Batman Begins Why wasn't Begins more Profitable?

[Bruce Malone]

The Dark Knight was such a mega hit that its easy to forget sometimes that its predecessor was not anywhere nearly as succesful financially. Begins grossed 205 million domestically quite good but it was only the 8th top grossing movie of '05. Obviously this was a movie that grew but why didn't it find the massive theatrical superhero sucess that other big name superhero movies are generally expected to get?

205 million domestic for a Batman movie now would be kinda a dissapointment.

 

[frodawgg]

i think it was because the general public was kinda put off by B&R, even though there was an 8-year gap. batman had also been out of the spotlight during that time period. but i think the big reason was that it didn't feature any instantly recognizable villians to the general public.

however, after people saw the first one, that led to the success of the sequel, which performed massively well due to the hype around ledger's performance and his unfortunate passing. people also probably realized that the beginning was already established, so the series could move on.

 

[El Payaso]

Well, theres' Batman & Robin. And then again the movie wasn't that good.

 

[SuperFerret]

(The Joker > Ra's Al Ghul and the Scarecrow) + Heath Ledger's much publicized death + the success of Batman Begins = the success of The Dark Knight

 

[El Payaso]

(The Joker > Ra's Al Ghul and the Scarecrow) + Heath Ledger's much publicized death + the success of Batman Begins = the success of The Dark Knight

That explains TDK making more moiney than BB. But the thing is why BB didn't make more than it did (not necessarily more than TDK).

 

[SuperFerret]

BB didn't make anywhere near the money that TDK did because it didn't have those factors. It had a relatively unknown cast and crew and didn't have the mass appeal that other movies have.

 

[The Joker]

Relatively unknown cast? Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman etc were relatively unknown back then?

 

[deathshead2]

It was kind of boring. While the direction was good, the screenplay was f'ing terrible.

 

[Mace Dolex]

Relatively unknown cast? Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman etc were relatively unknown back then?

I think what SuperFerret meant to say is that they were all well known they just didn't have that big box office following.

Getting back on topic while BB didn't make as much financially it was at least given high marks by critics even Roger Ebert who gave thumbs down to the Burton/Shumacher films loved BB.

 

[El Payaso]

BB didn't make anywhere near the money that TDK did because it didn't have those factors. It had a relatively unknown cast and crew and didn't have the mass appeal that other movies have.

And once again...

We know why TDK made more money than BB. But the thing is why BB didn't make more than it did (not necessarily more than TDK).


That said? Unknown cast. They couldn't have been more known. And no mass appeal? It was a Batman movie! A Batman movie directed by Christopher Nolan! How is that any short of mass appealing?

 

[SuperFerret]

And before Batman Begins, who knew who Nolan was? Or Christian Bale? It's not a mainstream movie, thus it didn't make as much money.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

It did great on DVD.

 

[Brother Jack]

It had to contend with the franchise-killer Batman & Robin and the subsequent 8-year gap. It had a lot to prove honestly, and many people were not very eager to see Batman return to film. Plus the marketing was pretty poor, especially when compared to TDK's, which was possibly one of the best marketing campaigns ever.

 

[Rincewind]

While I personally enjoy BB as much as TDK, it's not hard to understand why the movie never became a mega-giga-hit (though it was still successful, bear that in mind).

1) like it was already said, the last memory of a Batman movie that people had was of B&R. Which, in case that anyone doesn't know, was so bad that it killed the previous series and everything had to be rebooted 8 years later.

2) there was a 8 year gap between the last Batman movie and BB (and the said last Batman movie was awful, to boot). That's a long time and people actually may have lost interest in Batman. During that 8 year gap a lot of other superheroes went to the big screen (Spider-Man, the X-Men, Blade, the Hulk, the Punisher, Daredevil) and that may have shifted the public's interest away from Batman, even though most of their movies didn't do very well.

3) BB wasn't marketed very well.

4) the movie itself, while (very) enjoyable to me - and I assume to most Batman and comic book fans - isn't the type of film that would attract audiences to see it again and again and again. In fact, every non-comic book fan that I know, including some of my best friends, thought that it was dull and boring. For the life of me, I would never understand why they thought so, but it is a fact. It's a movie with a lot of talking and little action, which is not the best recipe for a superhero flick; TDK had much more action in it, for example.

 

[El Payaso]

And before Batman Begins, who knew who Nolan was? Or Christian Bale? It's not a mainstream movie, thus it didn't make as much money.

