
“I love Batman,” Raimi told MovieWeb. “I tried to make a Batman movie. I couldn’t get the rights.”
Can you imagine a Sam Raimi Batman movie? Kinetic action, live camera, pure Bat-shit (pun intended) madness?
In the same interview, Raimi discussed some other characters he would love to tackle. “I love Shadow,” Raimi continued. “I couldn’t even get the rights to it. But, um, Superman has always been one of my favorites. Yes, there are a lot of DC characters that I love, and the writers just have to come up with an origin story based on their character, that’s true to the character and part of their actual universe, not something that disappoints the fans, but something that builds on the fans’ love of the character and brings out the best moments of those characters and their appropriate conflicts, or the right challenges for the right hero if It’s a story that has a real journey for that special person so I would love to make the film.
Raimi also talked about his desire to make more superhero movies in a recent Reddit AMA. When a fan asked, “What would be your biggest criticism of superhero movies made today?” Raimi replied, “That they should not offer me more than that!”
However, back to Batman. It’s a little confusing when Raimi says he couldn’t get the rights. Apparently, the rights belong to DC, which is controlled by Warner Bros. “Couldn’t” seems like the wrong word. Perhaps what they mean is that Warner Bros. and DC, no matter what time it was, weren’t interested in making a Batman movie.
If you look at the history of Batman movies along with Raimi’s career, it seems like the timing was never right. He could have approached Warner Bros. before 1989, but Raimi was still a relative newcomer, so you get the feeling it wouldn’t have worked out. Tim Burton got the job. It could also have taken place between 1997 and 2005, before Christopher Nolan’s films, but that’s when Raimi was primarily busy spider man Movies. Ultimately, he could have looked at it sometime between 2012 and 2016 when Zack Snyder took over. But, this is right in the middle of Raimi’s director being in jail after that disaster oz The Great and Powerful. At all other times, it was about Batman.
So, to us, Sam Raimi not making a Batman movie, it seems less like he couldn’t get the rights and more like the rights weren’t in vogue at the time. But never say never. Maybe if Andy Muschietti can’t do it the brave and the BoldCurrent DC Studios president James Gunn has the perfect man on speed dial.
Raimi’s next film, send helpIn theaters January 30th.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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