Podcast: Episode 13 - Netflix will eventually buy Warner Brothers

In this episode of the 1995 Batman podcast Drew takes a look at the recent bidding war that's been erupting between Paramount and Netflix to purchase Warner Brothers and what that could mean for a future Batman Forever: Schumacher Cut release.

Here's the Daily Mail article that Drew talks about if you want to read it for yourself.

And if you want to mailing a letter asking for the Schumacher Cut, send it to:-

Warner Bros.
ATTN: Mr. Michael DeLuca, Ms. Pamela Abdy
4000 Warner Blvd
Building 168
Burbank, CA 91522

Drew goes into more detail about the far superior "Schumacher Cut"

In a follow-up to this post from June, Drew Griffin is back to talk more about the Schumacher Cut that he was fortunate to have seen at a secret screening.

Lots of interesting topics and thoughts in this video such as: why the Warner Brothers sent a cease and desist and stopped the Cinefile screening and what it will take to make this version of the film releasable. 

Finally, we know exactly what is in the "Schumacher Cut" thanks to Drew Griffin

I know I've done tons of videos over the years on the deleted content from Batman Forever. Seems crazy to do yet another one but this is a BIG one.

A few weeks ago I reported that the Cinefile Video screening of the "Schumacher Cut"/workprint was cancelled due to a cease and desist letter from Warner Brothers. 

I was really disappointed for Drew Griffin, who's been helping out with the YouTube channel this year, as he was due to see it.

Thankfully, although Cinefile didn't screen the workprint, some other mysterious benefactor decided to screen it somewhere else for the people who were going to attend. So Drew did see it and here he's taken the time to break down all the differences.

Take it away Drew.

What's On All Our Minds? The Schumacher Cut

So sadly, the Schumacher Cut (ie. the workprint) of Batman Forever didn't get screened at Cinefile Video as planned on May 29th. They got hit by a cease and desist from Warner Brothers.

I had a few thoughts about what happened and what the future holds for this fabled cut.

News: Akiva Goldsman is trying to get the Schumacher Cut released

More news from this year's San Diego Comic Con. 

Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman was speaking at the "Producers on Producing Panel", hosted by Steve Weintraub, and was asked about the Schumacher Cut of Batman Forever.

He revealed that he has been trying, since Joel Schumacher's death in 2020, to get Warner Brothers interested in doing a polished version of "Batman Forever: Preview One" (presumably a very early test screening cut of the film - the exact contents of this cut are still unknown).

He has mentioned this "Preview One" cut before but it is unknown if this is the same cut as the one Kevin Smith screened last year at his Smodcastle Cinema. 

Akiva was very good friends with Joel and wants to revisit the film as a tribute to him.

Unfortunately the hold up is that Warner Brothers keeps changing management which resets the project back to the start. He mentioned "one administration ago" the project was close to being approved.

In terms of what need doing, Akiva said: "There’s some visual effects that need to be finished. There would be some music that would have to be if not re-scored or rewritten. The whole soup to nuts was about a million bucks. They were on the verge of doing it and then Warner got sold again. There’s a-whole-nother DC."

This is fantastic news as it sounds like Goldsman is not only keen to see this cut released but also willing to keep pushing and actually oversee it's creation! 

I know for some this will be seem like a non-story but I think the fact that someone with Akiva's clout (remember, he's not just a screenwriter but a highly successful TV and film producer too) is willing to see this through, gives it much more of a chance of happening.

It sounds like Akiva is bidding his time, waiting for the new DCU to start up, and will then pursue the project with Warner Brothers and DC again.

Read the full Collider article here:-

https://collider.com/batman-forever-directors-cut-joel-schumacher/

A Schumacher Cut of Batman Forever finally screens! Details revealed.

Well, after months of waiting for any kind of movement on the long-fabled Schumacher Cut we finally got a flurry of activity these last few weeks. First it was revealed on Kevin Smith’s Fatman Beyond podcast that a listener Joe Black had handed Smith a workprint copy of Batman Forever on a thumb drive. Apparently Joe went to a tiny screening somewhere else and managed to convince the person who screened it a make him a copy. 

 Smith and Black discussed a little bit about the differences in this workprint from the theatrical release and then – Smith did the unthinkable – he announced he would screen this cut at his own SmodCastle Cinema in New Jersey. He would add it as a bonus to the end of a Clerks cartoon marathon. So technically he wouldn’t be charging people for watching it – as he put it “maybe I’ll put a film on at the end.” As I said, it’s his cinema so essentially it’s his rules. He can do what he wants. 

