Disney Batman

[FLOYDLEWIS]

I have a friend who used to work around Disney...she was the one that told me..
when Disney bought FOX...one of the first things they planned was to reboot the 1966 batman movie..and series.I guessed they were going to do it using the fox rights...this was a long time ago now..and recently I just out of nowhere asked her..Batman..What happened?..she said..ohh that..the producers sat down and watched the movie and the series..and ended up saying..why would anybody want that?...they did not get it.and abandoned the whole thing..she asked me if I was worried about it..I said ..I have never been more proud of the 66 batman..than I am right now..it can take care of itself

[dell]

I'm glad they didn't try to remake it. They probably would have done something similar to the people that bought the rights to Fawlty Towers to make an American version of it. What a horrible idea that was.

[Ben Bentley]

I don't want to sound any more "Comic-Book-Guy" than I usually do, but your friend's anecdote doesn't really hold water.

Firstly, as of 2012, Fox relinquished their 1/3rd stake in the Batman TV show when the full-rights were consolidated in a buy-out by WB, years prior to to the Disney-Fox merger.

Secondly, even prior to 2012, Fox's ability to do anything with the property would have required a sign-off and participation from Warner's as they own the character rights. Remember, Fox had ownership of the episodes themselves, not the concept carte blanche, or the right to continue that universe endlessly.

Now without speaking "out-of-school" as such, the part of your friend's story which does feel right, is that there could very well have been a point where Fox were addressing the series from the perspective of doing a deal like WB eventually did for home distribution and subsequently bawked at an audience for such an expensive undertaking given the rights entanglement. This would indeed track with other anecdotal insights i've been given over the years by those who were involved at various stages of finally bringing the series to home video.

[BiffPow]

“Comic book guy.”



I actually read that hearing comic book guy’s voice. Well played, Ben. Well played.