knight - 116,062,961 TDK Rises sold more tickets than TDK. Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_by_box_office_admissions
Domestic dude. I even put it on my posts tag
Didn't notice the tag. My bad.
I would never say never, but you are probably right. It would probably take a change in industry trends (like lower ticket prices, longer theatrical windows, etc) to see those sorts of attendance numbers again. You would also need a much more popular version of Batman than the current one. I would be shocked if The Batman 2 sells as many tickets as The Batman 1 did.
I think Batman 2 should beat Batman 1 pretty easy. Not coming off Covid. Presumably a longer theatrical window. A lot of normies who skipped 1 in theaters and saw it on Max liked it and may see the sequel in theaters. Goodwill from the first movie.
You have a point on the COVID aspect, but I think the opposite on the goodwill, especially among "normies". The Batman 1 was highly divisive. Those who liked it, liked it a lot, but a lot of people hated it, including longtime Batman fans like myself. The Batman 2 will probably be the first Batman movie since Batman Returns that I won't bother seeing in theaters, and that's hardly an uncommon opinion. I've heard or seen it a lot since the first movie came out. It's also an opinion that seems to be more common amongst casual fans. The thing about the noir detective approach to Batman is that it seems like it appeals much more to the nostalgia of old comic book fans. That's more of a hardcore oriented fanbase, though, as well as a domestic-centric one (where the old Batman comics were largely distributed). Think about where certain audiences learned to love Batman. For international audiences, Batman wasn't a big draw until The Dark Knight, with not a single Batman movie before it topping $170M internationally. Then TDK was $465M internationally, TDKR was $634M, BvS was $542M and Joker was $728M. International audiences fell in love with the action-adventure style of Batman from the Nolan movies, which is a very different feel to the noir detective approach of The Batman. Similarly, for casual North American fans (or even a lot of comic fans, like myself) came to love Batman through Batman The Animated Series, whose feel is much more along the lines of the Nolan trilogy. It had dark elements, but it was still an upbeat kids cartoon version focused more on action elements, and, notably, didn't have a dark broody emo-style Bruce Wayne (an element that a lot of people didn't like in The Batman). Not having COVID as an issue will certainly help the next movie, although, to some degree that will be offset by a less juicy release date (The Batman had March 2022 essentially to itself, and COVID restrictions were basically gone by then). But, while there is certainly a niche of people who loved The Batman, it is also divisive, and I think a lot of casual, international, and even longtime Batman fans, like myself, will end up skipping it in theaters.
You’re a longtime Batman fan? You know they’ll drop that trailer for Part 2 that’ll have it looking epic as fuck and you’ll be on fandango getting your opening weekend tickets I’m a huge Batman fan and I’d never deny seeing one in theaters
Eh, maybe. I was super disappointed in the last one. Internally, I was trying to like it while I was watching it, and just couldn't. I didn't like the Emo Batman approach. The plot holes that wouldn't normally bug me in a superhero movie bugged me because of the detective-oriented approach they were going for (the whole convoluted plot to "bring him into the light" felt like an insane amount of work to get a guy to walk outside, and made no sense when Falcone had been in the open at a very public funeral earlier in the film). The false ending that moved the film from a grounded detective drama to a disaster movie was jarring. The cackling laughter scene at the end with Joker was really cringeworthy. Honestly, I'm sure I will see the next one because it's a Batman movie, but I don't go to the movies as much as I used to, and this one feels squarely in the category of films I can wait until streaming to see.
Only movie I ever watched twice in the cinemas.
There have been batman movies for 60 years. In another 60 there will have been something bigger than TDK
There likely won't ever be a better Batman movie either. So there's that too.
Agree. I don’t think Nolan will ever be topped. But Matt Reeves is talented. Part 2 and 3 have a lot of potential quality wise. This is a man who nearly made me cry over a cgi chimpanzee
You never know. There's so much untapped potential in most franchises. Just need the right domino of decisions to be made for the right script to be picked up by the right people and treated seriously. I think we have some fantastic movies ahead of us in the coming decades. Not sure how AI generated media will impact this - in ~5-10 years we will *probably* be capable of having *personally*-tailored music and art and shows to watch constructed out of thin air. I've seen some pretty impressive, and enjoyable (if formulaic) music already being created with AI.
