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Why 'Batman,' Not 'Star Wars,' Was The Box Office Blockbuster That Ruined Hollywood
Forbes ^ | June 23, 2019 | Scott Mendelson

Posted on 06/23/2019 6:26:45 PM PDT by EdnaMode

Today is June 23, 2019, making it the 30th anniversary of Tim Burton’s Batman.

[snip]

Looking back at its success, I maintain that Batman, not Star Wars (and certainly not Jaws), is the movie most responsible for the current Hollywood blockbuster.

[snip]

First, somewhat obviously, it showed Hollywood that they could make a film, a non-sequel film no-less, that could be a presumed guaranteed moneymaker by virtue of its source material. Sure, it wasn’t the first Hollywood blockbuster whose popularity partially stemmed from a book or a play. Think Gone with the Wind, Ben-Hur, The Godfather or Jaws. But Batman’s success signaled to the industry that they could raid their IP for potential movie material. As such, we had comic book movies (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), video game movies (Super Mario Bros.), films based on popular TV shows (The Fugitive), movies stemming directly from TV shows (Wayne’s World, X-Files: Fight the Future), and films based on theme park rides (Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl).

[snip]

The other trend that Batman began (sorry) was the notion of a kid-targeted property being fashioned into a movie aimed at older moviegoers. Yes, I saw Batman on opening weekend as a nine-year-old, and I wasn’t scarred for life. Nor was I among the kids traumatized by Batman Returns, but I digress. Nonetheless, At the time, the PG-13 rating was four-years-old and the idea a comic book superhero movie being both PG-13 and dark, violent and sexual enough to damn-well deserve that rating was a huge deal. Batman and (especially) Batman Returns were action fantasies pitched at adult moviegoers and filtered through adult sensibilities. It was considered “adult” enough that Disney successfully opened Honey I Shrunk the Kids ($14 million debut/$140 million cume) the same day.

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Society; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: batman; blockbusters; hollywood; movies; starwars
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To: EdnaMode
So he doesn't like a Batman movie. Okay, it wasn't that good a movie. But the "blockbuster" thing goes back well before that - to Jaws, Superman, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark. People were lining up around the block to see those pictures.

If I recall correctly, Tim Burton's Batman wasn't even very popular, though it had to have done better than the George Clooney Batman flick. The '80s were the decade of blockbusters, and Batman didn't come along until the end of the decade.

Now, we're in the age of the comic book movie. The Superman and Batman pictures were only a foretaste of that. Superman and Batman were already cult figures, familiar even to the older generation, and didn't rely on a movie to make them familiar. But this isn't the first batsh_t theory about the movie. Does anybody remember the "Batman anti-Semitic" controversy?

21 posted on 06/23/2019 7:55:00 PM PDT by x
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To: EdnaMode
Hollywood has always taken material from other media and it's foolish to think that it could survive without doing so. What marks the current era is all the sequels and the close connection between the comic books and the movies. I don't think you can lay that at the door of one crummy movie.

But that really doesn't matter. The person who wrote the article wants to get clicks and start a controversy, not to actually prove anything, and the author has probably succeeded at making waves and calling attention to himself and his magazine.

22 posted on 06/23/2019 8:01:42 PM PDT by x
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To: Magnum44

Holy HR!
Blnk
23 posted on 06/23/2019 8:03:51 PM PDT by minnesota_bound
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To: minnesota_bound

HA!!
I had to watch a couple times :)


24 posted on 06/23/2019 8:25:26 PM PDT by MotorCityBuck ( Keep the change, you filthy animal! ,)
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To: EdnaMode

>> Globalism is what ruined the blockbuster. <<

This needs to be shouted from the rooftops. So many movies were bombs in the U.S., but were funded again and again because no matter how bad they were, as long as they had enough explosions, they were monster hits overseas. Turns out the European movie-goers had all the sophistication of a toddler. As the 1990s drew to a close, movie companies learned to avoid risky movies like Forrest Gump, The Sixth Sense, Home Alone, Ghost, Dances with Wolves, and stick with noisy crap, like Independence Day, Water World, Batman Returns, The Lost World: Jurassic Park (2), Gidzilla (1998), etc.


