Batman Returns

**Batman Returns** is a 1992 American superhero/action film directed by Tim Burton which was released on June 19, 1992 by Warner Bros. Pictures.

It is based on the DC Comics character, Batman.

## Plot

Batman finds himself facing the Penguin, who plans to kill all of the firstborn sons of Gotham City while dealing with Catwoman, who seeks vengeance against a corrupt tycoon who joins allies with the Penguin to control Gotham City.

## Cast

* Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne\Batman
* Danny DeVito as Oswald Cobblepot\The Penguin
* Michelle Pfeiffer as Selina Kyle\Catwoman
* Christopher Walken as Max Shreck
* Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth
* Pat Hingle as Commissioner James Gordon
* Michael Murphy as The Mayor

## Production

After the success of "Batman", Warner Bros. was hoping for a sequel to start filming in May 1990 at Pinewood Studios. They spent $250,000 storing the sets from the first film.

Tim Burton originally did not want to direct another film in the "Batman" franchise, saying: *"I will return if the sequel offers something new and exciting. Otherwise it's a most-dumbfounded idea."* He decided to direct "Edward Scissorhands" for 20th Century Fox.

Meanwhile, Sam Hamm from the previous film delivered the first two drafts of the script, while Bob Kane was brought back as a creative consultant.

Bill Finger (the co-creator of Batman, the Penguin, and Catwoman) was uncredited at the time of the film's release and his name was not added to any Batman related media until 2016. Hamm's script had the Penguin and Catwoman going after hidden treasure.

Tim Burton was impressed with Daniel Waters' work on "Heathers"; he originally brought Waters aboard on a sequel to "Beetlejuice." Warner Bros. then granted him a large amount of creative control. Denise Di Novi and Burton became the film's producers.

The first film's producers Jon Peters and Peter Guber became executive producers, joining Benjamin Melniker and Michael E. Uslan.

Dissatisfied with the Hamm script, Burton commissioned a rewrite from Waters. Waters *"came up with a social satire that had an evil mogul backing a bid for the Mayor's office by the Penguin"*, Waters reported. *"I wanted to show that the true villains of our world don't necessarily wear costumes."*

The subplot of the Penguin running for Mayor came from the 1960s TV series episodes "Hizzoner the Penguin" and "Dizzoner the Penguin." Waters wrote a total of five drafts of the script.

On the characterization of Catwoman, Waters explained: *"Sam Hamm went back to the way comic books in general treat women, like fetishy sexual fantasy. I wanted to start off just at the lowest point in society, a very beaten down secretary."*

### Pre-production

Tim Burton hired Wesley Strick to do an uncredited rewrite. Strick recalled: *"When I was hired to write Batman Returns (Batman II at the time), the big problem of the script was the Penguin's lack of a master plan."*

Warner Bros. presented Strick with warming, or freezing Gotham City, a plot point they would later use in Batman & Robin.

Strick gained inspiration from a Moses parallel that had the Penguin killing the firstborn sons of Gotham. A similar notion was used when the Penguin's parents threw him into a river as a baby.

Robin appeared in the script, but he was deleted because Waters felt the film had too many characters.

Waters called Robin *"the most worthless character in the world, especially with [Batman as] the loner of loners"*

Robin started out as a juvenile gang leader, who becomes an ally to Batman. Robin was later changed to a black teenage garage mechanic.

Waters explained: *"He's wearing this old-fashioned garage mechanic uniform and it has an 'R' on it. He drives the Batmobile, which I notice they used in the third film!"*

Marlon Wayans was cast in "Batman Returns" and signed for a sequel. The actor had attended a wardrobe fitting, but it was decided to save the character for a third installment.

Michael Keaton returned after a significant increase in his salary to $10 million.

Annette Bening was cast as Catwoman after Tim Burton saw her performance in "The Grifters", but she dropped out due to her pregnancy.

Raquel Welch, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Madonna, Ellen Barkin, Cher, Bridget Fonda, Lorraine Bracco, Jennifer Beals and Susan Sarandon were then in competition for the role.

Sean Young (who was originally chosen for Vicki Vale in the previous film) believed that the role of Catwoman should have gone to her. She visited production offices dressed in a homemade Catwoman costume, demanding an audition.

