The Real Reason Why Tim Burton’s ‘Batman 3’ Never Happened
Michael Keaton’s Batman was long anticipated for a potential sequel, but Tim Burton was never meant to return to his hit franchise — instead, another director took the control over it.
In the world of all kinds of stories about the good always prevailing over the evil, Tim Burton is the one to show that the dark side can’t necessarily be a bad thing.
The director’s movies, often toned down to gothic atmosphere that surrounds quirky characters, always aimed at introducing the audiences to the inner world of seemingly scary and menacing characters, including the two movies about DC’s superhero Batman portrayed by Michael Keaton.
Burton’s vision of the character struggling with his own inner demons was eventually praised by many critics, but not the producing studio Warner Bros. that at some point resulted in a third movie getting a different director.
Tim Burton Stepped Down From Directing ‘Batman Forever’
The success of the first two movies was so overwhelming that there was no way for Burton to just stop at that point, with the director eventually conceiving an idea for another film.
The problem, however, was already there, as Warner Bros., the company that funded both previous movies, wasn’t so sure about the audiences’ reaction to yet another instalment in the franchise that many strongly disapproved.
While remaining a groundbreaking point in the history of Batman in cinema, 1989’s Batman and 1992’s Batman Returns were still pretty dark both visually and thematically for younger viewers to grasp.
As a result, Warner Bros.’s execs made a decision to stick to the opinion of disappointed parents and make a third movie more family-friendly and lighter-toned, hoping to get an even bigger profit in cinemas and in merchandise selling.
Burton, however, wasn’t given a chance to reconsider his stylistic choice and was asked to step down from the future movie; he was followed by Michael Keaton who refused to reprise the role due to creative conflicts with the new director.
Joel Schumacher Directed ‘Batman Forever’ in 1995
It didn’t take much longer for the studio’s bosses to find a replacement for Burton, as Joel Schumacher’s version titled Batman Forever was released already in 1995, three years after Batman Returns’ premiere.
Schumacher’s movie did in fact fulfil Warner Bros.’ primary requirement, but, ironically, lacked everything else that Burton’s two films were so highly praised for.
At the time, critics weren’t were happy with how the screenplay turned out on the screen and, funny enough, how much Batman Forever’s atmosphere was different from Burton’s movies.
Despite that, Batman Forever had a huge success in the box office, grossing more than $330 million against its $100 million budget.