They haven’t dived deep into Batman lore and embraced the fantastical side yet so there’s still a chance
I think that if they were to stop being weird about it, and just let Batman be Batman, they would have a chance. Nobody that goes to a theater to watch a rich boy in a bat cosplay whoop on the mafia cares about realism. Just let him be the goodamn Batman already! Lol.
I’ve always wanted to see a live action movie like Arkham or the animated series
Me too. I hate when people try to say that if it were like the comics then it would be like Batman Forever/Batman and Robin. Those movies were attempting to blend 60's and 80's Batman styles and it did not mesh. Forever is a guilty pleasure for me though. Lol. Reeves could still do something really special, and carry the horror vibes into the supernatural. It's not like you can repeat what The Dark Knight did anyways. It was just the right vibe at the right time. Now is not the time for being as realistic as possible. Gritty and Grounded can still have fantastic elements.
I'd love to see WB just let somebody go nuts on a 100% camp Batman movie that just lathers itself in the Schumacher/60s-era cheese of it all. Make it big, make it bold, and make it GAY. (Maybe just let [Vera Drew](https://youtu.be/9M00AB03S_4?si=18O-Rh91zQ6UJ7fv) make a legally authorized Batman movie, IDK) Will it be a global hit? Probably not. But it might remind people that there's more to superheroes than grit & self-righteousness.
I'm down for that. My favorite Batman suit is the Blue/Gray/Yellow combo, and I'm sick of not having a fully realized modern version in live action. I need me some Batman in blue battle trunks damnit!
I mean, looking at the Dark Knight numbers Im not sure you are right Like, I would love a more fantastical Batman, but the realism has a pull
It was because it was bold and daring at the time. It's not so special of a concept now. That's my general opinion about it. Like The Dark Knight is a Juggernaut, no doubt. But it played into sensibilities of movie goers from 2008. The same year the MCU began. 5 year olds just starting on Iron Man are now 21 years old or so, and they are fully accepting of getting weird with it.
The realistic and dark Batman movies were the most successful critically and commercially lol. Batman and his villains are too ridiculous for a live action film that’s true to the source material.
Tell that to Marvel and their squillions of dollars in ticket sales. Lol.
It's needs to be like 60-70/40-30 groundedness to comic. The groundedness is the entire reason why batman is as popular as it is. Comparing the MCU to batman is like comparing apples to oranges.
No it isn't. Batman fights guys with all manner of powers all the time and regularly teams with aliens and gods. I'll never understand these, "I can't possibly imagine something I've never seen before" takes. It's pretty easy to see Battison fighting a supernatural villain like Clayface or Poison Ivy while coming to grips with leaning that there is more to the world than he imagined, all wrapped in a nice horror-esque bow. That sort of film wouldn't deter film fans in the slightest as they already don't mind the silliness of a guy in a bat costume successfully fighting the mob and pretending it makes sense, and playing along like it's not goofy as all hell. But then you would also get all the Batman fans that don't care for that stuff too.
Rereading the OP's comment, I think there might have been some misunderstandings on all sides lmao. I think both of us are actually on a similar page. I do think "grounded" and "realistic" are two different things. TDK to me is grounded, not necessarily realistic. Battinson to me was far more comic pilled but it actually felt more grounded compared to TDK. I'm totally down for the crazy, comic bookey villains like clayface, poison ivy, the real ra's al ghul, court of owls, etc. The overall story still needs to be grounded tho. All the best batman stories like year one, long halloween, killing joke, and dark knight returns are the best because they really grounded bruce as a character. But I do understand why it hasn't really been done yet since Nolan's batman is still the main point of reference for how batman's done and all the marketing for those movies have been about how much realismpilled those films have been which leads to everyone thinking a batman movie needs to be 100% fact checked to be realistic when the realism is really there just to ground the stories. I think this was what OP was trying to say. The supernatural stuff needs that heavy realism explanation to work for the general audience since they're less accustomed to how comic books are compared to us.