Tim Burton was unfamiliar with Michelle Pfeiffer's work, but was convinced to cast her after one meeting.

Michelle Pfeiffer received a $3 million salary, $2 million more than Bening, and a percentage of the box office. She undertook kickboxing lessons for the role and trained with an expert to master the whip.

Kathy Long served as Michelle Pfeiffer's body double.

On Danny DeVito's casting, Waters explained: *"I kind of knew that DeVito was going to play the Penguin. We didn't really officially cast it, but for a short nasty little guy, it's a short list. I ended up writing the character for Danny DeVito."*

Burgess Meredith (who portrayed the Penguin in the 1960s TV series Batman) was cast in a cameo role as Tucker Cobblepot, Penguin's father, but he fell ill. The role was taken by Paul Reubens, who had worked with Burton on "Pee-wee's Big Adventure").

### Filming

In early 1991, two of Hollywood's largest sound stages (Stage 16 at Warner Bros. and Stage 12 at Universal Studios) were being prepared for the filming of Batman Returns.

Filming for "Batman Returns" started in June of 1991. Stage 16 held Gotham Plaza, based on Rockefeller Center. Universal's Stage 12 housed Penguin's underground lair. A half-a-million gallon tank filled with water was used.

Burton wanted to make sure that the penguins felt comfortable. Eight other locations on the Warner Bros. lot were used; over 50% of their property was occupied by Gotham City sets.

Animal rights groups started protesting the film after finding out that penguins would have rockets strapped on their backs.

Richard Hill (the curator of the penguins) explained that Warner Bros. was very helpful in making sure the penguins were comfortable.

Hill recalled: *"On the flight over the plane was refrigerated down to 45 degrees. In Hollywood, they were given a refrigerated trailer, their own swimming pool, half-a-ton of ice each day, and they had fresh fish delivered daily straight from the docks. Even though it was 100 degrees outside, the entire set was refrigerated down to 35 degrees."*

This made it very cold for Michelle Pfeiffer, who was most of the time clad only in a thin latex catsuit.

According to the American Humane Association's On-Set Oversight, the six Emperor penguins that act as pallbearers for the Penguin's body at the end of the film, were little people dressed as Emperor penguins.

The streets of Gotham City use the old Brownstone Street and Hennessy Street on the Warners' backlot.

Warner Bros. devoted a large amount of secrecy for Batman Returns. The art department was required to keep their office blinds pulled down. Cast and crew had to have photo ID badges with the movie's fake working title Dictel to go anywhere near the sets.

Kevin Costner was refused a chance to visit the set. An entertainment magazine leaked the first photos of Danny DeVito as the Penguin; in response Warner Bros. employed a private investigator to track down the accomplice.

During the film's production, $65 million was spent while $15 million was used for marketing, coming to a total cost of $80 million.

The final shot of Catwoman looking at the Bat-Signal was completed during post-production and was not part of the shooting script.

After "Batman" Returns was completed, Warner Bros. felt it was best for Catwoman to survive, saving more characterizations in a future installment. Michelle Pfeiffer was unavailable and a body double was chosen.

### Designs and effects

Bo Welch (Tim Burton's collaborator on "Beetlejuice" and "Edward Scissorhands") replaced Anton Furst as production designer since Furst was unable to return due to contractual obligations with Columbia Pictures.

Welch blended "Fascist architecture with World's fair architecture" for Gotham City. He also studied Russian architecture and German Expressionism. An iron maiden was used for Bruce Wayne's entry into the Batcave.

Stan Winston (who worked with Tim Burton on "Edward Scissorhands") designed Danny DeVito's prosthetic makeup, which took two hours to apply. DeVito had to put a combination of mouthwash and red/green food coloring in his mouth "to create a grotesque texture of some weird ooze."

More than 60 latex Catsuits were created for the six-month shoot at $1,000 each. The initial concept for the design came from Tim Burton, who envisioned a stuffed cat with its stitches coming apart at the seams.

The prototype was created around a body cast of Michelle Pfeiffer so that it would fit her exactly, and painted with white silicone rubber to imitate stitches.

The suit was extremely tight and very laborious to put on, so Pfeiffer had to be covered in talcum powder to squeeze into the costume, which was in turn brushed with liquid silicone on every take to give it shine.

