Batman Forever
Tim Burton’s Batman films broke the mold. They made superhero movies popular again and established the Dark Knight as the premier comic book character of the ’90s. Warner, though, wasn’t happy with Burton’s dark fantasy world and wanted a more kid-friendly approach to peddle toys and Happy Meals.
Burton wasn’t having any of it and walked – as did Batman himself, Michael Keaton. A crisis of this magnitude could’ve derailed everything, but Warner Bros. stuck to its guns, hiring Joel Schumacher to direct Batman Forever and putting Val Kilmer in the cape and cowl.
While the film wasn’t as warmly received as its predecessors, it made $336.5 million worldwide off a budget of $100 million. To put it in context, Batman Returns made $266.8 million off $80 million. As such, Warner felt vindicated by its choice, doubled down on the kid-friendly method and crapped out Batman & Robin as further punishment two years later.
Guardians Of The Galaxy
For years, studios have avoided venturing into B-grade comic book characters. There’s this belief that if the likes of Spider-Man and Superman can struggle at the box office at times, it would be catastrophic for lesser-known properties.
Marvel Studios put this theory to the test though by bringing Guardians of the Galaxy to the big screen in 2014. Proving its faith in the film, Marvel even pumped a budget of over $200 million into it.
Thankfully, the results were phenomenal. It raked in over $770 million worldwide and became a pop culture phenomenon – especially its groovy soundtrack. Suddenly, these smaller comic book characters jumped into A-list territory and have received a new lease on life – in film, TV, comic books and even video games. Who knew that a talking raccoon and a tree that says three words could be so popular?!
