TheEccentric

Since it's been confirmed [but no release date] for SE DVD's of Tim Burton's Batman movies, what about Joel Schumacher's Batman movies.

Batman Forever and Batman & Robin may not be fan favorites, but I'm a fan of the whole series, and would really like to see SE DVD's of these two.

Now that Schumacher has just recorded a commentary for The Lost Boys, is it possible he's getting ready for some more SE's?
I heard rumor somewhere that there might be a 2-disc Batman Forever, 1 w/ the movie, n 1 w/ the director's cut.

FinkPish

I'm sure that WB has a nice SE boxset of all the Batman movies that they are holding on to until Batman Begins comes out, either in theaters or on DVD itself.

Matthew Chmiel

Supposedly, each of the four Batman films will get two-disc special editions.

Supposedly, the Batman Forever DVD will include Joel Schumacher's original (and much darker) edit which ran almost two and a half hours.

Cameron

i hope it has a slipcover with nipples on it

dxwwf3

Well I would love to see a Batman Forever SE. It was my favorite Batman movie and I would buy it in a heartbeat.

Very interested to hear about a director's cut. Hopefully they release the original theatrical cut as well. I've held out on buying the first 3 Batman movies. Hopefully my wait will be rewarded.

madcougar

I wonder how much interest there would be for these two movies. I know that they have their fans, but the reality is that they were both disasters. I can't imagine anyone outside of hard-core fans buying these.

But hey, they released that Showgirls SE recently, so there you go.

dxwwf3

Actually I thought that Batman Forever did quite well at the box office. Domestically it made $184 million back in 1995. And certainly all the big Jim Carrey fans would buy this just for his great performance.

ckolchak

i think the above comment applies to all of the Batman movies.
i don't understand why anyone would like the first one especially for any quality other than nostalgic affection.
the characters are all dishwater dull and the 'action' deflates moments after it starts (the street fight ends in a couple punches, the batplane gets taken down on its second pass, the bell tower thugs get taken out in one or two moves, etc)

Brain Stew

I will admit, Batman Forever had its moments, but it really took the series in a different direction. Batman and Robin totally sucked ass.

bballing

Batman forever and Batman and Robin are two of the WORST movies in the history of time.

Schumacher should be shot.

DonnachaOne

Hey, there's a ten-disc Matrix set...

Rammsteinfan

He can be forgiven because he has given us Falling Down. He has also done a few other good movies.

Hokeyboy

Peaked with DC Cab.

Numanoid

GuyverX

The first two Batman movies were excellent, IMHO. Tim Burton, Michael Keaton, and Danny Elfman were the perfect trio to work on those films. Joel Shumacher single-handedly made the franchise a neon fruity crapfest. Batman Forever was fun in certain parts, but Batman and Robin was unredeemable.

DonnachaOne

I can't stand criticism from the uninformed...

Matthew Chmiel

Joel Schumacher didn't "fuck the franchise up" per say. Avika Goldsman fucked it up a lot more than Schumacher, as Donnacha said. When Schumacher has the right material, he can make a damn fine film. Just with the Batman films, not only was he following up Burton and Keaton, but he had the worst screenwriter in Hollywood on his side.

If if was a different screenwriter on the last two Batman films, things might've been a bit different.

GuyverX

Uninformed? I've seen all four Batman movies (yes, I know there were some with Adamn West as well) and all I know is that pretty much everything that Tim Burton and company set up with the first two films was virtually screwed up with the latter two.

A screen writer doesn't tell the DP to make Gotham city un-gothic adorned with neon Christmas lights. Not only did Shumacher do it once, he did it twice...glow sticks and all. The Dark Knight just didn't seem very dark anymore. Maybe the guy didn't do it single-handedly, but he was at the helm. The director should be the one to recieve the most accolades if a movie is successful and the critcism if a movie is not.

Matthew Chmiel

I'm not going to say anything about that until I see Schumacher's original cut of Forever.

Also I wouldn't blame Schumacher (see, at least I can spell his name) on the basis of both films sucks. I'd also blame Avika, the cast, the studio, and so on and so on. Hell, I'll even blame Burton for leaving the franchise.

GuyverX

I agree with you on that...I would have loved to see Burton direct another Batman film--instead of Planet of the Apes.

DonnachaOne

I'm more of the opinion that credit should be where credit's due - same for blame.

Matthew Chmiel

He did direct Ed Wood and Mars Attacks after leaving the franchise, so that makes up for it. Schumacher redeemed himself with Tigerland and Phone Booth. Now Goldsman, he can still burn in hell.

GuyverX

Again, you can only blame the writer for so much. Dialogue? Yes. Character development? Yup. But overall atmosphere and tone? That's all about lighting, set decoration, and camera movements. Guess who has the final say in all of that during production? The director. I suppose you if the studio said, "hey Joel, you're not Tim Burton so could you make this movie more marketable to the kids with less doom and gloom?" I'd understand. But that's a very poor situation to be in if you've already directed some successful films and have so little creative control.

Hokeyboy

Also remember that a lot happens between the time a writer submits his screenplay and the time the film is released in theaters. Rewrites, reshoots, creative editing, etc..

There was a lot of difference between what Akiva wrote for Batman and Robin and what Schumacher put on screen. The script was still pretty lousy, but it wasn't the travesty that it the movie became.

TheEccentric

Hey, hey, hey!

I know I'm not one of the few, but I thought all 4 of the Batman series were great entertainment. I do not think Joel Schumacher did a bad job at his Batman movies, and do not think he deserves the bad rep he got for them.

Batman Forever [7/10], and especially Batman & Robin [8/10], are entertaining, action-filled movies. While Tim Burton made his Batman dark and gloomy, Joel Schumacher's made his similar to the 60's television series, and with James Bond-type action.

Let me tell you something, after rewatching Batman & Robin a few times, and trying to see why people consider it to be so bad; I just do not think that movie can be considered anywhere near the worst movie of all time, compared to the painfully unfunny comedies there are [Malibu's Most Wanted] and pointless horror movies there are [Halloween Resurectin], B&R does not need to have the bad rep it has. I thought the movie was fun, cool to look at, Uma Thurman was perfect as Poison Ivy, and she gave a sizzling performance, George Clooney is believable as Bruce Wayne, and this was Michael Gough's Alfred's best part. This movie defintently should be re-watched.

So, what about SE's for these 2?