Michelle Pfeiffer wore the suit for 12 to 14 hours at a time, except lunch breaks when it was removed, which was her only opportunity to use the bathroom during the workday.

The Batsuit was updated, which was made out of a thinner, slightly more flexible foam rubber material than the suit from Batman, and the logo was changed to better reflect how it looked in the comics. The new bat-suit also had a zipper for urination and the upper body build did not look like a muscular physique.

Danny DeVito was uncomfortable with his costume, but this made it easy for him to get into character. J. P. Morgan's wardrobe was used for inspiration on Max Shreck's costume design.

The bats were entirely composed of computer-generated imagery since it was decided directing real bats on set would be problematic. The Penguin's "bird army" was a combination of CGI, robotic creatures, men in suits and even real penguins.

Robotic penguin puppets were commissioned by Stan Winston. In total 30 African penguins and 12 king penguins were used.

A miniature effect was used for the exteriors of the Cobblepot Mansion in the opening scene and for Wayne Manor. The same method was used for the Bat Ski-boat and the exterior shots of the Gotham Zoo.

### Music and sound

Danny Elfman had great enthusiasm for returning because *"I didn't have to prove myself from the first film. I remember Jon Peters was very skeptical at first to hire me."*

Elfman's work schedule was 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. According to him: *"When completing this movie I realized it was something of a film score and an opera. It was 95 minutes long, twice the amount of the average film score."*

Tim Burton allowed Elfman to be more artistic with the sequel score, such as the "scraping" on violins for the cat themes.

Under the pressure of finishing the score, however, the relationship between the two strained, which (along with further "creative differences" on "The Nightmare Before Christmas") led Burton to use Howard Shore to score his next film Ed Wood.

Tim Burton requested Siouxsie and the Banshees for the title track, commenting: *"I've always been a fan – Siouxsie is one of very few women who can create a realistic primal cat sound."*

"Batman Returns" was the first film to be announced as released with Dolby SR-D technology (later known as Dolby Digital).

## Box Office

"Batman Returns" grossed $2 million from Thursday night previews before grossing $45,687,711 in 2,644 theaters during its opening weekend, making it the highest opening weekend in 1992 and the highest opening weekend of any film up to that point.

The film also set the opening weekend record in the United Kingdom with a gross of £2,774,796 (including £248,350 of previews), making it the first film in the UK to gross £1 million in a day (on Saturday, July 11, 1992).

Overall, "Batman Returns" grossed $266,892,996 on an estimated budget of $80,000,000, becoming the 3rd highest-grossing film in America in 1992 and the 6th highest in worldwide totals.

## Critical Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, "Batman Returns" has an approval rating of 80% based on 83 reviews with an average rating of 6.73/10. The site's consensus reads: *"Director Tim Burton's dark, brooding atmosphere, Michael Keaton's work as the tormented hero, and the flawless casting of Danny DeVito as The Penguin, and Christopher Walken as, well, Christopher Walken make the sequel better than the first."*

Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Richard Corliss of Time magazine wrote: *"Batman Returns could mark a happy beginning for Hollywood -- not because it might make a mint but because it dispenses with realism and aspires to animation, to the freedom of idea and image found in the best feature-length cartoons."*

David Sterritt from the Christian Science Monitor called "Batman Returns" the *"most adventurous and imaginative American film I've seen this year - and also the weirdest."*

The Orlandon Sentinel said: *"Like the hero himself, the movie is larger than life - a horrific fantasy that gets carried away with itself as the mood builds and the tension mounts."*

Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune said: *"Our rooting interest is not for any macho act by Batman to save the city but for each character to achive some sort of emotional peace. That makes for a strange but refreshing action story.*"

In their review of the film, Newsweek wrote: *"This demented toyshop of a movie is a bit of a mess, but it's a visionary mess."*

Entertainment Weekly said: *"Batman Returns offers many jolts of pleasure, yet it’s also a mess — a gilded sketchbook of a movie that keeps falling open to random pages."*

The Los Angeles Times said: *"For better and worse, very much the product of director Tim Burton's morose imagination. His dark, melancholy vision is undeniably something to see, but it is a claustrophobic conception, not an expansive one, oppressive rather than exhilarating, and it strangles almost all the enjoyment out of this movie without half trying."*