The comic book movie world is lousy with director’s cuts. There are the Donner cuts of Superman and Superman II, a version of Daredevil with Coolio in it, and, of course, the Snyder Cut, which Warner Bros. paid $70 million to finish so that it could dump it on HBO Max Max HBO Max. But as Suicide Squad fans wait for WBD to invest money in David Ayer’s cut of that 2016 Oscar winner, hype surrounding a mythical “Schumacher Cut” of Batman Forever has grown. Alas, that one is going to stay locked in the Batcave a bit longer.
Earlier this month, Cinefile Video in Santa Monica, CA, planned a screening of the lost version, which supposedly includes Val Kilmer squaring off against a very big bat, an image that has haunted promotional photos for the film since the mid-’90s. Unfortunately, news of the screening had spread far enough to reach the water tower doorstep of Yakko, Wakko, and Dot, who promptly sent a legal request to the store. “Our planned screening of Batman Forever has been cancelled,” an email from the store to its members. “This follows a legal request from Warner Bros. regarding the rights to the version of the film we intended to show. While this was a free, members-only event meant to celebrate a unique piece of film history, we respect the rights of studios and creators, and have chosen to withdraw the event accordingly.” The store did not immediately respond to a request from The A.V. Club for comment.
Speculation surrounding the Schumacher Cut reached a fever pitch in 2020, when Variety reported that a 170-minute, “much darker, more serious” version of Forever was being considered for release by Warner Bros., which was unsure if there was an audience for the film. Who would ever want to see an extended version of a Batman movie? Kevin Smith, for one, discussed the cut on a 2023 episode of his podcast Fat Man Beyond, bragging that he has a copy of the director’s cut, which he described as “longer.” That year, one of the film’s screenwriters, Akiva Goldsman, claimed to have seen the cut. “There’s definitely about 35% more psychological realism—more about guilt and shame,” Goldsman told The Playlist. “Joel’s first cut had all that, but preview audiences weren’t ready for it. They just wanted the humor and the action, so a lot of it got trimmed down. Still, it was a cool film.”