Cut to a couple of days ago and sure enough, he did (at like 3am!) screen this workprint. Now sadly, being based in the UK I was unable to attend but word has been spread by the 30 or so people who did stick around to watch it. Among these lucky viewers were the Epic Film Guys podcast. They recorded this great podcast detailing all the differences they spotted and I want to thank them for letting me write up notes based on what they said. Go listen to their podcast and follow them:- http://www.epicfilmguys.com/e/batman-forever-the-schumacher-cut-review-breakdown/ 

First off, the film is around about 2 hours and 16 minutes – we know this because there was a timecode burnt into the bottom of the screen. It also says WORKPRINT 11/94 which implies it was from November 1994 – we know there were some additional pick up shots done later. Apparently – and I’m assuming this was Joe Black because he mentioned he’d like to do it on the podcast – any shots that we identical to the theatrical cut, they had swapped out the workprint footage and just kept the audio. So it was very clear to audiences where the new material was. 

This is an early cut of the film – seemingly made before Elliot Goldenthal had completed his full score. As such, the film has a temp score that re-uses a lot of Danny Elfman’s scores for Batman and Batman Returns. This is a typical thing that is done on movies when you need to get a sense of what the finished film will sound like (or needs to sound like) before the composer creates their own score. 

The film has some unfinished effects work and the dialogue is much rougher. Apparently Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones re-recorded the audio for a lot of their performances (this is known in the business as ADR). 

Now there was rumour that the performance of Jones in particular was much subtler but the Epic Film Guys say that’s not really the case. He’s still cackling, hooting and generally being over the top. Other people who saw this cut did report that Jones performance was a littler subtler and generally improved. 

Some of the takes in the film are alternate takes of lines and some of the shots last longer. The Epic Film Guys said some shots they could tell the actors were waiting for the director to say “cut”. 

The main thing to note is that this cut follows the scene order of the original script. We don’t start at the bank and then go to Wayne Enterprises. And Chase’s seduction of Batman on the GCPD rooftop is later in the film. 

WHAT’S IN THE CUT? 

