Batman is a 1989 superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name, and directed by Tim Burton. The film features Michael Keaton as Batman, as well as Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl, Pat Hingle, Billy Dee Williams, Michael Gough, and Jack Palance. The film is primarily known for depicting a darker and more serious version of the character rather than the more acknowledged Batman TV series from the 1960s. It takes inspirations seen by the work of Bill Finger and Bob Kane's stories from 1939.
Development phase for the film initially started as far back as the late 1970s, though due to creative differences on the project, it took roughly ten years to make the film. The film was shot almost entirely at Pinewood Studios and relied upon traditional stunts and miniatures for visual effects. Batman was both critically and commercially successful and garnered the sequel Batman Returns, as well as Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, though the last two were directed by Joel Schumacher rather than Burton. The film series would eventually be "rebooted" with Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins.
Production
When Burton was hired as director, Tom Mankiewicz' script was used by Warner Brothers "to guide the project". Burton was personally dissatisfied with Mankiewicz' script, calling it "too jokey and cynical", and hiring collaborator Julie Hickson to write a 30-page treatment. Elements seen from Hickson's treatment are unknown, though Warner Brothers was less willing to move forward on production. In due time, Burton went to work on Beetlejuice, while Batman labored into development. The studio then enlisted the aid of Steve Englehart to write a basic story treatment in March 1986. Englehart was primarily known as the author of Dark Detective, which the film was supposedly to be based upon. Englehart was told the plot would be in the manner that another writer could work from into a full fledged screenplay, as Warner Brothers declined to let him work on the script, thus he settled for the treatment. Englehart claims, "Between the original comics and the treatments, about 70 percent of what ended up on screen originated with me."
Englehart quoted on the experience, "When I got involved I was told that the Joker and the Penguin and Robin were all going to be in the picture. I argued that that was several characters too many, but was overruled, so my first treatment went that route. The Powers That Be not only liked it, but for the first time saw the Batman "picture" clearly enough to realize that two villains and a boy wonder were masking (so to speak) the Batman story, which is what it should be all about. So I got to do the second treatment with just the characters that eventually hit the screen: Bruce Wayne, the Batman, Silver St. Cloud, and the Joker." Englehart finished writing the story treatments in May 1986.
Meanwhile Burton settled to hire a writer to work the screenplay. Sam Hamm claims at the time he was still a "low-ranking" writer for Warner Brothers. He desperately wanted to write the new Batman movie as he was a fan of the character. He finally got his chance when he accidentally collided with Burton. The two then ended up in conversation, to which Burton was impressed with Hamm's knowledge of the character, and hired him to write the script. The two opted not to do a complete origin story as Hamm stated, "You totally destroy your credibility if you show the literal process by which Bruce Wayne becomes Batman and "You had to wade through 20 years just to get to the first shot of the guy in the costume that we've all come to see." Silver St. Cloud and Rupert Thorne, who appeared in the various scripts and treatments over the years, were deleted in favor of Vicki Vale and the newly created character Carl Grissom. The filmmakers apparently felt they weren't as popular as they were 10 years ago in Englehart's Dark Detective series. Englehart claims he was mildly disappointed.
Robin appeared in Hamm's script, but was deleted because Burton and Hamm felt he was irrelevant to the plot. Burton also cited that "Batman is a loner, and it should stay that way." Fortunately for them, Warner Brothers also agreed, and saved the character for a second installment. Bob Kane supported the decision as well. Hamm turned in his script just days before the infamous writer's strike of 1988 
began, and was unable to write further drafts due to his involvement. Burton and others liked the script, but thought "something" was missing. As such he brought in Beetlejuice co-writers Warren Skaaren and Charles McKeown for rewrite work. Jonathan Gems did a few weeks worth of rewriting as well. Their draft introduced the Joker's role as the killer of Bruce Wayne's parents, a revelation Burton wanted from the beginning. Hamm, staying true to the source material, had refused to use the idea. One of the primary reasons as to why the filmmakers brought in McKeown was that they felt he could come up with more creative jokes for The Joker. Producer Jon Peters had at one point envisioned the film as "Death Wish in a batsuit." The studio gave Burton more creative control than Peters once Beetlejuice took more than $70 million at the box office (a substantial profit compared to Beetlejuice's $7 million budget). This also helped green light the film. By the end of production, the film had cost $30 million to make, and a further $15 million was spent on advertising.
