The Batman's budget has been revealed and it's shocking.
This article is more than 2 years old
The Batman, starring sexy Twilight vampire turned Caped Crusader Robert Pattinson, is on track to release in theatres in March 2022. Its trailer and posters have received critical praise from everybody at last weekend’s DC FanDome 2021, including Justice League director Zack Snyder. Among other surprises, Deadline revealed 10 days ago that the film’s budget was $100 million — which makes no sense in the eyes of fans.
According to The Direct, the reported budget number for The Batman should give fans an idea of what the movie’s production value would be like beyond the trailers. In a special featurette released at DC FanDome, director Matt Reeves described the film as a “detective story” with a personal narrative in a featurette. It makes sense for the team to budget its production at $100 million since the story is heavily emphasized.
Here’s how the budget for The Batman stands against other Bruce Wayne films that came before it. In no particular order, their budgets were:
- The Dark Knight Rises – $250 million
- The Dark Knight – $185 million
- Batman & Robin – $160 million
- Batman Begins – $150 million
- The Batman – $100 million
- Batman Forever – $100 million
- Batman Returns – $80 million
- Batman – $35 million
If you look very closely at the list, you’ll notice that The Batman‘s $100 million budget matches that of Val Kilmer’s Batman Forever, which was released in 1995. With inflation, the budget for Batman Forever would close in on $185 million if it was made today.
Because The Batman is the first solo movie for Bruce Wayne to be produced under the DCEU banner, it’s worth comparing its budget to those of other movies within that universe. A closer look shows that Robert Pattinson’s movie has a budget that trails behind Wonder Woman and Aquaman, whose production budgets were capped at $150 million and $160 million, respectively. It’s probable that Warner Bros. might use the movie being part of the DCEU as a reason to raise the budget for the sequel, which has reportedly been greenlit for production.
It seems that the lion’s share of the movie’s budget went towards chase scenes with the Batmobile as shown in the trailer. The budget could’ve also been allocated to VFX, CGI, and improving the design of Gotham City, as well as paying the cast and crew’s salaries.
While the $100 million budget for The Batman is bamboozling for most people, it shouldn’t come as a complete shock from an artistic perspective. Like previous Batman movies, this film is being made with a fresh new take on the Dark Knight and his exploits around Gotham City, especially with not only the non-superpowered vigilante being appropriately played by Robert Pattinson, but a host of other notable stars being cast as his allies and enemies as well. Zoe Kravitz has been tapped to play Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman; Jeffery Wright, who is already part of the MCU, will play Gotham City Police Detective James Gordon; Colin Farell will be Oswald Cobblepot / Penguin; Paul Dano is Riddler; and John Turturro is Gotham’s most powerful mob boss Carmine Falcone.
The Batman will release in theatres on March 4, 2022.
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