Tim Burton’s Batman Films to Return to Theaters for One Night Only

Prior to 1989, Richard Donner’s 1978 Superman movie (and to a lesser extent its sequels) were seen by Hollywood as the only successful, populist, wide audience-earning blockbuster example of a superhero feature film. It may be difficult for audiences to imagine this attitude now, steeped as we are in decades of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and countless superhero adaptations of every conceivable character, but in this era, “comic books” were widely perceived as kids’ trash, unfit for mass appeal and adult entertainment. Certainly, they weren’t the kind of thing that were worthy of big budgets. Superman was a unique exception, a marquee character with the perfect star in Christopher Reeve. So when Tim Burton attempted to do something similar for Batman in 1989, the success of a big-budget action movie featuring the Caped Crusader was by no means viewed as some kind of sure thing. But the success of Batman and its subsequent 1992 sequel Batman Returns ushered in the modern era of superhero entertainment, announcing the blockbuster profitability of the genre while paving the road for a more recognizably modern era that eventually kicked off with Spider-Man and 2000’s X-Men. And now, Burton’s duo of films will get a little extra shine with a one night only return to cinemas on Aug. 25, 2025.