35 Years Ago Today, Bat Signals Shone, Shrink Rays Zapped

[Alyce: Old Media Enthusiast]

And the box office boomed.




After a massive hype machine surrounding it, Tim Burton's Batman premiered and shattered the box office becoming, at the time, the most successful superhero movie ever. Meanwhile, Disney released a special effects dynamo in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. The Rick Moranis vehicle managing to hold a surprisingly strong second place against the bat for that weekend.

[tirtefaa]

I used to have a massive love for Honey, I Shrunk the Kids when I was younger. I think it was Disney's first huge successful live action film they had done up to that point. I know a lot of people cite The Little Mermaid as Disney's comeback, but HISTK made them significantly more money in the US.

Oh and I loved Batman too, except the ending of Joker's laughing corpse creeped me out.

[BorneAgain]

Summer of 89 was such a loaded period. These two, Lethal Weapon 2, Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade, Ghosbusters Ii, and even License to Kill. That's on top of well executed dramas like Do the Right Thing, Dead Poet's Society, and When Harry Met Sally as a comedy that did huge numbers.

Kind of explains why UHF more or less died on release given how packed the scene was.

[Alyce: Old Media Enthusiast]

Also forgot to note, but it can't be understated how much the Roger Rabbit short was pivotal in Shrunk's success. Probably the best case of a short before the film ever.

[thechase]

35 years of washing his tights

[Mr PONYMANIA Mr Jenzie]

first shots i saw of batman89 was on a american film program called CINEMATTRACTIONS, the part where old big ears fires his grappling hook and robs the goon of gravity ... i still have the tape it's on, amazingly it wasn't worn out as i played that literally 5 second clip many many times!

that was in JUNE of 89 it was shown

four times in the cimena including a first midnight showing
instant renting of the vhs
instant pirating of said vhs
bought it
bought it in widescreen
have the two disk dvd special edition (like the other three movies)
i missed the british tv premier that was on BBC because dog ... in an amazing TWO AND A HALF YEARS from the cinema release, on christmas day 1991!!!
numerous other showings on tv
one of my all time fav movies
bought BOTH soundtracks on cassette
the end still actually shocks me to this day, seeing jokers face as he plunges to his demise!

still have a few requisite tv docs on tape, including the late show one



i even literally bought the tshirt!
it's dead now ...

as you can imagine, it was a quite popular movie

honey i shrunk the kids is also good
LOADED year for movies

[pinja]

Never forget that "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" is the brainchild of Stuart Gordon, fabulous director of "Re-Animator" and "From Beyond" who ended up leaving the project after negotiating with Disney. What a guy.

[Friday Night SmackOwn]

Its Barbenheimer portmanteau would be Honey I Shrunk the Batman.

[cosmo]

I don't think I actually saw Batman in theaters, but I do remember it being there.

The first movie I ever saw in theaters was Ghostbusters 2. I loved the Real Ghostbusters cartoon, so my mom took me to see it. The closest theater to us at the time was some small theater with just two screens, and when we got there, the place was absolutely covered in Batman logos. There was a big banner over the marquee out front, stickers on the doors, logos hanging from the lobby ceiling, the whole works.

We ended up being the only people watching Ghostbusters 2 that day too, when the two other people in the theater got up and left 20 minutes into the movie to go sneak into Batman instead.

[Rumble McSkirmish]

Jun 23, 2024 9:47:01 GMT -5 BorneAgain said:

Summer of 89 was such a loaded period. These two, Lethal Weapon 2, Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade, Ghosbusters Ii, and even License to Kill. That's on top of well executed dramas like Do the Right Thing, Dead Poet's Society, and When Harry Met Sally as a comedy that did huge numbers.

Kind of explains why UHF more or less died on release given how packed the scene was.

Don't forget about the cinematic tour de force that many critics considered the Citizen Kane of 1989: NO HOLDS BARRED! (Brother)

[MiLB Fan]

I guess this story is relevant.

I was listening to Silk, SiriusXM’s smooth R&B channel, and Scandalous by Prince started playing. The SXM app usually displays album art next to the artist and title information.

Me: “Um, why am I seeing the Batman logo?”

At the time, I didn’t know that Prince did the whole soundtrack for the film.

[Celexa Bliss]

I remember my dad taking me to see Honey I Shrunk the Kids. That and the Little Mermaid were the first two movies I remember seeing in theaters. Do I remember anything about Honey? Not really. I do remember the Roger Rabbit short, though.

[willywonka666]

I saw both in theaters, but sadly my local theater didn't get UHF-I'm surprised I didn't ask my dad to take us out of town to see it.

Anyway, I was super into this movie and Spencer's was Batman headquarters basically with posters and such-this was also when the 66 series made a comeback.

Batmania was everywhere

[Finish Uncle Muffin’s Story]

I know some of it is total cheese now but Batman 1989 is my favorite comic book movie of all time. I can't state enough how influential that thing was on my childhood.