Batman in film

1970s and 80s

In the late 1970s, Batman's popularity was waning.^[14] CBS was interested in producing a Batman in Outer Space film. Producers Michael Uslan and Benjamin Melniker purchased the film rights of Batman from DC Comics on October 3, 1979. It was Uslan's wish "to make the definitive, dark, serious version of Batman, the way Bob Kane and Bill Finger had envisioned him in 1939. A creature of the night; stalking criminals in the shadows."^[14] Richard Maibaum was approached to write a script with Guy Hamilton to direct, but the two turned down the offer. Uslan was unsuccessful with pitching Batman to various movie studios because they wanted the film to be similar to the campy 1960s TV series. Columbia Pictures and United Artists were among those to turn down the film.^[15]


A disappointed Uslan then wrote a script titled Return of the Batman to give the film industry a better idea of his vision for the film. Uslan later compared its dark tone to that of The Dark Knight Returns, which his script pre-dated by six years.^[14] In November 1979, producer Jon Peters and Casablanca FilmWorks, headed by Peter Guber, joined the project.^[16] The four producers felt it was best to pattern the film's development after that of Superman (1978).^[17] Uslan, Melniker and Guber pitched Batman to Universal Pictures, but the studio turned it down.^[18] The project was publicly announced with a budget of $15 million in July 1980 at the Comic Art Convention in New York. Casablanca FilmWorks was absorbed into PolyGram Pictures in 1980. Guber and Peters left PolyGram Pictures in 1982 and took the Batman film rights with them, although PolyGram would retain at least 7.5% of the profits of said rights due to a contractual agreement.^[16] Guber and Peters immediately set up shop at Warner Bros., which finally decided to accept Batman.^[19]


Tom Mankiewicz completed a script titled The Batman in June 1983, focusing on Batman and Dick Grayson's origins, with the Joker and Rupert Thorne as villains, and Silver St. Cloud as the romantic interest.^[20] Mankiewicz took inspiration from Steve Englehart's and Marshall Rogers's 1970s run in Detective Comics (later reprinted in the trade paperback Batman: Strange Apparitions), (ISBN 1-56389-500-5),^[21] with Rogers himself being hired to provide concept art.^[18] The Batman was then announced in late 1983 for a mid-1985 release date on a budget of $20 million. Originally, Mankiewicz had wanted an unknown actor for Batman, William Holden for James Gordon, David Niven as Alfred Pennyworth and Peter O'Toole as the Penguin, who Mankiewicz wanted to portray as a mobster with low body temperature.^[19] Holden died in 1981 and Niven in 1983, so this would never come to pass. A number of filmmakers were attached to Mankiewicz' script, including Richard Rush, Ivan Reitman and Joe Dante.^[22] Reitman wanted to cast Bill Murray as Batman. Eddie Murphy and Michael J. Fox were candidates for the role of Robin.^[23] Nine rewrites were performed by nine separate writers. Most of them were based on Strange Apparitions. However, Mankiewicz's script was still being used to guide the project.^[24]