Did you enjoy last year’s live concert screening of Robert Pattinson’s “The Batman” (2022) in the nation’s capital?
It’s time to flash the bat signal again for more DC Comics in D.C. with another Warner Brothers classic at Warner Theatre!
This Friday, Jan. 19, brings a special 35th anniversary live concert screening of Michael Keaton’s “Batman” (1989) at 8 p.m.
A touring orchestra will perform the movie score live while showing the movie on a giant screen.
While John Williams’ Oscar-nominated theme for Richard Donner’s “Superman” (1978) may be the most famous superhero music of all time, Danny Elfman’s original score for Tim Burton’s “Batman” (1989) is a personal favorite Batman theme despite the phenomenal work that followed in Hans Zimmer’s score for Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” (2008) and Michael Giacchino’s score for Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” (2022).
While the orchestra will perform Elfman’s Grammy-nominated score, the on-screen soundtrack will maintain Prince’s original songs written for the film, including Jack Nicholson dancing and desecrating of an art museum to “Partyman,” then performing the ironic song “Trust” before poisoning Gotham City during the climatic parade.
Not only was the soundtrack iconic, the visual design forever changed how we thought of the Caped Crusader.
Created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane in a 1939 comic book, Batman soon became a pop culture staple with the hit TV series “Batman” (1966-1968) starring Adam West in a blue suit for cheeky remarks and intentionally cheesy “pow” graphics. It wasn’t until Burton’s “Batman” that The Dark Knight became darker, brooding and more complex.
The result made movie history as the top-grossing blockbuster of 1989 — ahead of “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” “Lethal Weapon 2,” “Rain Man,” “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids,” “Look Who’s Talking,” “Ghostbusters II,” “Dead Poets Society,” “Parenthood,” “Back to the Future II,” “When Harry Met Sally” and “Turner & Hooch.”
The carefully-crafted film also won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration by Anton Furst and Peter Young, while Jack Nicholson earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor as the cackling Joker.
The success cemented Burton as a major Hollywood player after “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” (1985) and “Beetlejuice” (1988), leading to an auteur streak with “Edward Scissorhands” (1990), “The Nightmare Before Christmas” (1993), “Ed Wood” (1994), “Sleepy Hollow” (1999), “Big Fish” (2003) and “Sweeney Todd” (2007).
Of course, it also inspired the Burton-directed sequel “Batman Returns” (1992) starring Danny DeVito as The Penguin, Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman and Keaton once again as Batman, together delivering the top-grossing movie of 1992. It also paved the way for Keaton to spoof his own superhero success in Alejandro G. Inarritu’s “Birdman” (2014), an artful showbiz satire that won four Oscars, including Best Picture.
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