Posted on 06/20/2005 7:10:06 AM PDT by Syco
Batman was powerful enough to rule the box office, but the superhero was unable to pull Hollywood out of its worst slump in 20 years.
"Batman Begins" debuted as the top movie with $46.9 million, while overall movie revenues skidded for the 17th-straight weekend, tying a slide in 1985 that had been the longest box-office decline since analysts began keeping detailed records on movie grosses.
The top 12 movies took in $128.5 million, down 1.6 percent from the same weekend in 2004, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The slump may be a sign that more people are seeing movies at home. An Associated Press-AOL poll last week found that 73 percent of adults prefer watching movies on DVD, videotape or pay-per-view rather than going to the theater.
Studio executives blame the downturn on a comparatively weak lineup of movies this year and say it will take more time to determine if DVDs and other home-entertainment options are eroding theater business.
Agree that watching it on DVD would be less intense for children. Although I don't think this movie will be nearly as good on a small screen. A lot of the action is very fast and takes place at night. (Maybe my eyesight is not as good as it used to be, though)
Batman was a weak opening...
but not bad for the fifth time the movie was made with one script.
Year Movie Opening Weekend Avg Ticket Total Viewers
1989 Batman $40.5 million / $3.99 = 10,150,375
1995 Forever $52.7 million / $4.35 = 12,114,942
1997 Robin $42.8 million / $4.59 = 9,324,618
2005 Begins $46.6 million / $6.75 = 6,903,703
why did those last 2 Batmans suck, cause they let a fruit direct it and he put nipples on the costumes, had to have a butt shot of batman getting dressed andsaid Batman has to get over this dead parents thing, yeah he knows the character.
Trivia for
Batman Begins (2005)
* Before Christian Bale was cast as Batman, many other actors were considered for the role including Guy Pearce, Ashton Kutcher, David Boreanaz, John Cusack, David Duchovny and newcomer Hugh Dancy.
* Only days before the role of Batman was cast, eight actors were asked to audition for the part. The actors were Christian Bale, Joshua Jackson, Eion Bailey, Hugh Dancy, Billy Crudup, Cillian Murphy, Henry Cavill and Jake Gyllenhaal. Christian Bale got the part. However, Christopher Nolan liked Cillian Murphy's audition so much, he cast him as Dr. Jonathan Crane/The Scarecrow.
* A very large number of directors were considered to direct the film. For some time, despite the fourth movie's failure, Joel Schumacher was attached to direct the film based on the Batman: Year One saga. After he left, among others, the producers opted for an even darker approach, and officially asked David Fincher to direct the film, who declined. At one point, following the Dark Knight saga, producers considered an older Batman, with Clint Eastwood taking the director duties as well as donning the cape. In 2002, producers planned to make a Superman vs. Batman movie with Wolfgang Petersen at the helm, but Petersen instead opted to make Troy (2004) for Warner's. Finally, Christopher Nolan took over the project in 2003.
* This is the first movie to use the new DC logo
* Arnold Schwarzenegger stopped by at one of the sets during filming
* Before Christopher Nolan took over, director Darren Aronofsky was attached to make a Batman movie based on the graphic novel "Batman: Year One" and have the author Frank Miller write the screenplay. By 2003 there was a first draft screenplay with story boards, which are properties of AOL Time Warner. Warner's decision for not producing the film is unknown, but based on the details that have since leaked out, it would probably have to do with the screenplay, which strayed a considerable amount from the source material, making Alfred an African-American mechanic named "Big Al," the Batmobile being a suped-up Lncoln Towncar, and Bruce Wayne being homeless, among other things. This is all detailed in 'David Hughes' ' book "Tales from Development Hell."
* The sets were built in the Admiralty Hanger No. 2, one of the largest hangers in the world. The floor area is the size of 16 Olympic-size swimming pools.
* This Batmobile was built from the ground up, not based on any existing cars.
* The Batmobile can accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 6 seconds.
* The license plates for the Gotham related cars were designed in the same style as the Illinois state license plates.
* Ra's Al Ghul is Arabic for "The Demon's Head". This refers to his position at the height of the Brotherhood of the Demon, also called the League of Assassins.
