Extended Version Of Joel Schumacher’s ‘Batman Forever’ Reportedly Exists

An extended version of Joel Schumacher’s 1995 DC comic book film, Batman Forever, reportedly exists.

Joel Schumacher sadly passed away last month at the age of 80 after a year-long battle with cancer. The director had a long career as a filmmaker that stared all the way back in the 70s as a costume designer before leading his own projects. Today he is perhaps best known for his work on the two Batman films, Batman Forever and its infamous sequel Batman and Robin.

Batman Forever was a film that wasn’t so much a film that was beset by production problems as it was hit by producers’ notes. The film was the first follow-up to Tim Burton’s previous film, Batman Returns which Warner Bros saw as something of a failure thanks to the film’s mature content and the merchandising deals that went sour as a result. Batman Forever was intended to get the franchise back on track in a more family-friendly and marketable direction. The end result was a film that was a big hit, grossing over $336M worldwide on a $100M budget. But, as it turns out, Joel Schumacher may have put together a longer cut for the film that Warner Bros never released.

During the latest Fatman Beyond podcast, Kevin Smith’s co-host Marc Bernardin stated that there was an extended, 170 minute cut of the film lurking somewhere in one of Warner Bros film vaults. The cut of the film sadly did not fly as it was apparently too dark for Warner Bros’ liking:

“I have it on pretty good authority that there exists in the Warner Bros. vault a 170-minute cut of Batman Forever. I think that it went much deeper into his childhood psychosis and his mental blocks and that it was a more serious, darker version of that movie that was one of the first assemblies that Joel filed with the studio and they eventually cut it down because they were like ‘it’s too dark for kids. We gotta sell these Happy Meals, so maybe let’s not invest ourselves in the trauma of childhood murder. We’ve got Jim Carrey, let him do some s–t.”

What do you all make of this new? Does it surprise you that Warner Bros may have a longer cut of Batman Forever stored away? Would you like to see Joel Schumacher’s cut of the film? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

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Source: Fatman Beyond