Now, What Have We Learned?
Like it or not, Batman & Robin was a movie that needed to happen in order for studio execs to see the error of their ways. Had it not bombed, they’d keep making the same mistakes over and over again, and we would’ve never gotten Batman Begins and the rest of The Dark Knight Trilogy, a testament to what happens when you give free rein to the right filmmaker and not prioritize toy sales over storytelling. Okay, they did make Catwoman on the road to it, but that’s a conversation for another day. Now that I think about it, if you want that stinker to get similar treatment to this movie, give me a “hell yeah!”
Furthermore, it’s important to grasp that Joel Schumacher was pretty much a hired gun and did what the studio told him to do. To his credit, he’s manned up on more than one occasion and has taken the brunt of the blame, but let it be known that he always wanted to make a Batman: Year One movie, something that came incredibly close to happening, only with Darren Aronofsky at the helm before Christopher Nolan was roped in.
Also of note from the “what could have been” file is that WB already had two movies in ready to rock had Batman & Robin not flopped. One being Batman Triumphant (or Batman Unchained, depending on whom you ask on what day of the week), which would’ve featured the Scarecrow and Harley Quinn as villains, and would’ve been somewhere in between Batman ’89 and Forever in terms of tone. The other would’ve been a Nightwing spinoff starring Chris O’Donnell, but as intriguing as those are to ponder, we’re better off with what Nolan gave us.
So, before we part ways, take a moment to think about the hardship The Smashing Pumpkins had to endure. Imagine how they must’ve been over the moon when finding out they’d be contributing to the soundtrack of a Batman movie, following in the footsteps of Prince, Siouxsie and the Banshees and U2 – and this was the shit sandwich they were served.