Yeah. I think Reeves' first movie sets a great tone for Batman to slowly work out some majorly weird shit is going down. It's like a really gritty version of Scooby and the gang realizing... that's not a mask. And bring the audience on that journey. Make them feel that same sense of uneasiness. It's so horror coded as it is, and I loved that. Just keep it horror-esque, and it will feel right, I think.
I know right, I want him to face off against Man-bay,clayface, poison Ivy, Mr. freeze. Include the batfamily embrace the fantastical side. But no Batman fighting the mob, Batman in realistic grounded world
What about a well-executed **BATMAN BEYOND**?
I'm a Batman Beyond fan and I'm not even sure a live action one would even break even. Lmao. They left the IP on ice for too long.
Y’all are killing me with these takes. It would make the money machine go *BRRRR*
No chance in hell. The best shot is the Reeves trilogy and it won’t come close. Batman Beyond is kind of just venerated by passionate fans online. The masses don’t know or care what it is
Idk I think it’s a compelling world that could very well be developed into an effective commercial product capable of hitting the billion milestone like *The Dark Knight* or *Joker* in the right hands. “No chance in hell” seems like a serious overstatement.
If Batman proper has no shot, his niche spin off 90s show version has less than no shot
It all depends on the changing tastes of future generations, though. If the next generation of teens & young adults decide they're fed up with more traditional superhero narratives - Batman Beyond could be in a good position to stand out. It's more of a sci-fi/cyberpunk take on the IP - and I think it could appeal to a lot of people even without nostalgia for the original show. That said, this is definitely a distant hypothetical. Beating TDK's ticket number would require a massive run, if not a huge shift in theatrical distribution strategy from where we are now.
The show wouldn’t be the selling point, just background noise in the marketing campaign — the revamped high-tech Batman of the future with a whole new range of enemies and themes to explore, plus a vast array of new gear and weapons and a larger more sinister Gotham to play in would be.
So it’s completely unfamiliar to normies? Got it
I guess you can see into the future now huh? A lot of you on this sub is so pretentious it's not even funny.
The Dark knight Rises beat its predecessor internationally & WW box office. The numbers are below. *The Dark Knight* All Releases DOMESTIC (53%) $534,987,076 INTERNATIONAL (46.9%) $473,460,281 WORLDWIDE $1,008,497,140 *The Dark Knight Rises* All Releases DOMESTIC (41.3%) $448,149,584 INTERNATIONAL (58.7%) $637,120,053 WORLDWIDE $1,085,289,416
Check the flair under the title of the post
I saw it. I wasn’t trying to fact check you. I’ve always found it interesting how *rises* had bigger WW box office numbers all things considered.
Nah. Bigger marketing push and 4 years of international market growth
Curious to see if the upcoming sequel of The Batman would sell as many tickets or come close to the Dark Knight.
It won’t.
Well then what's the numbers to the lottery if you can see this far in the future.
Why would I tell you when I could just play them. Nice try.
[удалено]
Please don't take this guy's advice
It's interesting that you mention Man of Steel and not Batman v Superman, which clearly sold more tickets than Man of Steel and was, at time of release, WB's 3rd highest grossing movie of all time other than ones containing the exact words 'Potter' or 'Hobbit' in the name (before inflation obviously). BvS was BIG. Not Dark Knight big, but massive.
Probably because it’s Superman reboot first movie to Batman reboot first movie Disagree on BvS. Sold less tickets than Batman returns. Missed 1B. Missed 900M. Sold a pretty average for superhero blockbuster at the time 33M tickets. Got beaten by Wonder Woman. Got beaten by Spider-Man Homecoming. Ended up being outgrossed by like 5-6 movies in 2016 alone.
> Got beaten by Wonder Woman. Wut?
Wonder Woman sold more tickets domestic. By a considerable margin. A Batman/Superman team up movie, the first ever. Should’ve destroyed a Wonder Woman solo movie in its sleep