Who saw "Mask of the Phantasm" In Theatres

[James Harvey]

I'm curious - who was lucky enough to catch Batman: Mask of the Phantasm in theatre? I was able to. I saw it in a huge theatre...and there were only five people there.

[The New Batman]

Not me. Oh well, at least I have it on DVD.

[The Flash]

I did! Saw if for my B-day that year. It was Christmas and we were the only ones there......which was kinda nice actually. :D

[James Harvey]

It was weird to see the theatre so empty. I don't think I've ever been in a theatre where there was barely anyone in there. Still...awesome to see on the big screen.

[Joker85]

I did!! It was great in the theater!! There were only 4 or 5 people in there I think, not very many. It's a shame more people didn't get to see MOTP in theaters.

[Heehaw]

I saw it. Me and whoever I was with were the only ones. Sad.

[Karkull]

I saw it in the theaters, and I seem to recall some people there.

[Bobby Boy 101]

I went to the Premiere man, and the theatre was like half-full!

I was surprised, dont know if thats good o bad. . . :rolleyes:

[GrayGhost]

I saw it the day it came out with my dad. I had a similar experience, there was about us and few other kids at the movie. Maybe 8 of us in total.

[The Penguin]

I saw it in the theater years ago as part of a children's movie series where you got to see several movies over a month for fairly cheap (I obviously was most looking forward to Batman).
I really liked the movie, and I always remember that after it was over, my parents dragged my brother and me to some boring store near the theater and we were there so long I could've watched the movie again!!

[James Harvey]

Seeing it in the theatre was a huge joy. It was almost like a dream come true to see the animated Batman on the big screen. It was so nea tot see something, that I'm used to seeing fairly small on a regular TV, on this gigantic screen that stretches across the room. A very fond memory!

[Terminatah]

If they released another theatrical animated Batman movie, I would see it 5000 times. I'm sure everyone will agree that the theater just gives the movie a little something priceless. Besides, without theaters, Batman wouldn't even exist. Just ask Tom and Martha Wayne.

-Terminatah

[Domino]

When I saw it, it was Christmas break and it was the only showing for the day, an 11:00 matinee. There were very few people there. I remember, though, not liking what I saw because it bore too strong a resemblance to the comic book story, Batman: Year Two. I have come to accept the animated producers' "borrowing" over the years, but I still think they should give credit where credit is due.

[Blight]

I saw MOTP in theatres around thanksgiving, I think. I distinctly remember that during the scene where the Joker takes off on his rocket pack, some idiot who fell asleep in his booth pressed a button and the screen went blank for a few sconds, before he realized what he was doing and flipped it back on, and Batman was suddenly beating up the Joker in midair as he rode his pack. I didn't even see how Batman managed to get up there that first time I saw it! Definitely not my fondest memory of the movie, but it stands out most, because it was so horrible!

See ya!
Blight

[Golden Age Flash]

I saw it around christmas time and the theater was half full, but mostly kids. Doesn't seem like they gave it enough hype to take it beyond an afternoon kid flick.

[The Mad Hatter]

Saw it on Christmas day, and there were only two other people in the theater. Even so, it really was nice to see all the action on the big screen!

[James Harvey]

The movie was only in theatres for a week, two at the most, so Christmas Day was really the only time to catch it, except for the rare special kids screening the theatre held. Man, it got NO publicity...

[The Mad Hatter]

Ah-yup. Bad marketing on WB's part brought down the numbers on MOTP, Cats Don't Dance and Iron Giant, all of which could have done much, much better if they had the right marketing push. Ah well.

[Karkull]

Not to mention the fact that releasing a non-Oscar movie on Christmas Day is just the kiss of death.

[Heehaw]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that the movie broke even at the box office(about 6 million). I'm sure it has turned a profit thanks to merchandising and video.

MOTP failure was a result of bad marketing. The Iron Giant was, too.

The theatrical version also had some differences, from the video version, in regards to animation quality. Something like 1,000 feet of footage was reanimated. I seem to recall some of the animation being a little bit rough on the big screen version. The two that pop to mind are the covered parking garage scene where the headlights of the car did this weird little shimmy, and the other being when masked Bruce is on the front of the semi-truck and heading towards the brick wall. The wall had that rubbery animation thing. The video version eliminates both the shimmy and the rubber(the wall is now a painted background as opposed to each frame being hand painted). You can see the original rubber wall version on the HBO First Look special.

Of course, some of the animation is still pretty inconsistent, in MOTP, but it is still a great movie.

[MattL.]

I actually was working in a movie theatre then and got to see it at a employee only showing.

I remember at that time, my favorite thing about the film was that it actually explored Batmans origin *after* his parents were killed. The actual events that led up to his putting on the mask.

Adding in the broken heart angle with Andrea Beaumont was genius.

