June 23, 1989: Batmania begins!

It was twenty years ago today that Tim Burton's "Batman" premiered. Not only would it become a huge hit, but the marketing blitz was to become unprecedented.

I was in New York City with some friends, deciding a few weeks earlier that it would be pretty cool to see "Batman" in The Big Apple; 'Gotham City', as it were. Finding ourselves in Times Square, we finally beheld the gi-normous Bat Symbol we'd seen on the news ablazened below the Coca-Cola sign. Wow! The impact of the this movie, even before it came out, was immense!!

We went to the theater around midday, finding ourselves about ten people from the front of a line for the 7pm show. We knew there'd be crowds and had brought frisbees and plenty of snacks.

About 45 minutes before showtime, suddenly the ropes dropped! Our line was outside the theater on the sidewalk next to the building. We RAN!!! Luckily we had someone large with us who sort of acted as a battering ram to make sure we got in to find a seat without being overrun by the people in front or behind us. "Yes! The perfect seats! Are we all here?! O.K.!", we shouted, as hords of people jumped over aisles to get to the seats and rows they desired. We breathed a sigh of relief. It was insane!

A half hour later the lights went down, and we were introduced to the phenomenon.

My favorite scene (on opening night and to this day) is right after Batman rescues Vicky Vale from The Joker at the museum. As they race out onto the street, Batman says "get in the car!". Vicky replies, "which one?!". A wide shot reveals The Batmobile for the first time in the movie. We SCREAMED AND CHEERED with joy along with the rest of the audience!! You could not hear the movie for next fifteen seconds! Oh my God, this was GREAT! That's also still my favorite track from Danny Elfman's score...the chase scene which follows.

Then when Bruce Wayne goes to the alley where his parents were killed to place roses on the pavement, the audience gasped a very quiet "oooohhh, wwoooww" sound. This is still one of my all time favorite opening nights. Everyone was so in tune with the iconic images and mythos on screen.

Here is a series of publicity photos I've never seen before, and doubt were every released to the public! Some of these are funny, especially regarding the height differences between Keaton and Nicholson.

AND here also is the very first teaser trailer for "Batman". The hype was so great at the time, and curiosity over whether Michael Keaton was the best choice to play The Dark Knight (remember all the hubbub?!), that the studio decided to put out an unpolished montage of clips, without music or flash of any kind. Somewhere I have this on VHS. I remember how exciting it was to see this for the very first time back then! Enjoy!