Release the Schumacher Cut

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Overview

Release the Schumacher Cut, also known by the hashtag #ReleaseTheSchumacherCut, is a fan-led campaign to release a longer version of the 1995 superhero film Batman Forever. The cut, which many believe to be the film's director Joel Schumacher's original vision for the movie, is supposedly 170-minutes long and "much darker" and "more serious" than the theatrical version.

Background

Deleted scenes from Joel Schumacher's 1995 film Batman Foever have been widely available since the 2005 DVD release of the film.^[1] Most notably, scenes involving Bruce Wayne (played by Val Kilmer) show the character dealing with repressed memories of his parents' death, specifically his father's diary, which appears in a truncated version in the theatrical cut. One of the most widely-discussed cut scenes includes a confrontation between Bruce Wayne and a giant bat. YouTuber Flashback FM published the scene on April 7th, 2017, receiving more than 731,000 views in less than four years (shown below).

Interest in this scene and others made the restored cut of the film a popular discussion among fans. For example, on December 20th, 2017, Twitter^[2] user @PeteIllustrated tweeted,^[2] "You know what?! We never got Schumacher's real vision for #BatmanForever. What's that petition site? #ReleaseTheSchumacherCut" (shown below, left). Years later, on June 16th, 2020, the Batman Forever fan Instagram ^[3] account @nygmatech_archives posted an image of a deleted scene of the character Two-Face (portrayed by Tommy Lee Jones) imprisoned. They wrote, "25 years! today Batman Forever hit Theatres! To celebrate the 25th Anniversary… I thought I would share something never before seen that didn’t make the final cut… Harvey 'Two Face' Dent in his cell at Arkham Asylum, prior to his escape! 'THE BAT MUST DIE'" (shown below, right).

Development

Years later, and following the death of Joel Schumacher on June 22nd, 2020, writer and co-host of the Batman podcast Fatman On Batman Marc Bernardin tweeted^[4] a poll asking if followers would be interested in seeing the cut. He wrote, "I have it on VERY good authority that a 170-minute cut of Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever exists. Warner Bros. is unsure if there's any hunger for what was described to me as a "much darker, more serious" version. So, should WB #ReleaseThe20000Cut?" The tweet received more than 3,000 votes, 200 likes and 140 retweets in less than one month (shown below).

Online Reaction

Following the Marc Bernardin tweet, fans began to campaign more heavily for the release of a new cut of Batman Forever. The news that Warner Bros. would be releasing the long-discussed Snyder Cut of Justice League, inspired the movement, as fans began posting #ReleaseTheSchumacherCut. For example, on July 27th, 2020, Twitter^[6] user @clownprince_86 tweeted images of Bruce Wayne with the giant bat and wrote, "The original cut from #JoelSchumacher for #BatmanForever includes such a beautiful piece of art like the deleted scene known as Secret of the Batcave." The tweet received more than 860 likes and 300 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below, left). Throughout the day, others shared their thoughts on the film (example below, center). That evening the TNT network tweeted,^[7] "Trust us, we're looking everywhere for it #ReleaseTheSchumacherCut." The tweet received more than 1,900 likes and 615 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below, right).

Media Coverage

Websites specializing in comic book and superhero films covered the cut as well. On July 3rd, for example, ComicBook.com posted about the 170-minute-cut on Facebook. ^[5] The post received more than 8,500 reactions, 2,700 shares and 1,300 comments in less than one month (shown below).

Other outlets covered the interest in the film, as well, including Variety,^[8] ScreenRant,^[9] CBR^[10] and more.