The animated series them with the choir is the single greatest Batman theme I've ever heard. With the choir added it captures all the sorrow and mythicness of the character, his story, and his world.

The moment he dons the mask and Alfred says "..my God!" To this very day I get butterflies in my stomach.

The ending scene with him brooding as the Bat-signal flares...when you see that on the big screen it (like so many other aspects of the films visuals) hit 1,000 times harder.

[Maxie Zeus]

I saw it in a theater, went with my dad. I don't remember how many people were there, but it was only a handful.

[DerekPowers]

Originally posted by Domino
When I saw it, it was Christmas break and it was the only showing for the day, an 11:00 matinee. There were very few people there. I remember, though, not liking what I saw because it bore too strong a resemblance to the comic book story, Batman: Year Two. I have come to accept the animated producers' "borrowing" over the years, but I still think they should give credit where credit is due.

i never read batman: year two, so can you elaborate on what it "borrowed" from the comic. cause i was always under the impression that motp was an original story. peace.

[Poison Carley]

I never saw it in theatres of course I am not sure what my interest in Batman was at the time. I probably just watched it on tv. I have always liked Batman it just runs in stages.

[DarkKnight]

I am proud to say that I saw it in theaters! My dad and I went one afternoon, and we were the only people in the theater--we had the whole place to ourselves. We thought it was the sweet. I just picked it up on VHS finally before I headed back to school, and "The Penguin" and I have watched it a couple of times. The stuff from the past was excellent. The Joker tie-in was very good. I was glad that they had the freedom to "PG it up" so they could include more action scenes. It would have sucked if it was "G."

[Ed Liu]

Howdy,


Originally posted by DerekPowers
i never read batman: year two, so can you elaborate on what it "borrowed" from the comic. cause i was always under the impression that motp was an original story. peace.

Nobody else has posted a reply yet, so...

Batman: Year Two begins with Jim Gordon's promotion to Police Commissioner (gee, that was kind of quick, considering he was a lieutenant or captain at the end of Year One) and the installation of the Bat Signal. During a news interview, Batman is compared with an older vigilante of Gotham named "The Reaper," who dressed in red leather armor, wore a skull helmet, and weilded two large mace-gloves which had scythes and hidden guns in them (making this guy's hands weigh about 75 pounds each, and making it very very hard to get sand out of your eye without major incident).

Simultaneously, one of Bruces' old flames returns to Gotham with her father. She is contemplating entering a convent, but reconsiders when Bruce arrives and sweeps her off her feet. Meanwhile, the father takes a leisurely stroll around Gotham and makes a point of looking greatly disgusted at the depths to which Gotham has sunk. He goes back to his manor in the middle of Gotham and opens a hidden closet to reveal...taa-daa! his Reaper outfit.

The Reaper starts cleaning up Gotham by hacking up prostitutes. Batman arrives and gets his butt handed to him on a platter, because he's never fought anybody with scythe/gun/mace hands before and can't effectively hit a man twice his age because the geezer is wearing leather armor. After struggling back to the Batcave, he decides that the only way to beat the Reaper is to use a gun. He then produces the gun which killed his parents, because cops never look for things like a huge .45 that just killed a pair of rich socialites and left a kid orphaned, especially when the 9-year old orphan is the one holding it.

Batman also decides that he has to go to the organized crime families to stop the Reaper. The Mob assigns him a partner because they don't trust him. But shock and horror! The partner assigned is none other than Joe Chill, the formerly nameless thug who killed Batman's parents! Batman grits his teeth in anger a lot and uses his gun in non-lethal ways, despite having years of martial arts training and a belt full of batarangs. The Reaper goes to ground over the combined assault of the pistol-packing Batman and some street thug. Batman proposes to the old flame, and considers getting out of the Batman gig once he kills Joe Chill.

Batman takes Joe Chill to Crime Alley, reveals who he is, and is about to kill him execution style. The Reaper, not dead after all, does the job for Batman and challenges him to one last fight. Now that Batman is packing heat, the Reaper is no match for him, and the Reaper falls to his death, telling Batman that he is a worthy successor to his legacy. The old flame says the only way to atone for the horrible things her father did is to enter the convent, and Bruce decides to continue being Batman after all, but swears never to use guns again for no apparent reason.

Needless to say, I'm not fond of Year Two =8^). It did feature some gorgeous Alan Davis and Todd McFarlane Batman panels, but the story was trash.

Just to veer back to relevancy, I did see Mask of the Phantasm in theatres while I was in grad school right before I went back home for X-mas break. Pretty empty theatre, which was sad. The only problem was that I guessed who the Phantasm was before I even saw the movie.

-- Ed/Ace

[optimal321]

Sadly, i wasn't one of the one's lucky enough to have gotten to see it in the theater. I remember hearing about the movie, but i wasn't a big Bat-fan back then, and i never went to see it.

