what kind of film should the next one be? (TDKR spoilers)

[The Dark Knight]

I'm realistic about the chances of WB continuing the Burtonverse.

So I voted: complete reboot without origin.

[BatmAngelus]

What kind of film should the next Batman movie be? 

A good one.



But seriously, a screenplay with a strong and heroic characterization of Bruce Wayne/Batman driving the action, well-developed villains with solid motivations, an engaging plot that makes sense, and character relationships that develop properly would be a good start for the next one.

I think the next film should have no ties to the Nolan franchise, which qualifies it as a reboot.  While I disagreed with some of the choices in telling Batman's origin in Batman Begins, I feel like retelling the origin wouldn't be beneficial.  Not only are origin stories getting tiresome these days, but doing it over again will be met with the same "been there, done that" response that The Amazing Spider-Man got.

So I vote reboot, without origin.  I realize that the Bond series from Dr. No to Die Another Day were all meant to be sequels to one another, but think how they transitioned from Licence to Kill to GoldenEye.  Completely different cast and crew, different style/tone, and no references to previous movies or explaining how we got from the previous film to here (Licence to Kill ends with Bond still revoked of 00-status).

While previous attempts at rebooting a comic book franchise without an origin (The Incredible Hulk, Punisher: War Zone) didn't really take off, I think it could still work if the writing is up to par.  If Batman gets a badass intro in the beginning like Brosnan's Bond did and the writing makes you care about him and his quest in the story, then the audience will be on board and won't need to see this new Batman's origin. 

GoldenEye did something new in the franchise by having Bond fight his former ally and making things more personal than usual.  The next Batman should give us a new kind of conflict, too, that hasn't been seen in other iterations.

Aesthetically, I think it's time for a vision that embraces the comic book origins in the way that the Marvel Studios films embrace them, rather than try to bury them.  I'm tired of hearing the argument that people wouldn't buy the Batman comic book aesthetic on film while The Avengers looked more or less ripped from the comic book pages and made billions worldwide while met with praise from comic fans and average moviegoers alike.

So let's see a Batsuit that's not all black rubber for once.  The full Batcave.  The Batmobile with the bathead battering ram.  The haunted mansion-style Arkham.

Oh, and let's get an actor whose Batman voice doesn't become the brunt of jokes, impressions, and YouTube parodies.  That'd be a nice upgrade.

[Catwoman]

i might break out the pen and write some fanfic

we should team up. Or have an arkham style role playing game!

you do yours. i'll do mine. people here can vote which one is better 

[riddler]

What kind of film should the next Batman movie be? 

A good one.



But seriously, a screenplay with a strong and heroic characterization of Bruce Wayne/Batman driving the action, well-developed villains with solid motivations, an engaging plot that makes sense, and character relationships that develop properly would be a good start for the next one.

I think the next film should have no ties to the Nolan franchise, which qualifies it as a reboot.  While I disagreed with some of the choices in telling Batman's origin in Batman Begins, I feel like retelling the origin wouldn't be beneficial.  Not only are origin stories getting tiresome these days, but doing it over again will be met with the same "been there, done that" response that The Amazing Spider-Man got.

So I vote reboot, without origin.  I realize that the Bond series from Dr. No to Die Another Day were all meant to be sequels to one another, but think how they transitioned from Licence to Kill to GoldenEye.  Completely different cast and crew, different style/tone, and no references to previous movies or explaining how we got from the previous film to here (Licence to Kill ends with Bond still revoked of 00-status).

While previous attempts at rebooting a comic book franchise without an origin (The Incredible Hulk, Punisher: War Zone) didn't really take off, I think it could still work if the writing is up to par.  If Batman gets a badass intro in the beginning like Brosnan's Bond did and the writing makes you care about him and his quest in the story, then the audience will be on board and won't need to see this new Batman's origin. 

GoldenEye did something new in the franchise by having Bond fight his former ally and making things more personal than usual.  The next Batman should give us a new kind of conflict, too, that hasn't been seen in other iterations.

Aesthetically, I think it's time for a vision that embraces the comic book origins in the way that the Marvel Studios films embrace them, rather than try to bury them.  I'm tired of hearing the argument that people wouldn't buy the Batman comic book aesthetic on film while The Avengers looked more or less ripped from the comic book pages and made billions worldwide while met with praise from comic fans and average moviegoers alike.

So let's see a Batsuit that's not all black rubber for once.  The full Batcave.  The Batmobile with the bathead battering ram.  The haunted mansion-style Arkham.

Oh, and let's get an actor whose Batman voice doesn't become the brunt of jokes, impressions, and YouTube parodies.  That'd be a nice upgrade.

Batman 89 also qualifies as a reboot without an origin; rebooting from the Adam west franchise and the very first scene has Batman in costume. Not many superheroes can be done without an origin, in fact I think Batman might be the only one. Mainly because he doesn't have super powers so there's no need to explain how he got his toys. Most people will accept the fact that he's rich and he can afford it. Like you mentioned, the next Batman (if it isn't Keaton himself) should be more Keaton, less Bale. Even the Nolanites biggest argument about Keaton is his other works (ie Mr. Mom) while Bale gets heavily criticized and parodies for his voice.

