While there's probably nothing significant left to say about this film and the franchise that followed, I thought it was worth mentioning that today is the film's 20th anniversary of the original theatrical release.

Anyone considering watching it tonight? I've saved watching the anniversary Blu-ray until today's date.

Happy 20th, Batman

Wow. I remember the line of humanity outside the United Artist Multiplex on that date. It was the only multiplex on Staten Island at that point. I was very excited, I had been waiting for many years for BATMAN. I had the presence of mind to hit the theater as soon as it opened to get tickets for the evening. There was a genuine buzz in the air, this was going to be a big adventure. One guy even dressed up in a pretty good Batman costume to pose for polaroids for $5 each. We watched a pretty terrific movie and although it hasn't held up well, it's still one of my favorite summertime movie memories.

I actually covered the film this week in my 1989 diary.

Still holds up wonderfully.

Meh. It wasn't that big of a deal for me when it came out and as the years have gone by, it hasn't really held up very well for me. The title of the movie is "Batman" but the movie was all about the Joker played by an old fat guy who looks a lot like Jack Nicholson.

Batman Returns is a much, much better film.

This was one of the last movies before the days of movieplexes, and you would have to actually wait to see a summer blockbuster.

I was in highschool when Batman came out that summer of '89, and I remember we couldn't get tickets for a week, as one night we walked all the way up to the mall, "Sold Out!"

Nowadays, everyone sees it the first weekend, and you can get every spoiler on the internet, back then things were totally different. Batman was the talk of the town that summer.

I still think it was disappointing, as it was a good movie, but never as great as many said at the time.

Definitely not has held up well as a movie, but as a cinematic vision it holds up. Burton's world was like nothing seen before in a major big-budget motion picture, equal parts noir, gothic, retro-futuristic, and cartoonish.

Otherwise, the plot is a mess, the film makes no sense, there are plotholes you could drive a tank through with enough room for the Chinese Army strapped to the hood, and it really should have been called "THE JOKER!!!". Still, I still enjoy watching it.

I vaguely remember thsi movie I don't think isaw it in the theaters since I was so young but I do remember the news with people and the Batman logo in their haircuts.

I agree 100%!!
SUPERMAN 2 was a better comic-book movie in the 80's and that movie didn't get as much hype.

Wow, I can't believe it's already been 20 years. I went to see it the day after it came out, waited in line for what seemed like forever, but it was worth it. That's the only time I've ever been in a movie theater that was completely packed. As soon as the movie was over, I went to the mall across the street and bought the Prince soundtrack.

Rob

I didn't see it until it was on HBO and it never impressed me. Sure, it was cool, but it wasn't mind-blowing.

I remember leaving the theater in a dreamlike mood because of the way the movie seeped into my subconscious and walking down Third Avenue in Manhattan and seeing all these bizarrely shaped buildings that looked like they'd been designed for the movie's baroque version of Gotham City. So I just glided through the streets maintaining the mood and feeling like Batman moving through the shadows. All I needed was a cape to make it complete. When I got to 42 St. and Grand Central Terminal (an 18-block walk downtown), the buildings were back to normal and the mood had worn off. But it was nice while it lasted.

I remember going the first night dressed as Batman (I was 10). I held some guy's seat and he gave me a buck when he got back, yelling "Batman just saved my seat!" to the theater.

I was working in a magazine store. Lots and lots of magazines were doing promotion for the movie.

One of our regular customers sold his copy of Detective Comics #27. He was supposed to have been
the only person in the world who still owned the copy that he had bought when it was originally published. He'd carried it to Korea in 1950 and everything. It was a peak of the market, and he made a nice bit of change, but I preferred the romance of a boy holding onto a special comic for 50 years.

Saw this movie right after graduating high school, I remember people coming to the theatre dressed up as Batman. One of the few movies I can remember who I was with and actually where I sat!

Saw this at the Drive In, which means I couldn't really see what was going on in the 1st half hour due to the darkness of the film and relatively bright sunset.

Still holds up for me, though I'll never recapture the entire feeling of that time. Still have my Batman shoes, though! (can't believe I wore those to high school)

I can easily appreciate why younger fans wouldn't be as impressed, what with growing up in a CGI world and all. For many of us, though, it was the first time we'd ever really seen a superhero movie that we completely bought. Christopher Reeve was a great Superman, yes, but none of his series really had a lot of resonance for me. Batman, though, was magnificent, and in large part to Anton Furst's production design. The Gotham City in that film will forever be my Gotham, and Danny Elfman's score is iconic--in fact, it was the first score I ever bought (excluding the handful of instrumental Vince DiCola compositions that appeared on The Transformers: The Movie soundtrack), introducing me to the world of scores.

Meh. I was 18 when BATMAN came out and it was both exhilarating and disappointing all at once. Nothing to do with CGI or editing or anything, just a bad storyline. BEAUTIFUL to look at though, a haunting gothic madhouse.

I thought this was the best movie when I was a kid... it had everything! although it took me a long time to understand some of the jokes and plot points.

Wow June 23rd I was 18 and the first-one in line for this marvel of DC comic movie I love it and still watch it from time-to-time!

Two weeks after the film came out I was born early. My mother likes to wait a week or two to see new films, so clearly the reason I was born prematurely was because the greatness of this film induced labor.

I remember some of the kids at school started wearing shirts with the bat-symbol on them way in advance of the movie, and the rest of us were thinking it had to do with the silly old 60's show.

It's certainly a visual tour de force, and Keaton was far better than expected.

As for the Prince soundtrack, I still spin it now and then and we even played the track Arms of Orion at our wedding 13 years ago.

Oddly enough, I remember the merchandise better than I remember the movie. Those yellow bat symbols were freaking everywhere!

A sight that hadn't been seen since the days of Star Wars. Heck, even as much as some movies get promoted these days, they still don't hold a candle to Batman's merchandising campaign.

I was literally not even 2 when Batman came out, but I can tell you that if I was anywhere over 5 and this was coming out, I'd be one hyped motherfucker. I remember though that we had the VHS growing up, and I remember my mom's friend had it taped off Cinemax with the ridiculously 80's intro to their movies (and a promo for Licence to Kill as well!).

Still love the movie to this day, up until The Dark Knight hit was the Batman movie I could watch the most times. Wish I could see this and all the other big '89 movies in theaters. Of course, we should also probably assume Lethal Weapon 2 had its trailer in front of this one.

By the way, this is the AWESOME teaser trailer from late '88 I think, which is shamefully not on the DVD. No music, just raw footage, enough to get you excited:

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I think I read that this was attached to Tequila Sunrise and people pulled a Phantom Menace and bought tickets solely to see this trailer. And it was probably worth seeing it.

My mom wanted me to get into Batman when it came out, I never got into him till Batman Returns. I was 2 yrs old when this came out. I never really gave a damn about this film till I saw it around Returns' release. I love the film, it's fun and it's visually entertaining. It hasn't held up true..but..it's still a good film. Not great but heavily entertaining nonetheless.