[DerekPowers]

Originally posted by Ace the Bathound
Howdy,



Nobody else has posted a reply yet, so...

Batman: Year Two begins with Jim Gordon's promotion to Police Commissioner (gee, that was kind of quick, considering he was a lieutenant or captain at the end of Year One) and the installation of the Bat Signal. During a news interview, Batman is compared with an older vigilante of Gotham named "The Reaper," who dressed in red leather armor, wore a skull helmet, and weilded two large mace-gloves which had scythes and hidden guns in them (making this guy's hands weigh about 75 pounds each, and making it very very hard to get sand out of your eye without major incident).

Simultaneously, one of Bruces' old flames returns to Gotham with her father. She is contemplating entering a convent, but reconsiders when Bruce arrives and sweeps her off her feet. Meanwhile, the father takes a leisurely stroll around Gotham and makes a point of looking greatly disgusted at the depths to which Gotham has sunk. He goes back to his manor in the middle of Gotham and opens a hidden closet to reveal...taa-daa! his Reaper outfit.

The Reaper starts cleaning up Gotham by hacking up prostitutes. Batman arrives and gets his butt handed to him on a platter, because he's never fought anybody with scythe/gun/mace hands before and can't effectively hit a man twice his age because the geezer is wearing leather armor. After struggling back to the Batcave, he decides that the only way to beat the Reaper is to use a gun. He then produces the gun which killed his parents, because cops never look for things like a huge .45 that just killed a pair of rich socialites and left a kid orphaned, especially when the 9-year old orphan is the one holding it.

Batman also decides that he has to go to the organized crime families to stop the Reaper. The Mob assigns him a partner because they don't trust him. But shock and horror! The partner assigned is none other than Joe Chill, the formerly nameless thug who killed Batman's parents! Batman grits his teeth in anger a lot and uses his gun in non-lethal ways, despite having years of martial arts training and a belt full of batarangs. The Reaper goes to ground over the combined assault of the pistol-packing Batman and some street thug. Batman proposes to the old flame, and considers getting out of the Batman gig once he kills Joe Chill.

Batman takes Joe Chill to Crime Alley, reveals who he is, and is about to kill him execution style. The Reaper, not dead after all, does the job for Batman and challenges him to one last fight. Now that Batman is packing heat, the Reaper is no match for him, and the Reaper falls to his death, telling Batman that he is a worthy successor to his legacy. The old flame says the only way to atone for the horrible things her father did is to enter the convent, and Bruce decides to continue being Batman after all, but swears never to use guns again for no apparent reason.

Needless to say, I'm not fond of Year Two =8^). It did feature some gorgeous Alan Davis and Todd McFarlane Batman panels, but the story was trash.

Just to veer back to relevancy, I did see Mask of the Phantasm in theatres while I was in grad school right before I went back home for X-mas break. Pretty empty theatre, which was sad. The only problem was that I guessed who the Phantasm was before I even saw the movie.

-- Ed/Ace

wow, thanks for the info. i have 2 qs...anyone know if year 2 is and elseworlds story, cause it sounds pretty lame and i thought bats never found the guy who iced his parents. and second, ace the bathound and anyone else who's read year 2, is motp a rip off of it, or are there just some similarities? thanks.

[kid_flash]

I saw it in theaters on opening day with my dad, brother, and grandpa. I was probably 6 or 7 at the time.

[James Harvey]

The big screen made the animation more vibrant and alive, I found. It just seemed to jump out at me with every passing moment. The closing sequence with Batman swinging into the camera is just awesome on that huge screen.

[Ed Liu]

Howdy,


Originally posted by DerekPowers
wow, thanks for the info. i have 2 qs...anyone know if year 2 is and elseworlds story, cause it sounds pretty lame and i thought bats never found the guy who iced his parents. and second, ace the bathound and anyone else who's read year 2, is motp a rip off of it, or are there just some similarities? thanks.

Answer the first: as far as I know, Batman Year Two, sadly, is Batman canon, not an Elseworlds story. The whole bit about Batman never finding his parents' killer is, I think, pre-Crisis continuity.

Answer the second: Mask of the Phantasm borrows elements from Year Two, but I wouldn't really call it a rip-off by any stretch. The story structure and some plot elements are largely the same, and there's a strong physical resemblance to the Reaper in the Phantasm, but (IMO) MotP improves on the basic story in Year 2 in just about every way possible. Maybe Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Alan Burnett, etc. read Year Two, decided it was as stupid as I did, and went about writing their own version.

-- Ed/Ace

[James Harvey]

Batman not finding his parent's killer was something added during Zero Hour. It turned out that Joe Chill actually had an alibi, and during the whole time warp thing, Bruce was able to see that Chill was nowhere near the scene of the crime.