* A quote from Christian Bale that some of the crew had on the back of their t-shirts (the wardrobe dept. did it as a joke) said: "It's hot, dark and sweaty and it gives me a headache."
* Christopher Eccleston was rumored for the role of Dr. Jonathan Crane/The Scarecrow before Cillian Murphy was eventually cast.
* Chris Cooper turned down the role of James Gordon.
* Kurt Russell and Dennis Quaid were considered for the role of James Gordon.
* Viggo Mortensen turned down the role of Ra's Al Ghul, the main villain in the film. Daniel Day-Lewis was also approached for the role.
* The title went through many changes. First, it was known as "Batman 5". It became "Batman: The Frightening" for a while and was then confirmed by Shepperton Studios' website as "Batman: Intimidation Game" before settling on "Batman Begins".
* The movie restarts the Batman franchise, having nothing to do with the previous four films (Batman (1989), Batman Returns (1992), Batman Forever (1995), Batman & Robin (1997)).
* Anthony Hopkins was offered the role of Alfred but declined.
* Laurence Fishburne was considered for Lucious Fox.
* Filming was temporarily delayed on the London soundstage due to the sound of amorous pigeons in the rafters above.
* The crime boss Carmine "The Roman" Falcone was a character from the comics. He was Gotham City's last "old school" gangster. He was killed, and his empire wiped out, when Batman's familiar rogue's gallery came into prominence.
* Filming began on 22 May 2004 at Senate House (a property belonging to the University of London, just off Russell Square). The front of the building was made up as the Gotham City courts, complete with New York-style taxis and Gotham Police Department cars.
* Christian Bale's trailer didn't have his name on the door but said "Bruce Wayne" instead.
* A full city block of Gotham - much of it based on the slums of Kowloon in Hong Kong which were torn down in 1994 - was built in a converted aircraft hangar.
* The Batmobile has four 44-inch Humvee tires at the rear, while the front is covered in jagged plates of armor.
* On the set, the costumed Bale constantly had two people trailing him to keep the Batsuit smudge-free.
* On a converted parking lot at Shepperton, the film crew built an entire village of trailers where chemists and costume artists made neoprene-and-foam-latex Batsuits. The place was dubbed "Cape Town."
* This Batsuit has no nipples, unlike the one George Clooney wore in Batman & Robin (1997).
* The script was written by David S. Goyer while he was also writing and preparing to direct Blade: Trinity (2004).
* When Warner Bros. was considering "Batman: The Frightening" as the title, a script was released online that was widely believed to be official. Two writers, Terry Hayes and Rafael Yglesias, were credited on the draft, but both denied writing it. The author was later discovered to be Brandon Gaines.
* While shooting on the streets of Chicago, a person accidentally crashed into the Batmobile. The driver was apparently drunk, and said he hit the car in a state of panic, believing the Dark Knight's vehicle to be an invading alien spacecraft.
* David S. Goyer said that the graphic novels "The Long Halloween" and "Dark Victory" by 'Joseph Loeb' were a huge influence on his screenplay. When he was asked the question, "What about Frank Miller's Year One?", he replied, "Our story is not Year One." An early draft of David S. Goyer's script leaked onto the Internet in April of 2004.
* David Goyer's script leaked onto the Internet long before the film's release.
* David S. Goyer mentioned in an interview that his favorite pre-audition choice for Batman was Jake Gyllenhaal, but that he was won over by Christian Bale after seeing his test.
* While filming in Lower Wacker Drive, in Chicago, Illinois, the filmmakers were so concerned for the care of the Batmobile, that they told the stunt driver to take as much time as he needed to make any move. Therefore, when it came time to back the Batmobile up, they went so slow as to cause traffic jams that had to be reported on the news. Simply moving the Batmobile around Chicago took numerous police as well as caused traffic jams where ever they went.
* Before the shooting began, Christopher Nolan invited the whole film crew to a private screening of Blade Runner (1982). After the film he said to the whole crew, "This is how we're going to make Batman."
