Kevin Smith Forced To Cancel Screening Of Violent Batman Movie

Written By Mikey Sutton • Editor-in-Chief • Owner

Kevin Smith Forced To Cancel Screening Of Violent Batman Movie

Kevin Smith said that Warner Bros. Discovery won’t allow him to show one of the more violent Batman movies in his theater. Last year, Kevin Smith opened his own theater, Smodcastle Cinemas, in New Jersey. A childhood dream come true, Kevin Smith purchased the theater of his youth.

However, a scheduled screening of Tim Burton’s 1992 classic, Batman Returns, hit a snag. Oddly enough, WBD blocked it. Without a doubt, the action is quite odd. After all, Batman Returns has been easily accessible for home viewing for decades. Thus, what could WBD possibly object to?

Kevin Smith Forced To Cancel Screening Of Violent Batman Movie

Kevin Smith Forced To Cancel Screening Of Violent Batman Movie

Image: Warner Bros. Discovery

Given the relatively smaller size of Kevin Smith’s Smodcastle Cinemas, it’s not like it’ll take tickets away from Shazam! Fury of the Gods, which only Zachary Levi’s skiing buddies will see on opening weekend anyway.

Kevin Smith explained:

“The good folks at Warner Bros. We wanted to do Batman Returns. But because of the Flash movie coming up…Warner Bros. put a cease, not a cease-and-desist, you can’t do Michael Keaton Batman. They’re saving it for like June, I guess.”

Weird.

Perhaps WBD doesn’t want audiences to see Keaton’s Batman on the silver screen again until they release The Flash. If Batman Returns had a limited engagement in thousands of theaters, that’d make sense. But this is just Smodcastle Cinemas in Atlantic Highlands, NJ.

Kevin Smith previously announced he’d show Zack Snyder’s Justice League at Smodcastle Cinemas this year. In fact, Snyder will be there with his film. On the contrary, there have been no updates since. Therefore, YouTube personality Syl Abdul speculates WBD stopped that as well.

After all, Ezra Miller and Ben Affleck appear in ZSJL. If they stopped Keaton’s Batman Returns from over 30 years ago because of The Flash, would they allow ZSJL from 2021? Great question. Alas, its status remains unknown.

Upon its release in 1992, Batman Returns drew controversy for its violence and sexual imagery. Per Giant Freakin Robot:

“These days, we’ve gotten used to the darkly weird and wonderful in Tim Burton films, which made it possible for the new cinematic incarnations to go even darker, although they are often grounded in a realistic grittiness the Tim Burton films never embraced. In 1992, however, when Burton went even more twisted than his landmark 1989 blockbuster, fans and the studio recoiled. The pushback led Burton to walk away from doing a third film.”

Kevin Smith Forced To Cancel Screening Of Violent Batman Movie

Kevin Smith Forced To Cancel Screening Of Violent Batman Movie

Image: Google Images

Audiences haven’t seen Keaton as Batman since then. And now it looks like everyone will have to wait for The Flash to view him on the big screen.