Arkham has been one of those themes that hasn't been addressed. Schumacher brought in in for Batman Forever and people seemed to like that it brought in Arkham and the end. Batman and Robin for all it's faults did have the most of arkham asylum in the original series. People enjoyed Arham being key to the Batman Begins but Nolan didnt seem to touch it again in the last two films.

Now doesn't seem like the Nolan series will be continued but I wonder if he did lay the seeds for a fourth film; As we all know in each of his films the next villain has been referenced in the first 2 films; begins references two face and the joker, the dark knight has the reference of the suit being fine against cats.. The dark knight rises does reference alligators in the sewers (killer croc)

[gotham22]

I would like to see that B&R sequel that never happened.

Back to reality I would like a complete reboot without origin. A mixture of a Burton and Nolan type film.
A few returning villains in the new franchise like Joker, Two-Face, and Catwoman. Some that haven't been used in a while like Riddler, Penguin, and Mr. Freeze. Also some new villains that never been used on the big screen before like Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Black Mask, and Hugo Strange.

[riddler]

I would like to see that B&R sequel that never happened.

Back to reality I would like a complete reboot without origin. A mixture of a Burton and Nolan type film.
A few returning villains in the new franchise like Joker, Two-Face, and Catwoman. Some that haven't been used in a while like Riddler, Penguin, and Mr. Freeze. Also some new villains that never been used on the big screen before like Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Black Mask, and Hugo Strange.

I agree that's the happy medium. Gritty is good to an extent but I think we all agree they can lighten up on the 'everything must be grounded' rule. Burton's first batman film had the right mix, it was fairly gritty but took some liberties to have some fun with the characters. Batman Returns did go a little too far off the edge with the entire Penguin character.

[Azrael]

Great points BatmAngelus, except this one.

So let's see a Batsuit that's not all black rubber for once.

The day they release a live action film where Batman is dressed in anything except total black, and is not intended as parody, it will be the first day I will not watch a batfilm in the theater! This is my only gripe with the Arkham games, they nailed everything but had to use that crappy blue/gray suit that looks good only in animation or comics artwork At least the ears were long.

[Catwoman]

i think it would be badass if he wore the costume like he has in the animated series and the comics.

[Silver Nemesis]

For me, the definitive Batman suit will always be the traditional grey and blue/black spandex costume from the comics. No Batman movie will ever be definitive until it features that suit. I think the best live-action costume to date was in Batman: Dead End.



It's by far the most faithful to the comics. Simple and iconic. I'd love it if Batman wore a suit like that in the next movie. If it has to be padded/armoured/made of rubber, then so be it. But I'd prefer it to be made from a lighter, flexible fabric so he can move more freely. The tricky part is finding an actor with the right physical build to wear it.

[bttfbat]

I want to see Gotham City be a character in and of itself.  I respect Nolan and crew for what they did for their series, on a whole watching all three films, I love that they were able to present three movies all tied in with one another and that they all worked together to make one story.  I always wished I could have had that with Burton's Batman universe (which then got transferred to Schumacher).  The original "series" just didn't have the continuity that Nolan's films had.  Burton even though making Batman Returns a non sequel sequel did at least throw us fans some nods to the characters and actors from the first film.   But having Batman himself change actors, or different Harvey Dents, always made it hard for me to feel like it was a true story universe. 

I would love to see the next Batman series be a real mix of what Nolan brought to the table (lots of characters and story arcs) with the images of the Burton films.  Nothing compares to what Anton Furst did in the first film.  Every single piece of production design helped prop the characters.  You could feel Gotham city, you could see its internal guts out there on display in almost every frame of film.  I missed that in Nolan's films.  The Bat vehicles in Nolan's films grew on me, but the Tumbler is not a Batmobile in the true Batman fan sense.

I didn't have that many problems with Nolan changing some of the origins and the way he presented the characters, as I felt the same excitement as I did when Tim Burton's Batman was announced.  I remember seeing those images of Keaton in a black suit with a different bat emblem.  I knew it was Batman, but this was something different, this was Batman on the silver screen. I wanted to see how Burton saw things, I remember when I watched B89 and Billy Dee Williams was up there on screen as Harvey Dent, being a comic book fan I marveled that they were laying the ground work for Two Face...  It was different, but it was how Burton was presenting  the characters.  I felt the same way when I heard the rumors about how Burton was going to handle Robin in Batman Returns.  I WANTED to see how he transferred a semi- Jason Tood background with an auto mechanic as Robin.  It sounded so radical it interested me because it was something new.   So Nolan's views on characters and how he presented them were ok with me, they are a product of their time. 

So I figure a new series should keep opening new doors on how we see the supporting characters, maybe make us question Bruce Wayne ( Burton did that with Keaton), but please bring back the character and style of Gotham City and all of Batman's "wonderful toys"