Casting
The Los Angeles Times reported Mel Gibson, Charlie Sheen and Pierce Brosnan were all being considered for the role of Batman, while Entertainment Weekly reported Daniel Day-Lewis and Ralph Fiennes. Michael Uslan cited Harrison Ford, Dennis Quaid, and Kevin Costner as the top three choices. Gibson turned down the role stating, "I just didn’t want to put a spandex suit on." Adam West offered his services, though was ignored by the filmmakers. Burton originally wanted to cast an unknown actor, similar to Richard Donner's choice of Christopher Reeve in Superman.
Jon Peters first suggested Keaton for the role upon viewing his performances in Beetlejuice, and soon Burton was convinced as well, after working with the actor. Bob Kane questioned the casting, as did comic book fans, who sent 50,000 protest letters. Burton also cited that Keaton "had the eyes, and for a character that wears a mask for most of the film, eyes should be very important." West (who was 60 years old at the time) then felt himself to be better suited for the part stating, "It's disappointing not to have the chance to do the definitive, big-screen Batman. Batman isn't RoboCop or Dirty Harry. Batman is a fun character." Many of the fans would eventually take back what they said, even going as far as complaining that Keaton should have received more screen time than Nicholson. Uslan, who was very much against the casting of Keaton at first, would eventually change his mind as well. Kane took back his words, stating, "Keaton gives Batman a real vulnerability that a typical hunk actor probably couldn't bring to the character."
Kane himself had wanted Nicholson for the role of the Joker ever since the early 1980s, though Burton and Hamm were considering Willem Dafoe, David Bowie and James Woods. Robin Williams was highly considered and even offered his services. Tim Curry was strongly reported to be a contender. Hamm and Burton then went back to Nicholson, and a doctored photo of the actor in Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining, replete with green hair and whiteface done by Kane. Hamm quoted, "So what if I've got a 32-year-old guy in the script. I mean Nicholson can pull off basically anything. He's going to give you shit you're not going to get if you cast somebody closer in age. If you get a star like Nicholson both for commercial and artistic reasons, it makes more sense to change the character." Peters first approached Nicholson while filming The Witches of Eastwick, telling him he was the only actor for the role. Nicholson received an up front $6 million salary and demanded script changes. Hamm stated "Hey, I worked with Carroll Ballard. It's just something I can't get cranked up about. I mean, shit happens. With dialogue changes, I frankly couldn't care less. If they want to substitute punch lines, jokes are basically interchangeable. The rhythm, the basic thrust of the characters, how the story fits together, all of that is more important that one localized element. When you have a movie this big and expensive, practical considerations have to weigh."6 Nicholson also negotiated for a percentage of the box office and merchandising profits, which would total $60 million.
Sean Young was finally cast as Vicki Vale. But Young broke her collar bone while horse-riding a week before filming and Basinger was cast at the last minute. Basinger quoted, "I was hired on a Friday and on a plane to London on Sunday." The character of Alexander Knox was originally set to die by the Joker's poisonous gas during the parade scene. However, since the filmmakers liked Robert Wuhl's performance, they decided to let him live. Wuhl was excited, thinking he would be used in a supposed sequel, though this never came to be and he's disappointed to this day. Billy Dee Williams accepted the role of Harvey Dent with the knowledge and expectation that Dent would eventually become the villainous Two-Face. He admitted to have had a clause put into his contract reserving the role for him in any sequels, which Warner Brothers had to buy out so they could cast Tommy Lee Jones in the same role for Batman Forever. Burton briefly spoke of the situation as well, thinking of the idea to be interesting of using Williams as Two-Face for a possible third Batman installment before giving the directing reins to Joel Schumacher. Burton opted to cast Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth as Burton himself was a fan of Gough's work in the various Hammer Film Productions that Gough had starred in. Palance was cast as Carl Grissom as Burton "couldn't envision anyone else portraying Jack Nicholson's boss." It was Nicholson's idea to cast Tracey Walter as Bob the Goon, as they are close friends.
Filming
Batman was filmed at Pinewood Studios from October 1988 to January 1989. Anton Furst was given a $5.5 million budget for the production design and construction process. Burton opted not to film at Warner Brothers' studios in California, as he wanted to film in England to escape American press. Keaton quoted, "When you're overseas, you can concentrate on making the movie and not think about the external things. That turned out to be a blessing." Production was highly secretive. The unit publicist was offered and refused £10,000 for the first pictures of Nicholson as The Joker. The police were later called in when two reels of footage (about 20 minutes worth) were copied in an attempt to make a pirate video. Nicholson was very supportive of Burton, going as far as yelling at Jon Peters and Peter Guber (as well as various Warner Brothers executives) simply in favor of the director.
