The Batman has just graced the silver screen yet again with Matt Reeves’s take on the titular character. Reviews are in and The Batman is, once again, box office gold. How do they do it? How is every movie featuring The Batman since 1989 been a money-making juggernaut? Well, I’ll tell you, much like the MCU, there’s a formula to cranking out Batman movies.
Polarizing Casting for the lead character:
If you think Robert Pattinson’s casting as The Batman/Bruce Wayne is the first time that casting for that character has been met with backlash, you’re either very young or very unaware of the history of Batman leads. It is a time-honored tradition for fans to be more than a little upset at the casting of their favorite superhero in a live-action film. Going back to 1989 when Michael Keaton was cast as the caped crusader, the pre-internet fan base was absolutely livid at the casting of a stand-up comedian who had just come off of Beetlejuice, would be playing the Batman.
Fast forward a few decades to when Ben Affleck was cast to play Batman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and the Justice League films. Let’s just say that when fans learned Ben Affleck was cast in a role, not a lot of people were jazzed up about that. Now, recently, Robert Pattinson holds the mantle of Batman, you have seen for yourself the negative online buzz surrounding Pattison’s casting, based solely on the fact that he played Edward Cullen in the Twilight series.
However, this is all part of the Batman movie formula. Cast someone that will tear fans apart and watch all of that hatred totally disappear the moment the movie premiers.
Thomas and Martha Wayne have to be shot on screen no matter what
Bruce Wayne became Batman because when he was eight years old, his post-graduate educated father, Thomas Wayne, decided to take a shortcut down a district of Gotham City called CRIME ALLEY. Instead of going through grief therapy, as you would with such resources as the Wayne fortune, young Bruce Wayne decided to take it to the streets and beat the crap out of criminals. YOU. NEED. ALL. THIS. IN. YOUR. FILM. Or else audiences wouldn’t understand how this caped crusader, a superhero that is so blended into a modern human culture that everyone knows his backstory, became the Dark Knight. Give the people what they want to see, dead parents in each and every Batman film.
Introduce totally new elements to the Batman mythos that comic fans will act like were canon the entire time
Was the Penguin always physically deformed? What region of the world is Bane from? Is the Joker so lucky to the point that he’s supernatural? What is Catwoman’s entire deal?
These are all issues that the film franchise has totally ignored and if you’re making a Batman film, you can too! It doesn’t matter and as a bonus, you can introduce totally new elements that are just for the film and comic fans will act as they’ve always been canon making your production as bulletproof as a Batsuit. It’s like making the Riddler a dark and menacing presence even though riddles are just unfunny jokes.
Make it DARK:
I have no idea why the sun never shines in Gotham City and I also have no clue as to why the night is so dark that very few forms of visible light can be seen in Gotham.
However, when making your film, turn that contrast all the way up on your cameras because your audience expects not to see a thing. You can add hints of other others to spice up your version of Batman, however, don’t go full Joel Schumacher, we’ve learned from that mistake.
Always leave it open for a sequel:
There is no such thing as a standalone film for this character. At all. I want you to put in Easter eggs, hidden references, nostalgia from previous movies, and anything else that can get our free marketing team… I mean fans, to get the word out about possible theories for a sequel even though this is a Hollywood film made by human beings who have their own stories to tell. As long as we keep people guessing what we’re going to do in the future, even if it isn’t anything close to what we’re going to do, we can save millions on marketing. Just leave that sequel door open to another film and we can make these until the sun burns up. Wash, rinse, and repeat.
THAT’S how you make a Batman film.
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