Batman Forever Writer Still Hoping for Release of Schumacher Cut

Akiva Goldsman hasn’t given up hope that the “Schumacher Cut” of Batman Forever could still see the light of day. During the Producers on Producing Panel at San Diego Comic-Con (via Gizmodo), Goldsman spoke about the director’s cut of the Joel Schumacher film, revealing that at one point Warner Bros. had considered bringing the Schumacher Cut to life — and he’s hopeful that with the new DC Studios, it could still eventually happen.

“Yes, it does exist. There is a preview called Preview One. Most of the material that is available is put back together,” Goldsman said. “There’s not a lot out there that folks haven’t seen that you couldn’t cobble [together]. I did talk to Warner [Bros]. This was one administration ago. My fantasy was to try and resurrect [Batman Forever] as a sort of celebration with Joel after he died.”

Goldsman went on to explain that the director’s cut was darker than what ended up heading to theaters and leaned into more psychological aspects and to get it ready for release would require “about a million bucks” of restoration.

“There’s some visual effects that need to be finished,” he said. “There would be some music that would have to be if not re-scored or rewritten. The whole soup to nuts was about a million bucks. They were on the verge of doing it and then Warner got sold again. There’s a-whole-nother DC. Once the new DC world is moving forward, I will bat my eyes with everybody again and see if once more we can answer that.”

What Is The Schumacher Cut of Batman Forever?

The Schumacher Cut of Batman Forever is a somewhat legendary director’s cut of Batman Forever that is said to be markedly different than what was released in theaters — specifically that it’s darker in tone and even around 50 minutes longer than the theatrical version. The cut reportedly features various elements cut from the theatrical version including a scene in which Val Kilmer’s Bruce Wayne comes face-to-face with a giant, humanoid bat.

The first film following Tim Burton’s Batman Returns, Batman Forever starred Val Kilmer as Batman, Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face/Harvey Dent, Jim Carrey as The Riddler, Nicole Kidman as Dr. Chase Meridian, and Chris O’Donnell as Dick Grayson/Robin. The film, released in 1995, the film performed well at the box office, but didn’t exactly win over critics at the time.