Nicholson was originally scheduled for three weeks of filming, but this stretched into 106 days. Vicki Vale was to have been killed by The Joker, sending Batman into a vengeful fury. Peters decided that audiences wouldn't accept "Batman beating up a 50-year-old man," and so without telling Burton, he reworked it: the Joker would take Vale captive, and drag her up to the top of Gotham cathedral's bell tower. Peters was inspired by The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. He was most impressed with the "climax; Erik carrying Christine up a tower" (though, ironically, the play's actual climax takes place in a sewer).
It would require an additional 38-foot (12 m) model of the cathedral, costing $100,000, when they were already well over budget. Burton disliked the idea, having no clue how the scene would end. Burton stated, "Here was Jack Nicholson and Kim Basinger walking up this cathedral, and halfway up Jack turns around and says, 'Why am I walking up all these stairs? Where am I going?' We'll talk about it when you get to the top! I had to tell him that I didn't know."
Design
Burton had wanted to hire Anton Furst for Beetlejuice, after being impressed with his work on The Company of Wolves and Full Metal Jacket, though at the time, Furst was too committed on High Spirits (a choice he later regretted) Furst and Burton deliberately mixed clashing architectural styles to make Gotham City the ugliest and bleakest dystopia imaginable. No computer-generated imagery was used for the sets, and instead the filmmakers depended on matte paintings and the buildings themselves (which stood at 40 feet (12 m) high). The Art Department talks about how it was easy to communicate with Burton, as they cited him as "visually stunning film director." Furst quoted on Burton, "I don't think I've ever felt so naturally in tune with a director. Conceptually, spiritually, visually, or artistically. There was never any problem because we never fought over anything. I often wanted his advice, but when I came up with four ideas in four different directions, he'd always choose the one I liked most." For influences of the design for the film, Burton and Furst studied Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1929), Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982), Terry Gilliam's Brazil (1985) and original Bob Kane sketches of Gotham City in the late 1930s. Furst quoted, "I thought we'd go back to the turn of the century; and imagine what New York might have become had there been no planning permission, and no concern about the quality of life for people in the city." While examining the sets Kane quoted "I envisaged Gotham the way I see it now at Pinewood. They've got it, every building, every ash can, every brick."
The Batmobile took 14 weeks to construct, though the builders forgot to add a door, thus the reason why the entire cockpit opens in a similar manner to jets. Two browning machine guns were installed, and the costume design team had build a new cowl for Keaton, as it didn't fit in the car. The car stood 20 feet (6.1 m) long with a 141-inch (3,600 mm) wheelbase. Furst quoted, "We didn't want to put it into any particular period of time. We looked at jet aircraft components, we looked at war machines, we looked at all sorts of things. In the end, we went into pure expressionism, taking the Salt Flat Racers of the 30s and the Stingray macho machines of the 50s." The car was built upon the frame of a Chevrolet Impala.
Make-up Designer Nick Dudman had met Burton and Furst at a time when nobody knew whether Batman would be greenlighted. For his 
role, Nicholson had what was known as an "off-the-clock" agreement. His contract specified the number of hours he was entitled to have off each day, from the time he left the studio to the time he reported back for filming. Dudman quoted "Nicholson had to leave at a certain point each night, allowing time for us to clean him up, for it to be worth bringing him in the next day. Anything over two and a half hours in the makeup chair was silly because he would only be on the floor for four hours. Although it was a crippling schedule, we got it down to two hours in all-90 minutes to get everything on and colored up, 20 minutes for the wig placement, and 10 minutes to re-touch and finish."
Dudman was specifically chosen by Nicholson, who had approved of his resume. Burton had warned Dudman that Nicholson would have contractually have total make-up control. Dudman went to the Dorchester Hotel to meet Nicholson; though not being familiar with Nicholson's work and fearing he would be an "over hyped celebrity," Dudman found him "fascinating, pleasant, polite, and relaxed," the complete opposite of what he had expected. Dudman then prepared a series of sketches and paintings of his proposed make-up designs for The Joker, which were submitted for Nicholson's approval before he agreed to sign for the role.
Dudman made a life-cast of the actor after Nicholson accepted the designs and the part. Dudman's concept was to design a prosthetic make-up based on a life-cast of Nicholson smiling as broadly as he could. Dudman recalled, "The first thing Jack said to me was, 'I never wear make-up in movies, apart from when I'm injured.' He hates it! That filled me with enormous confidence." Dudman sculpted six Joker designs, and selected two with Burton to submit to Nicholson for final approval. Apparently it was the design the crew and Burton liked the most. With two weeks until the start of filming, Dudman prepared a set of appliances for test shooting, making sure the lighting would be formidable with the makeup. For prosthetics Dudman used a nose tip, two upper lips, a chin, and two lower lips with cheeks. For The Joker's white face, Dudman used Pax Paint, a mixture of adhesive and acrylic paint plasticized so it wouldn't crack. Dudman shaded the design with gunmetal grey powdered eye shadow, dissolved in alcohol. When brushed onto the Pax base, the alcohol bonded the shading to the makeup which wouldn't rub off. That feature came in handy for the scene where The Joker's flesh-colored disguise gets washed off by a bucket of water to the face.
