Empire magazine celebrates thirty years of movie magic in 2019! That’s thirty years of covering superhero movies too!
In the 70’s event movies started with Jaws, Grease, Star Wars and Superman. In the late 80’s teens and twentysomethings got our own event movie. That movie was Batman.
You wanna get nuts – then let’s get nuts! Three years after Frank Miller’s Dark Knight, Batman was hot property. Hollywood came a calling with Prince providing the pop soundtrack, Danny Elfman the score, 30 year old Tim Burton as Director, Jack Nicholson as the Joker, Kim Basinger as Vicki Vale and Beetlejuice actor Michael Keaton as the unusual choice of Bruce Wayne / Batman. Yet today Keaton is regarded as probably one of the best Batman’s of them all!
Empire got three months in Gotham with this shocking new Batman and he featured on the cover of their second issue in August 1989, adding to the hype. Empire magazine gave it 4 out of 5 stars.
Of particular note was an interview with Batman creator Bob Kane, who also created the Joker and Vicki Vale, who was based on a young actress he had met called Norma Jean. Sound familiar?
Batman was a great event movie and the collective gasp in the cinema when he made his first appearance on the rooftop to say ‘I’m Batman’ was worth the admission price alone.
Since then Empire magazine has been dancing with superheroes in the pale moonlight and this blog will share more highlights we grew up with over the next few months!
