Tim Burton’s Batman Turns 30

Ahoy Captain Cats here and today in celebration of Batman day that was on the 21 of this month lets look at one of the films that the Dark Knight was in and that was Tim Burton’s Batman.

Tim Burton’s Batman came out on June 19, 1989, in Westwood, California and then the rest of the USA on June 23. Burton take on Batman was completely different from the Batman film that star the late Adam West, that version was just like the TV series and never took it seriously and was just for laughs. Burton was dark, edgy and was with the times in terms of the look, feel, and tone of the storyline.

The story feels like a mix of The Red Hood origin story and Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke. It was somewhat dark due to how Bruce Wayne/Batman acted on screen, who was played by Michael Keaton. The role for Jack Napier/The Joker was played by Jack Nicholson, who at the time no one ever thought someone like him would take on this role. Nicholson’s Joker look and felt like the Joker from the Dennis O’Neil/ Neal Adams run on Batman in which he was a homicidal maniac, want a good example read “The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge!” from Batman #251 of September 1973.

The music was also very great and special in its own right. Danny Elfman of Oingo Boingo, who work with Burton on his two previous films, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure and Beetlejuice to do the music score for the film. The film score became a classic and became part of Batman Lore, especially the title sequence. The other half of the music score was more like an album and it was all done by Prince. With songs like Partyman, Trust, Lemon Crush, and Scandalous. This album went on to become a 2x platinum certification and was number 1 on the US Billboard 200.

The film total budget was $35 million and once it left the box office it made a total of $411.5 million and Burton was hired to do its sequel Batman Returns in 1992, which was a success in its own right as well.

30 years later and this film has aged a bit but still a blast to watch and just in case you want to know this is my favorite part of the film right here.