• We start at Arkham Asylum with Dr Burton finding Two Face has escaped (this deleted scene is on the DVD/Blu-ray). There might be one extra exterior shot of the Asylum that we’ve not seen. 
• Next we go to Wayne Enterprises, we zoom in on one window. Bruce Wayne is inside talking to his assistants. They are harassing him with lots of questions. One of the assistants is Jon Favreau – who can be briefly seen in the theatrical cut but has no lines. Bruce has just come back from meeting the President. He stops his assistants and then announces he needs to give himself a raise. (This scene is featured in the original script but we’ve never seen footage of it). 
• Then we go to Bruce meeting Edward Nygma and being shown the prototype box. This is the same as the theatrical cut (there’s apparently a little more of him starting the machine – glimpses of this might be the ones seen in the U2 music video). 
• As with the theatrical cut, Bruce sees the Bat signal, leaves Edward hanging, heads to his office and takes the chair luge thing to the Batcave. He gets dressed in the batsuit heads to the Batmobile. Alfred says “Can I persuade you to take a sandwich?”. Batman “I’ll get drive thru.” At this point, we have the main title! 
• Now Batman arrives at the bank (there’s a few extra shots of the crowd). Everything plays out as the theatrical cut. When Batman comes out of the elevator he says ”Going down?” (as seen in the trailer). 
• When Batman rescues the security guard with the hearing aid – there’s less dialogue between the two. The guard does not say “Oh no, it’s boiling acid.” There’s a few more shots of Batman standing on the vault. 
• There are more effects shots of the helicopter going through the Ocu-Wash sign. Two-Face’s “If the bat wants to play, we’ll play” line (seen in the trailers and used in the video game) is also in this cut. 
• There’s more of Two-Face in the helicopter after he’s shot the pilot – telling Bruce “You’re a killer too.” (This is probably close to what is the deleted scene on the DVD/Blu-Ray). There’s apparently a little more of Batman trying to get the lock off the flight stick and a few more effects shots of the helicopter hitting Lady Gotham’s face. 
• As Batman falls into the water – this cut has flashes of young Bruce falling into the cave as a child. And flashes of the giant bat. I’ve got to agree with the Epic Film Guys, this is an odd placement for such a flashback. 
• After Nygma kills Stickley there’s a little more of him being creepy – taking a photo of Bruce and smashing it on the ground. 
• Bruce then wakes up in Wayne Manor and we get a little more conversation between him with Alfred. Alfred has the Batsuit in his hands (respect to Michael Gough – those suits were heavy!) and they talk a bit about Bruce being Batman. (Again, I’m assuming this is the extra bit from the script). 
• The next change is the circus, there’s a few more shots Two-Face and a few more of Dick trying to get rid of the bomb but otherwise this is the same. 
• When Dick Grayson arrives at Wayne Manor and Alfred tells him “Broken wings mend in time” Dick is looking at a newspaper with a headline about Two-Face. 
• Chase’s scene where she tries to seduce Batman on the rooftop and moved back to after the circus scene and her dialogue makes more sense – “Two-Face’s coin. It’s his achilles heel.”- because she saw him at the circus. 
• When Dick Grayson goes up against Don ‘The Dragon’ Wilson’s skull faced gang leader – the audio isn’t dubbed. It’s Wilson’s actual voice which is a little flat. 
• After Batman swoops down and scares the gang away apparently the scene of Dick punching Batman in frustration and yelling “It’s your fault” goes on longer and ends with Dick Grayson collapsing in exhaustion. Apparently there’s a cool overhead shot of in this. A unit still of this has been available for a while and I’m assuming this is how the shot ended. 
• The scene of the Riddler coming up with his identity is slightly extended and after the Riddler looks over at his fortune telling machine we get a shot of his computer and see him making the costume on screen. 
• During the montage of Riddler and Two-Face robbing locations there’s more of the Two-Face showing how to punch the guard. After Riddler hurts his hand, Two-Face smacks the guard and he crumples. (Note: the script and trading cards show the Riddler followed this up by beating the guard on the floor with his cane – I don’t think this is in this cut). The Epic Film Guys said this scene was much more menacing and sinister with Elfman’s music over the top. 
• There’s an extra shot of the exterior of Chase’s apartment when Bruce goes to visit her. He also says “Thanks for her help with Dick” implying she is counselling him too. 
• At the Nygmatech Party – Nygma does not ask Sugar “How’s my mole?” which I’m really sad about. That is GENUINELY my favourite line in the whole film. 
• There’s a couple more shots of Batman climbing up the railings to get to the top of the Ritz Gotham. 
• After Dick rescues Bruce and they’re back at the batcave we get more of Bruce watching a news report by an anchor called Kenneth Frequency who says Batman should retire and is just a menace to Gotham. Bruce then talks to Alfred who tells him he should call Chase and tell her how he feels. Alfred picks up the phone and calls Chase but Bruce can’t talk and hangs up. (This scene is on the DVD/Blu-Ray). 
• Not an addition – but apparently all the cartoon sound effects are there during the part when Two-Face and Riddler break into Wayne Manor and blow up the Batcave. 
• When Bruce wakes up after the attack, the bullet graze has given him amnesia. Alfred says they need to go to the cave beneath the cave. Bruce can’t remember anything about being Batman. Alfred beckons him to go into a small crevasse (not unlike the bit in Empire Strikes Back when Luke has the vision about fighting Vader on Dagobah). He goes into the small cave, finds the red diary and reads it. It is his father’s diary – the last entry says “Martha and I have our hearts set on Zorro so Bruce’s cartoon will have to wait.” The implication begin Bruce had blamed himself for going to the cinema the night his parent’s died. He says to himself “not my fault. It’s not my fault.” He stands up and sees a bat fly towards him. The giant turns out to be 7 foot tall (we’ve morphed into some kind of dream sequence) . He stretches out his arms, the bat stretches out his wings and the camera flies around them both. He comes back out the cave, sees Alfred and says “I’m Batman, Alfred. I’m Batman.” (This scene is on the DVD/Blu-Ray). 
• There is apparently then a very cool but unfinished CGI shot after Bruce says this where a bunch of CGI bats fly out of the small crevasse behind Bruce. 
• There’s some extra bit when Batman is talking to the Riddler in his throne room where we see Batman try to put his foot forward and notice that most of the floor is a hologram. 
• There’s a little more of Two-Face on the ledge pointing his gun at Robin, Chase and Batman. 
• There’s a little more of Edward in his cell pretending to be Batman. 
• The film ends with Chase getting in the car and asking Alfred “Does it ever end?” to which he replies “Not in this lifetime.” The cut then goes to the Batman and Robin running in front of the Bat signal.