Nolan? The director of Memento? And Christian bale? The Empire of the Sun? Patrick Bateman himself? No, nobody knew them. And what to say about such no-ones as Michael Kane (or it was Caine?) or Morgan Freeman. God, it was a miracle that movie wasn't released directly to dvd. And that bat-human character. Who in the world would see a movie about that? Yeah, thus it didn't make as much money.

 

[SuperFerret]

Nolan? The director of Memento? And Christian bale? The Empire of the Sun? Patrick Bateman himself? No, nobody knew them. And what to say about such no-ones as Michael Kane (or it was Caine?) or Morgan Freeman. God, it was a miracle that movie wasn't released directly to dvd. And that bat-human character. Who in the world would see a movie about that? Yeah, thus it didn't make as much money.

Never knew of them, and out of the three movies mentioned, I'd only heard of Memento.

And the movie wasn't made in the way a mainstream Batman movie would be made.

 

[Mace Dolex]

And the movie wasn't made in the way a mainstream Batman movie would be made.

It was made just the same as any other movie gets made, it just wasn't marketed as much as the previous Bat-films.

 

[returntovoid]

It didn't do as well as TDK because of low expectations, no hype boost such as Heath Ledger's death and no iconic villain.

And then again the movie wasn't that good.

What are you talking about???

Batman Begins was a great Bat-Film and I think it's better than TDK.

I'd take one-liners over plot-holes, any day.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

Care to list these so called plot-holes ?

 

[B]

Batman Begins wasn't as well promoted as TDK to the general public.

 

[deathshead2]

Batman Begins wasn't as well promoted as TDK to the general public.

The news outlets played the biggest part in making TDK as big as it was. As sad as it is of course. But having your movie said outloud for free on several major news channels for free everyday until release helped out big time. Makes you wonder how much the movie would have made ifLedger hadn't passed away.

 

[B]

The news outlets played the biggest part in making TDK as big as it was. As sad as it is of course. But having your movie said outloud for free on several major news channels for free everyday until release helped out big time. Makes you wonder how much the movie would have made ifLedger hadn't passed away.

It wasn't only Heath Ledgers death, TDK had a really extensive viral campaign that BB didn't have, it also was a far better reviewed & recieved film than BB I believe as well.

TDK made $1B, I don't think than an extra $700m worth of movie tickets where sold because Heath Ledger past away..

 

[deathshead2]

It wasn't only Heath Ledgers death, TDK had a really extensive viral campaign that BB didn't have, it also was a far better reviewed & recieved film than BB I believe as well.

TDK made $1B, I don't think than an extra $700m worth of movie tickets where sold because Heath Ledger past away..

I'm not saying people saw it because of his death, I'm saying the news outlets repeating the name "The Dark Knight" ever day becaused he died.
The viral I didn't know anyone who did that. In fact the only people who I've seen do viral stuff are fans who are seeing the movie anyway. And while the movie did have great reviews there movies that get great reviews and don't do well.

I still believe that if it wasn't for CNN, FOX NEWS, ect saying "The Dark Knight" everyday several times aday from Ledgers death to the day of release is what made this movie a success. The movie was ironed into the brain of the public, by hearing it repeated so many times. It was that kind of marketing that made this movie. Not viral(as I said internet nerds who are seeing it anyway do that), and good reviews didn't bring in the money. It was simply the death of one of the leads.

 

[B]

I'm not saying people saw it because of his death, I'm saying the news outlets repeating the name "The Dark Knight" ever day becaused he died.
The viral I didn't know anyone who did that. In fact the only people who I've seen do viral stuff are fans who are seeing the movie anyway. And while the movie did have great reviews there movies that get great reviews and don't do well.

I still believe that if it wasn't for CNN, FOX NEWS, ect saying "The Dark Knight" everyday several times aday from Ledgers death to the day of release is what made this movie a success. The movie was ironed into the brain of the public, by hearing it repeated so many times. It was that kind of marketing that made this movie. Not viral(as I said internet nerds who are seeing it anyway do that), and good reviews didn't bring in the money. It was simply the death of one of the leads.

I disagree completely, believe it or not I actually said something similar after Ledger had passed. There was already a fair amount of hype for TDK at the time & I knew it would be a dead cert that people would suggest if the film did well it was only because of Ledger's passing.

The viral stuff definatly helped create more hype (if even only on the internet) for the film.

Can you name any blockbuster films that have recieved as many good reviews as TDK & done 'poorly'? I can't think of any of the top of my head.

 

[SuperFerret]

What are you talking about???

Batman Begins was a great Bat-Film and I think it's better than TDK.

I'd take one-liners over plot-holes, any day.

I didn't like Begins either, but then again, I don't like Batman, and I really don't like Bale's Batman.