* Katie Holmes barely beat Natalie Portman and Sarah Michelle Gellar for the role of Rachel Dawes.
* Baseball pitcher Dwight Gooden of NY Mets and Yankees fame plays a Gotham City police officer in the film.
* At $100 million, the film's marketing costs were the most ever for a single film in history.
* Larry Wachowski and Andy Wachowski were approached to direct but turned down the offer and instead made the Matrix sequels.
* This is the first Batman film to be shot in 2.35:1 aspect ratio.
* Contains 400 VFX shots
I'll say.
I have been wanting to see a movie for months, but everything in the theaters has been schmarn.
I'd rather mow the lawn than see another Gigli.
Not that I saw it.
It won't be as good on small screen, which is also why kids should be able to handle it. I'd like to see it at least once more before it leaves the theaters.
That was simply THE BEST Batman movie..EVER!
I actually had a couple of tears in my eye, at just HOW MUCH they got it right! I was floored!
Also, I will watch ANY movie(that's worth watching, no "Gigli's" allowed!) now in I-Max...without a doubt, seeing Batman Begins on an 8 story screen with very comfy seats with NO obstruction is the way to go! Worth the slight price increase definitely!
Fantastic 4 in I-Max...here I come!
Heh, nearest IMAX is thirty miles away, not something I can just do on a whim. Bet it would be impressive, though!
As someone who doesn't know that much about the mythos, I was impressed by how they told a story that worked on so many levels. You don't have to know much about the background... you just have to watch and be impressed.
I haven't been to see it yet.
It is rather funny isn't it, only a jingoistic American
citizen kicking Islamic terrorist butt, would really pull
in the bucks for them, but they CAN'T MAKE THAT.
hahahahah.
I love it! That is what I want to have. Saving after I finish paying for the kids braces, and college expenses.
CGI is cool, but after a spell it gets a bit boring. same with car chase scenes. same with limp copies of limp 1970's TV series. same with gay-promoting films. same with films that portray the military as sinister. same with films that, yet again, portray yet another evil aspect of the NAZIs. same with films that, yet again, portray Christians as intolerant. same with films that portray the CIA as sinister. same with films that try to portray hollywood communists as heroic. same with limp comedies that try to pass hollywood jewish culture as funny. same with comedies that try to pass teen angst as funny. same with films that portray any comic-book superhero. same with any animated film that involves some kind of 'search'.
question: if you apply the following restrictions to hollywood, what films could they make?
i actually feel sorry for hollywood. what has appeared is an American royalty of, typically, second rate stars and semi-stars who make a living basking in the limelight of a few long ago hits, dressing up fancy at the oscars, and making leftist/gay-lesbo/vegan-tree-hugging rants in the newspaper to maintain this royalty status.
the problem is that the hollywood eco-system is saturated and over-populated, so we are left with a huge number or "rosie o-donnell" type has beens that will be pitiful when they join the ranks of the homeless after the american public gets tired of shelling out $10 a ticket to see a crap film. the industry is starting to list to the left and is going down butt first...
"star" status just ain't what it used to be...
Did it..and it's only the 2nd movie I've seen this year.
An unbelievably sparse crop sofar but this one made up for it.
I give it 9 out of 10.....make it 9.5.
I'm trying to remember... other than "Hitchhiker's Guide", I haven't seen anything this year that was worth my money.
The summer might hold a few promises. I like the look of the "Chocolate Factory" remake, and will probably see "War of the Worlds". "Sky High" looks very fun in an "Incredibles" sort of way. And this fall, the new Harry Potter movie, and the first Narnia movie.
Hmmm.... every movie I want to see is SF or fantasy. Wonder why Hollywood can't tell a good "real life" story these days?
My first this year was SW3.
HUH??
Did I miss something in the movie??
I saw that too. Wasn't worth my money ;-)
Agreed. They nailed it on this one. Tim Burton's come in a close 2nd and 3rd, but this one took itself so much more seriously that I have to give it the edge. I am a serious student of symbolism and mythology in film, and I was overwhelmed with the depth of this one.
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, hollywood in a slump. Couldn't happen to a worse group of individuals.
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