WHAT’S NOT IN THIS CUT? 

• The Beauty Parlour scene (which was available on the DVD/Blu-Ray) – where Batman’s crime alert monitor in his Batmobile redirects him to a beauty parlour/hair salon and all the patrons laugh at him is not in this cut. Thank God! 
• The Wooden Dummy scene - (which was available on the DVD/Blu-Ray) – where Dick is training on a wooden dummy with Two-Face’s picture taped to it. Bruce comes in and talks to him about Dick’s plans for revenge, and then kicks the dummy, snapping the top bit off. 
• There is no scene of Dick Grayson showing Alfred kung-fu laundry. 
• There’s seemingly no more of Edward Nygma on Claw Island after opening Nygmatech. The trading cards and sticker album did show that some shots of him were taken at a launch party (with two women with bright red hair) and some shots of him driving around in a little buggy with a hard hat. 
• There is no scene of Sugar and Spice calling for a helicopter to come get them after the Nygmatech party. 
• When Chase kisses Bruce at Wayne Manor there is no shot to show that she has figured out he’s Batman from kissing him. 
• There is no shot of Riddler injecting Chase with a giant syringe and says “Nap time gorgeous.” 
• There is no hero shot of Robin standing over Two-Face. 
• After Two-Face falls there is no shot of his hand and a coin landing on it. As soon as he falls off the ledge that’s it. 
• There is no scene of Batman talking to the deformed Riddler “Why can’t I kill you? Too many questions” … “Poor Edward I had to save them both. You see I’m both Bruce Wayne and Batman. Not because I have to be, now because I choose to be.” 
• There is no shot of Batman and Robin on a gargoyle at the end of the film – we know they shot this on a blue screen so maybe it was scrapped to save money or they ran out of time to finish the effect. 

Once again, thanks to the Epic Film Guys podcast - check their website here:-http://www.epicfilmguys.com/

Batman Forever Merchandise Review - Trading Cards from Dynamic Marketing

I've already reviewed the Fleer trading cards that were released in the US but I've recently picked up the Dynamic Marketing series that was released in Australia. It’s the usual set of stills from the film that runs through the gist of the story and posed shots of the actors.

But what's really awesome is that it contains some of the deleted scenes (that are possibly in the fabled Schumacher Cut). Also it's got some awesome concept art of the Bat gadgets and locations. 

Ironically, for an Australian card set there's not many of Nicole Kidman (Boooo!). But anyway, here's me laboriously going through them all. 

I'll get the really interesting ones scanned for the website in the near future.

Riddle Me This - A brief follow up about the Schumacher Cut

Today is June 16th (the twenty sixth anniversary of the Batman Forever's release). 

There’s a big push to get the hashtag #ReleaseTheSchumacherCut trending on twitter to see if Warner Brothers will consider releasing an extended cut of Batman Forever. Following on from last week's video about the contents of the "Schumacher Cut" here's a few corrections and clarifications.  

If you want to see the stuff I talk about in these videos, go to twitter and let @ATT @hbomax @jasonkilar know that you want them to #ReleaseTheSchumacherCut

Riddle Me This - What is the Schumacher Cut (and what does it contain)?

 Okay here's something I've been working on for a while. Back in March 2021 a twitter user @MinddKidzag released three awesome scanned pieces of paper work from Batman Forever. 

1) First up, a copy of the shooting script (previously there was only the Batchler's original Batman 3 script and one of Akiva Goldsman's drafts). This scan appears to be what they actually shot and contains scenes and lines not featured in the film. Some of this tallies with the deleted scenes on the DVD and Blu-rays but some does not.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14J_KaRP1zR3SOoG2us24dsE5z6LkBfor/view

2) A comprehensive film schedule detailing the order that everything was filmed. Again there are a couple of bits not featured in any script (featuring Nygma purchasing and developing Claw Island).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14-gi2Uf1ZOetsRuoTI-K9Do3q8O4WQLD/view

3) A list of scenes to complete (ie. small insert shots needed after principal photography was completed). Some of these were done and some seemingly were abandoned (like the helicopter ride to Wayne Enterprises).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1omDrt9X2JP1QPc2NQBtNvXdaI7lbLcxg/view

There’s a big push to get the hashtag #ReleaseTheSchumacherCut trending on twitter on 16th June (the twenty sixth anniversary of the film's release). As such I thought it would be a good idea to go through the script and pull out the missing stuff because I believe it ultimately tells us what the Schumacher Cut includes.

