After taking over the Batman franchise in the 1990s for two movies, Joel Schumacher had planned to direct a third installment before the project was canceled by Warner Bros. When Tim Burton left the franchise due to creative differences, Schumacher stepped in and delivered the more kid-friendly Batman Forever. The movie was brightly colored, overly theatrical, and guaranteed to sell toys. Following that, Schumacher directed Batman & Robin, a movie that doubled down on the criticized elements of Batman Forever and killed the Batman franchise for a whole eight years.
While Batman & Robin would come to mark the end of Schumacher's tenure directing Batman movies, he and Warner Bros. had planned a third movie together. Titled Batman Unchained, the sequel would have featured the Scarecrow teaming up with Harley Quinn, which would have been her first live-action appearance. Jack Nicholson's Joker would have returned in a scene where Batman hallucinates from Scarecrow's fear toxin, too. The casting was as wild as the premise, as Nicolas Cage and Courtney Love were in consideration for the villain roles (via THR). The movie could actually have been a solid return to form, but Batman Unchained was ultimately scrapped.
Why Was Batman Unchained Scrapped?
Joel Schumacher's third Batman movie was already being developed before production on Batman & Robin was complete. Batman Unchained was even confirmed for a 1999 release date (via Variety). However, despite being fast-tracked, that development came to a grinding halt when Batman & Robin was released to overwhelmingly negative reviews. The Batman Forever sequel holds a mere 12% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 3.7 rating on IMDb. As a result of its poor reception, Warner Bros.' confidence in the franchise plummeted. Even though he made a great Bruce Wayne, George Clooney was a bad Batman, which made the studio rethink where the blockbuster franchise was heading.
The final nail in the coffin for Joel Schumacher's Batman Unchained plans was Batman & Robin's worldwide box office results. According to Box Office Mojo, the movie grossed just $238 million in total, globally, and while that sounds like a modest success, it was anything but for such a major franchise, and a shocking outcome given its inflated $160 million budget (via Seattle Times). As the studio suffered a major loss on the film and Batman's popularity had clearly waned, the world went a whole eight years without a movie about the Caped Crusader.
How Joel Schumacher's Batman Movies Led To The Dark Knight Trilogy
Batman & Robin was actually great for DC movies in the long run, as it encouraged Warner Bros. to work harder to create something that would be adored by fans, and not rush things. The studio spent time developing a much darker and more grounded version of Batman, similar to the comic books. Several different celebrated auteur filmmakers, such as Darren Aronofsky and the Wachowskis were considered for a fresh start, but Warner Bros. finally settled on Christopher Nolan, who had previously directed the narratively groundbreaking Memento and the exciting thriller Insomnia.
Unlike Schumacher's take on the franchise, Nolan built a world where the idea of the Caped Crusader wasn't farfetched. The result was Batman Begins, which used the Scarecrow, one of Batman Unchained's planned villains, and it became the best-reviewed Batman movie ever at the time. Nolan then followed it up with the phenomenal sequel The Dark Knight and finally the unbelievably ambitious The Dark Knight Rises. While the Dark Knight trilogy is been considered a classic trio of movies, it likely wouldn't have ever happened if Schumacher's second Batman movie was successful.