BATMAN RETURNS Writer Did Not Like Tim Burton's 1989 BATMAN

Tim Burton’s 1989 movie Batman is considered to be one of the greatest superhero movies of all time by a lot of fans. I remember seeing the film at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood when I was a kid, and I loved every second of it! I still love the movie!

But, not everyone is a fan. Burton’s Batman Returns screenwriter, Daniel Waters, explains that he does not like the movie. He recently spoke with IndieWire and said that 1989 Batman “sucks.”

Then, in a separate interview with World of Reel, Waters went on to explain why he didn’t like it and said that Burton also didn’t love the movie. He said:

“[Tim Burton] was not crazy about Batman. And I wasn’t crazy about it either. It had great production design and all that, but I didn’t like the movie…That scene where Jack [Nicholson’s] going up the stairs to a s— Prince song, spray painting art is the height of anti-entertainment.”

Waters also touched on what his original plans for Batman Returns were. He revealed that the film was originally going to open with a Batman logo, only to pan out and reveal an in-universe store selling Batman merchandise, a joke at the expense of how big of a merchandising juggernaut the original Batman film was.

Thankfully, Michael Keaton convinced him to cut the scene from the film., saying: “[Michael] Keaton said, ‘This is very clever. Cut it.’”

As a fan of Burton’s Batman, it’s strange to hear someone say that they don’t like. I know not everyone likes it, but most people seem to be fans of the movie and I’ve never met anyone that hasn’t liked the movie.