So if you want to see the stuff I talk about in the video, go online on 16th June and let @ATT @hbomax @jasonkilar know that you want them to #ReleaseTheSchumacherCut

And please follow @CutSchumacher on Twitter.

Miscellaneous content: Scanned Batman Forever script by Akiva Goldsman

A user on twitter Mindd Kidzag has scanned a copy of the Batman Forever script. Unlike the two scripts that have been available previously which dated from late 1993 and early 1994 this is new one is specifically dated 13th October 1994. 

Interestingly the part where Dick steals the Batmobile and confronts the Neon Gang has handwritten dates at the top 13th February 1995(!) - suggesting this scene was rewritten towards the end of shooting.

This is really exciting because it tallies with the shooting period of 24th September 1994 to 2nd March 1995 and gives us the closest view as to what exactly was filmed. With the Snyder Cut of Justice League having just been released a lot of Batman fans are turning their attention to the Schumacher Cut of Batman Forever. In my view, this script is the best record of what that Schumacher Cut is/would be.

I'm going to be doing an in-depth video analysis of it soon but in the meantime, have a read by clicking here.

Deleted Scenes: Sign the petition for WB to release the Schumacher Cut

A few months ago I would have said there was no way we'd see see the fabled "Snyder Cut" of Justice League.

Almost as soon as that film was released fans were asking to see Zack Snyder's original cut which was screened for Warner Bros executives and was the point where it was decided to go back and reshoot big chunks of the film. Fans started a long and loud campaign to #releasethesnydercut - which simultaneously raised awareness and raise money for suicide prevention. I assumed it was going to go nowhere.

But then the director posted several screenshots, then a photo of the film canister, and then (possibly due to the stalled movie industry and the need for streaming exclusives) it was announced the film would be released as a HBO MAX exclusive.

Following that fans - DC fans in particular - have been looking for other unreleased cuts to champion in the hopes they too can be released - starting with David Ayer's original cut of Suicide Squad.

This week saw a rumour that a 170 minute cut of Batman Forever is sitting in Warner Brothers vaults.

https://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/threehour-cut-joel-schumachers-batman-exists/

Marc Bernardin was chatting to Kevin Smith on his Fatman Beyond podcast when he announced:-

“I have it on pretty good authority that there exists in the Warner Bros. vault a 170-minute cut of Batman Forever,” Bernardin told his co-host Kevin Smith. “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.”

Having looked into the deleted scenes myself I'm a little skeptical that so much was cut from the movie. The current cut is 129 minutes with credits. There are 15 minutes worth of deleted scenes on the DVD/Blu Ray.

There's a sprinkling of little scenes that were definitely shot and cut like Nygma at his Claw Island factory overseeing production of the box, Bruce and Alfred trying to deconstruct a box, and Sugar and Spice trying to exit Nygma's party.

The rest is surely just longer versions of existing scenes. A few extra lines here and there. I imagine lots more ad libbing from Jim Carrey.

Back in 2005 Joel Schumacher did say he'd prepared a longer cut of Batman Forever for the DVD special edition so I do believe that WB have got a longer cut (maybe 170 minutes maybe less) in their vault somewhere). The Richard Donner Cut of Superman II did get released in 2006 so this wouldn't be unprecedented.

Anyway, I was initally a little reluctant to start any petition for Batman Forever so soon after the Justice League one.

Justice League was a movie that was mangled and reshoot and retooled to the point that it was clearly obvious it had been tampered with. Batman Forever was a movie that had a little restructuring at the start (we start with a bank heist rather than merting Nygma) and a subplot about a diary removed. I don't think the changes here did too much damage. The movie plays well as it is. I don't believe the director's cut would be darker. Batman Forever isn't a dark movie. But it might be more complete and a fun alternative viewing experience.

So anyway if you want to see this longer cut of Batman Forever there's a petition you can sign here (not started by me).

Even if you're slightly curious to see it please sign it because Warner Brothers won't do anything without some sort of demand. With HBO MAX looking for exclusive content to entice prospective subscribers NOW IS THE TIME to let them know what content we'd like. The fact that Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin are talking about this cut raises it's profile and we should capitalise on this before it fades away.

https://www.change.org/p/warner-brothers-release-the-director-s-cut-of-batman-forever