Talk heats up around Schumacher's darker cut of Batman Forever

July 10, 2020

With the Snyder Cut of Justice League finally coming to the world, could the Schumacher Cut of Batman Forever be next?

Marc Bernardin, the co-host of the Fatman Beyond podcast as well as a writer on Castle Rock, Star Trek: Picard, has let a genie out of the bottle that appears to be gaining some steam. It seems that there is indeed a much longer cut of Batman Forever.

The theatrical cut of Batman Forever clocks in at 121 minutes, the Schumacher Cut - according to Bernardin's sources - checks in at 170 minutes. Variety has gone on to confirm with its own source that Schumacher did have a longer cut of the film at one point that opened with Two-Face (Tommy Lee jones) escaping from Arkham Asylum. This scene has been known for years.

The longer version of the film also includes a deeper dive into the mind of Val Kilmer's Bruce Wayne and includes this scene of him confronting a giant bat.

Following the recent passing of Schumacher, this extended version of Batman Forever has become a hot topic, but don't go holding your breath quite yet that it will appear.

Variety spoke with representatives for Warner Bros. about the film, and they said that there are currently no discussions about releasing it. There is also a potential issue that it isn't entirely clear if a copy of this cut still exists 25 years later.

At this stage, it seems safe to say that, yes, the 170-minute version did exist at one time, but if it still does is an entirely different question. And without Schumacher to oversee touching up color correction, the score, and so on, it may be difficult to motivate anyone to work on it.

Of course, if the Snyder Cut of Justice League, and the Donner Cut of Superman II have taught us anything, it's to never say never.