Having Batman unable to solve his parent's death was (according to Jurgens) supposed to add character.

[Heehaw]

Heck, I completely forgot about the sneak preview screening. I saw MOTP twice. The 2nd time was the near empty auditorium. The first time, though, was a special screening put on by a local comic book shop. You had to have a special pass to get in(I still have an unused one, they were official WB and not local crap). I remember it was a huge theater(sadly it has been torn down now but a 20 screen AMC is there now) and the entire thing was filled to capacity. I thought that this movie was going to be huge ;) Shows what I know. Thanks to video, it is huge.

[Cosmocat]

Originally posted by Dick Grayson
I'm curious - who was lucky enough to catch Batman: Mask of the Phantasm in theatre? I was able to. I saw it in a huge theatre...and there were only five people there.

I saw it Christmas Night in 1993. It was only myself, my best friend, and one other guy in the theatre. I saw it about four more times before it ended its run at the theatre, and each time, there was no more than one or two other people in there. To me, the fact that the theatre was rather old (both literally and in appearance) and the fact it was so empty when I saw it each time added a air of eerieness and sadness to an already tragic flick. Don't know -- the environment just gelled with the movie perfectly. And I distinctly remember the damn Ace Ventura trailer before the movie each time I saw it.

[mosszonedotcom]

I've been wanting to see this movie a long time. Well, my bro bought me the dvd this Christmas. After watching it one time, it is already one of my top 3 movies ever!

I've been a huge Batman: TAS fan since the opening episode but didn't get to see it in the theatres. MattL. is exactly right about the opening theme. I had been listening to that mp3 and The Birth of Batman for about the last 7 months before I saw the film last week. I guess I had sort of a weird sequence with this movie. :)

I look at Mask of the Phantasm as the beginning of the greatness that is Animated Batman, and Return of the Joker as the end. Yes, there were episodes before Phantasm, but this shows how it all began.

About the dvd, I have a normal tv. The Widescreen mode is letter-boxed, but doesn't have the 2.35:1 ratio that most widescreen dvds have. In other words, it covers more of my screen that it should. Does anyone know if a widescreen tv would allow me to see the entire picture? Or would a zoom out function work?

[Heehaw]

It doesn't matter what type of TV you have with a letterboxed version of a movie. It's the same on all TVs. If the DVD has an anamorphic transfer(or enhanced for 16:9 TVs as some DVD packaging indicates), then you can watch the movie in widescreen without the black bars, but it is only appropriate for a widescreen TV. Sure, you can view an anamorphic movie on a normal TV, but you will lose a lot of picture on all sides of the frame. An anamorphic transfer is also much sharper and provides tons more detail.

Also, the "2:35:1 ratio" you mentioned has nothing to do with it. That's just an aspect ratio. It basically means the black bars are thicker(for letterboxing) and picture is wider. If it were 1:66:1, then the bars would be very thin, and of course 1:33:1 is fullscreen. Some movies, like Ben Hur are even wider at 2:60:1.

[thanos28542]

I went to see MOTF on Christmas eve with my friend & there were like 6 other people in the theatre besides us. :)

[JTurner954]

Originally posted by Dick Grayson
I'm curious - who was lucky enough to catch Batman: Mask of the Phantasm in theatre? I was able to. I saw it in a huge theatre...and there were only five people there.

Hi, new guy here again. I saw it in theaters as well. I remember there were a lot of little kids in the theater at the time (it wasn't full but the sounds of little kids was obvious) and there was a problem with the sound fading in and out in the beginning. It was also the first time that I found out that Mark Hamil voiced The Joker. I really remember the sound thing so well because I saw another movie in another theater with a problem where the bottom of the screen was cut off so it was hard to read the subtitles (anyone remember Wayne's World 2).

Anyway, I would get the DVD, but with the trend of new editions coming out (The Mummy, American Pie,etc.), I figured I would wait until Mask of the Phantasm had features. Has anyone heard any word on a Mask of the Phantasm: Special Edition??

[Cosmocat]

Originally posted by JTurner954


Hi, new guy here again. I saw it in theaters as well. I remember there were a lot of little kids in the theater at the time (it wasn't full but the sounds of little kids was obvious) and there was a problem with the sound fading in and out in the beginning. It was also the first time that I found out that Mark Hamil voiced The Joker. I really remember the sound thing so well because I saw another movie in another theater with a problem where the bottom of the screen was cut off so it was hard to read the subtitles (anyone remember Wayne's World 2).

Anyway, I would get the DVD, but with the trend of new editions coming out (The Mummy, American Pie,etc.), I figured I would wait until Mask of the Phantasm had features. Has anyone heard any word on a Mask of the Phantasm: Special Edition??

I wish. I wish they'd at least re-release it with a commentary, if nothing else.

Probably won't happen, though. UNLESS the upcoming DVDs perform remarkably.