The Vaunted Schumacher Cut of Batman Forever Could Still See the Light of Day

During the Producers connected Producing Panel astatine San Diego Comic-Con 2024 (via Collider), screenwriter Akiva Goldsman discussed the existent presumption of the legendary, long-suppressed “Schumacher Cut” of Batman Forever. That’s right: the 1 with the elephantine bat.

“Yes, it does exist. There is simply a preview called ‘Preview One.’ Most of the worldly that is disposable is enactment backmost together. There’s not a batch retired determination that folks haven’t seen that you couldn’t cobble [together]. I did speech to Warner [Bros]. This was 1 medication ago. My phantasy was to effort and resurrect [Batman Forever] arsenic a benignant of solemnisation with Joel aft helium died.”

So what precisely is successful this Schumacher cut? During an occurrence of his Fatman Beyond podcast past year, Kevin Smith revealed he’d seen the aforementioned 2 and-a-half hr “Preview One” cut, dimly hailing it arsenic “utterly watchable.” Underwhelmingly, scenes absent from the finished movie were said to see Bruce Wayne suffering from impermanent amnesia, a antithetic solution to the film’s mysterious “red book” crippled thread, and a cameo from Jon Favreau arsenic a fiscal advisor to Wayne Enterprises. More intriguingly, the director’s chopped was besides said to diagnostic much of Tommy Lee Jones’ arguable portrayal of Two-Face, including an extended country of the character’s disfigurement and his archetypal flight from Arkham Asylum.

Overall, Schumacher’s archetypal chopped felt overmuch darker than what reached theaters–a sentiment Goldsman echoed connected stage: “It was darker. Bruce was haunted by his past. He felt guilt. It’s each the worldly you read. None of that is mysterious. It was a much modern mentation of the narrative, and what’s not dissimilar to those [stories] that we benignant of caught up with now. I’ve seen it. It was enactment backmost together.”

Goldsman additionally revealed Warner Bros. would inactive request to descend “about a cardinal bucks” into the Schumacher Cut’s restoration earlier its yet acceptable for acceptable for nationalist consumption–a task the workplace was acceptable to undertake before falling nether caller management. In his ain words, “there’s immoderate ocular effects that request to beryllium finished. There would beryllium immoderate euphony that would person to beryllium if not re-scored oregon rewritten. The full crockery to nuts was astir a cardinal bucks. They were connected the verge of doing it and past Warner got sold again. There’s a-whole-nother DC. Once the caller DC satellite is moving forward, I volition bat my eyes with everybody again and spot if erstwhile much we tin reply that.”

Though the terms tag whitethorn look steep, a Bruce Wayne-esque $1,000,000 donation from Warner Bros’. admittedly heavy pockets whitethorn beryllium worthy it to spot the totality of Val Kilmer’s In the Mouth of Madness-inspired interplay with a giant, humanoid bat. Given the film’s vintage, determination may adjacent beryllium a way to marque it taxation deductible. We cognize they like that implicit there.

Want much io9 news? Check retired erstwhile to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s adjacent for the DC Universe connected movie and TV, and everything you request to cognize astir the aboriginal of Doctor Who.