25 posted on 06/23/2019 8:40:05 PM PDT by dangus
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To: EdnaMode

No big-budget movie could fail, if marketed to un-American tastes.

Every big-budget, legendary crap sandwich made killer money overseas.

Terminator 3 made $283 million.
The Matrix Revolutions made $460 million.
The Fantastic 4 made $128 million.
Waterworld made $176 million.
Alexander made $133 million.
Troy made $364 million.
War of the Worlds made $357 million.
Mission Impossible 3 made $267 million.
Transformers 3 made $771 million.
2012 made $663 million.
Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides made $804 million.


26 posted on 06/23/2019 9:00:40 PM PDT by dangus
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To: minnesota_bound

In one of the the 40’s Batman serials Alfred is catching Batman’s girlfriend Vicki as she collapses and it’s pretty much the same as that gif.


27 posted on 06/23/2019 9:19:45 PM PDT by \/\/ayne (I regret that I have but one subscription cancellation notice to give to my local newspaper.)
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To: escapefromboston

This. Attending an ‘American’ movie in Asia is a unique experience...


28 posted on 06/23/2019 9:25:32 PM PDT by Thunder 6
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To: EdnaMode
It also showed that you could make the absolutely worst casting decisions and people would still go see it.
29 posted on 06/23/2019 9:48:39 PM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear
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To: EdnaMode

Ultimately, yes. Leftism, politucal correctness, etc.


30 posted on 06/23/2019 9:52:57 PM PDT by YogicCowboy ("I am not entirely on anyone's side, because no one is entirely on mine." - J. R. R. Tolkien)
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To: YogicCowboy

= political.


31 posted on 06/23/2019 9:53:32 PM PDT by YogicCowboy ("I am not entirely on anyone's side, because no one is entirely on mine." - J. R. R. Tolkien)
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To: Jumper

Excellent point. No one connects solidly that many times, and no one could possibly survive it.


32 posted on 06/23/2019 9:54:54 PM PDT by YogicCowboy ("I am not entirely on anyone's side, because no one is entirely on mine." - J. R. R. Tolkien)
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To: EdnaMode

This year is especially bad. Last movie I saw at the theater was The Mule and that’s only because Clint Eastwood is in it. Marvel movies......getting old now, just my humble opinion.


33 posted on 06/23/2019 9:57:13 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: x

“So he doesn’t like a Batman movie”

Did you actually read it? He said it’s one of his favorite movies of all time. He just happens to think that’s it’s the blueprint for every blockbuster movie that’s come since (by taking recognisable kid’s material and making it’s edgy for older nostalgic audiences. I can’t say I disagree with him on that... well... other than the fact that I actually do hate Batman.


34 posted on 06/24/2019 4:50:38 AM PDT by Lurker51
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To: x

“If I recall correctly, Tim Burton’s Batman wasn’t even very popular”

P.S. You do not recall correctly.


35 posted on 06/24/2019 4:52:00 AM PDT by Lurker51
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To: EdnaMode

What ruined Hollywood was, in part, the ruination of our educational system that dumbed down our population and their level of cultural interests and discourse.


36 posted on 06/24/2019 4:59:23 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: John Milner

Hollywood lost it way when...it became committed to using its powers to the further the fundamental transformation of the United States of America.


37 posted on 06/24/2019 5:05:21 AM PDT by Jim Noble (1)
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To: KarlInOhio
Some days you just can't get rid of a bimb
38 posted on 06/24/2019 5:06:11 AM PDT by mewzilla (Break out the mustard seeds,)
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To: mewzilla

Bomb. This is Batman, not the Pink Panther.


39 posted on 06/24/2019 5:06:52 AM PDT by mewzilla (Break out the mustard seeds,)
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To: EdnaMode

Going leftist is what ruined Hollyweird.


40 posted on 06/24/2019 5:11:40 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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