Movies - TV
Star Trek’s Akiva Goldsman Knew Batman & Robin Wasn't Working From The Start
By JEREMY SMITH
Warner Bros. was relieved when Joel Schumacher's "Batman Forever" brought life back to its superhero franchise after Tim Burton's "Batman Returns" turned some viewers off with its dark tones. However, the studio overburdened Schumacher by setting a sequel release date less than a year after his other project’s, "A Time to Kill," leading to disaster on 1997's "Batman & Robin."
Akiva Goldsman, the writer of "Batman Returns" and "A Time to Kill," was concerned, with Schumacher saying, "Akiva was very leery about Batman & Robin. We had a couple of very serious discussions about it, and he was right about it in the long run." Time was against the director to fix the movie's issue as the film's highly-coveted summer release date drew closer.
Two months before the film’s release, an early screen test confirmed their fears as the viewers hated the movie, with Ain’t It Cool News urging audiences not to see it. Studios have learned from the mistakes of “Batman & Robin” and have become more flexible with release dates, though they still often move forward on unfinished projects hoping to fix them before opening day.