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28 comments

rodo
July 10, 2020
That scene with the giant bat looks cool... out of tone completely but really cool.
Tom
July 10, 2020
Unless the final cut is assembled I think it should just be left alone. Don’t mess with a dead mans movie.
Thanasis
July 10, 2020
Val Kilmer was a cool Bruce but I never found him believable as Batman.
1. Daniil
  July 11, 2020
  I second that. They already killed the franchise with Batman Forever. Batman & Robin was just a zombie of the already dead organism.
Snoopy and The Red Baron
July 10, 2020
Who else thinks Director's Cuts should just be the ones that studios go with and if executives don't like it, they can suck it? It might make them more cautious about who they choose to hire and the stories they approve, which could improve the overall quality of films in general.
1. Kara
  July 10, 2020
  I always heard that the theatrical cut WAS Schumacher's preferred version.
2. Hunter Zolomon
  July 10, 2020
  You do realize that overlong films can impact box office, Forever was a box office success but it wouldn't have been if they released a dark 170 min film especially when Returns put people off because it was dark and Forever was meant to tone that down.
  1. Snoopy and The Red Baron
    July 22, 2020
    Wow, really? Something directly related to a movie can impact its box office performance? Also, the sky is blue and gravity exists. Anything else that's obvious you would like to point out?
    1. Hunter Zolomon
      July 22, 2020
      Interesting you make this comment in return to a comment where i pointed out how flawed your argument is. Your flawed argument is saying directors cuts should be the one studios release but thing is some cuts are just OTT in length what can turn people off and even limit screenings, the Snyder Cut is going to be nearly 4 hours long according to Snyder himself so do you really think if that was the original cut released in 2017 that the film would have done better? No it would have bombed even harder. Batman Forever was meddled by Studios because of Returns underperforming, if this 170 had happened the exact thing would have happened to Forever. I'm all for directors having a ton of control but sometimes they need that person saying no you can't do that to them.
      Also my comment was 12 days old now to the point i'm stopped giving a damn, i had to bring up the entire chain again just to remember what any of this was about. Some advice reply within a few days or don't bother.
Kara
July 10, 2020
I would see the longer cut in the cinema if it came out after the pandemic was deal with.
1. Captain Patriot
  July 10, 2020
  I would too. I would love for them to change the score of the movie also. I would like Elfman to score Forever.
  1. Kara
    July 11, 2020
    And colour correct the picture. Remove the garish colours.
Hunter Zolomon
July 10, 2020
I would love to see this, in fact i would love to see this more then the Snyder Cut of JL. Forever is very flawed and isn't a great film but it does have a ton of great stuff in it and could have been far better if it wasn't forced into being a toy advert, Kilmer was really solid as Bats and you have to remember Schumacher was a pretty great director really, The Lost Boys alone is prove of Schumacher when he was on top of his game.
Seb
July 10, 2020
I'd like to see this, but I just don't see it happening.
roguegeek
July 10, 2020
I'd be interested in this. There were some aspects of Batman Forever that showed potential and giving it another look could be worth the time, unlike BvS or JL.
1. NinjaGamer13
  July 10, 2020
  You're hilarious
  1. roguegeek
    July 10, 2020
    Almost as hilarious as anyone who thinks some sort of editing will make SS, BvS, or JL even remotely not terrible.
    1. NinjaGamer13
      July 10, 2020
      BvS UE and especially ZSJL are not a mere different in “editing” lol
      1. roguegeek
        July 11, 2020
        Oh, so all of that work beyond "editing" and it still sucked. Thanks for strengthening my argument.
      2. NinjaGamer13
        July 11, 2020
        UE didn’t suck, and you saw the Snyder Cut already???
      3. roguegeek
        July 11, 2020
        Hey, to each his own. It's ok to fanboy out and like bad movies. Whatever makes you happy. So what excuse are you going to use when the Snyder cut sucks?
      4. rodo
        July 13, 2020
        There're things deliberately left outside to justify a directors cut...
NinjaGamer13
July 10, 2020
Why not? This could be really cool to see, and using HBO Max to release a bunch of exclusive alternate/director's cuts of movies could actually be a really cool move. But the Ayer Cut of Suicide Squad should be prioritized - current cinematic universe first.
Jua-nalf
July 10, 2020
I would love seeing this, Val Kilmer is underrated as Batman (His Batman voice is also one of the best! along with Kevin)
Aramis Sinister
July 11, 2020
ive watched Batman Forever well over 1000 times atleast 100 times a year since 1995. I would edit the darker cut for free. for free as long as I am uncredited. I would need to go through every footage joel shot, have access to every piece of audio, and id definitely rescore the whole lot. i would reorganize it too, how joel would have wanted it, and hopefully use any scarecrow footage he might have shot for a batman triumphant as an easter egg, in the past i would have merged elfmans Edward scissor hands score with batman and batman returns, but as good as elfman is, i dunno if itl be right, since he is more suited to keatons universe and not afflecks universe or even kilmers universe, coz to me forever is like an alternate reality separate from burtons batman, sure alfred is the same, and to a lesser Gordon is but not really, maybe use unused or different snippets of Elliot goldenthal tracks or even a mixture of Philip glass tracks or Christopher drake scores, id also score the scoundtrack myself for free, and no i wouldn't put any high pitch frequency bullshit like there is in batman v supermans god awful soundtrack. mystyle is a mixture of arkham scores and elfman scores, i know i can make batman forever extended dark knight edition, its something ive been thinking about everyday for well over 20 years now. like every fucking day ive thought about it, waking up from sleep with a random idea of how to edit forever with simple fixes. the thing that bothers me the most is the audio sync up of when batman lands on the roof and says commissioner Gordon? watch his mouth. he sez it, nothing comes out, then the audio comes in. really bad edit. id also fix batman and robin for free too. that's a real easy fix. id ask Arnold if he could re record new lines, similar to freezes lines in the animated series, id mix it myself, if he was unable, i would use some lines from terminator 2, during the part where he freezes Robin, freeze can say: chill out Dick wad. its like a scary hint that freeze knows who they are, or is it coincidence? make it more like batman the animated series. yeah theres a lot i would cut from batman and robin, surely theres more shot footage sitting somewhere collecting dust. one thing that bothered me about batman and robin is ivy burning her plants....the mustache team can cgi out the bat nipples, i wouldn't have the time or patience for that, but everything else yes definitely. would be interesting seeing Alfred and bruce taking apart Edwards device, seeing Harvey dent in the suspenders and white collard shirt like when he and joel hugged. simple stuff like the good people of gotham take for granted. id love to see all the jim carrey takes. my favourite part is when he takes bruces date for a dance, that look he gives bruce is classic, you can tell Nicole is trying so hard not to laugh, maybe theres even more scenes shot with leather and lace? i mean sugar and spice. -Aramis Sinister
AnonymousHero
July 11, 2020
I'd welcome the darker cut. Minimize the corny and inject in more badassery. Yes please for the unexpected win. Growing up, I loved the movie. I'd definitely watch it again to see Schumacher's darker vision.
Maybe a little less neon as well if you know what I mean.
GCPDetective
July 11, 2020
That first clip just made me realize how much I miss the old batcave design from the Schumacher films
Vger64
July 14, 2020
The end of the article was like a total buzz kill. Sounds like this is news just to have some kind of news.