Music
Burton opted to hire Danny Elfman, his long time collaborator and in return, Burton handed him The Dark Knight Returns for inspiration on musical notes. Jon Peters and Peter Guber originally had in mind for Prince to write the Joker theme while Michael Jackson would write the love theme, and Elfman would then combine the style of the two songs together for the entire film score. Burton protested the ideas, citing "my movies aren't like Top Gun." Burton won the argument and was happy with the outcome stating, "Danny was able to write a dark, orchestral piece." Elfman also helped himself out by simply walking and visiting Furst's sets of Gotham City for the mood of the music. Elfman was worried to helm the film score, as he never had worked on a project this large in budget. Peters was cautious in hiring Elfman feeling that he simply "couldn't achieve it." During rehearsals with the orchestra, Peters literally started dancing around to the main theme, and took back his words. Peters was so impressed with Elfman's film score that he would put his cell phone up to the speakers to send to all of his fellow friends. When asked what music he enjoyed writing most for the film, Elfman commented on "anything that had do to with The Joker." Batman became one of the first films to spawn two soundtracks.
Reception
Fans originally let it be known they resented Keaton in the leading role, and Burton, whose only previous credits included comedies. As such, they felt the film would center into that of the campy Batman TV series from the 1960s. In order to fight the rumors on the style of the film, the filmmakers hired Batman co-creator Bob Kane as a consultant. In addition, producer Jon Peters hassled together a simple 30-second teaser trailer that was shown to an audience of fans. The teaser became a popular bootleg collection at comic book conventions and spawned into a hype known as "Batmania." Over 1,000 posters were stolen from subways and bus shelters across the US. The hype surrounding the film was so spontaneous that Keaton called it "unwieldy and stupid." Burton then quoted "There's nobody more tired of seeing this stuff than me. I'm very afraid of this kind of marketing stuff. It kind of destroys the movie sometimes."
Batman opened on June 23, 1989 in the United States in 2,194 theaters, accumulating $40,489,746 over its opening weekend. The movie proved to be a big success, making $411,348,924 worldwide. It is the highest grossing Batman film to date, and was also the highest grossing film of 1989. Batman was also the first film to break the $100 million mark in its first 10 days and was Warner Brothers' highest grossing film until 2001 when Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was released.
Based on 46 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, Batman received an average 72 percent overall approval rating; the film received a 57 percent with the seven critics in Rotten Tomatoes' "Cream of the Crop." By comparison, Metacritic calculated an average score of 66 from the 17 reviews it collected. Common reviews centered around Nicholson receiving more screen time than Keaton. Burton defended that strategy, stating, "If these two were standing on the street, Batman would always be wanting to hide, whereas The Joker would be, 'Look at me. Look at me'." Roger Ebert wrote that the visuals were of high quality, but the characters lacked depth. All in all, he gave the film two stars out of four. Variety praised overall aspects of the film that included the design, casting, and simply the story. Hal Hinson of the Washington Post called it, "dark, haunting, and poetic."
The scene where as Alfred lets Vicki Vale in the Batcave caused a high level of criticism with fans as well. Over the rewriting process with Warren Skaaren, Charles McKeown and Jonathan Gems the scene had apparently made its way in. Sam Hamm, writer of the original script stated, "that would have been Alfred's last day of employment at the Wayne Manor." It was these concurrencies (as well as the controversy with The Joker being portrayed as the killer of Bruce Wayne's parents instead of Joe Chill) that highly affected Burton. The director quoted, "They the fans were mad because we supposedly didn't film the scene where Bruce beats up Alfred." Roger Ebert noted this scene and wrote, "How does she react? She doesn't. The movie forgets to allow her to be astonished." Gene Siskel was quoted as saying, "No, no, she knew. She knew the moment he came to her rescue at the museum." In addition, Burton stated during the production of Batman Returns, "It's this type of stuff that I don't really go to comic book conventions. Actually I never go to comic book conventions, or else they would bash my head in."
Furst and Peter Young won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration. Films that were in competition for the award included The Abyss, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Driving Miss Daisy and Glory. It's the only Batman film to date to win an Academy Award. Elfman and Prince were each individually nominated for Grammy Awards. Nicholson was nominated for a Golden Globe in the category of Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical, but lost out to Morgan Freeman in Driving Miss Daisy.
