Batlash

We've done it again! That was the giddy gist of the news winging its way faster than a Batarang among Warner Bros. executives on Monday, June 22, the day it was reported that Batman Returns had raked in the biggest first-weekend gross in movie history, $46 million. At that point, there was every reason to expect the roll to continue. After all, dozens of critics liked the sequel better than the original Batman. Millions of toddlers clutching millions of McDonald's Happy Meal containers were clamoring, Mom, Dad, take me now! And breathless buzz about Michelle Pfeiffer's superslinky performance as Catwoman permeated daytime talk shows, evening newscasts, and watercooler chitchat across the nation.

So how is it that a mere month later, the Batgeist seems to have all but flapped itself out? Between Batman and Batman Returns, something other than the fish the Penguin gobbles went rotten in the city-state of Gotham. Yes, the movie-related merchandising machine is still chugging along nicely, especially sales of Catwoman knickknacks (though by comparison, Penguin paraphernalia are dead in the water). But many parents of young children are angry over scenes of violence and kinky innuendo, older kids aren't hooked on repeat viewings, and more than a few adults say they are turned off by the kiddie-flick tone of tie-in promotions. Most tellingly, the movie's box office performance has slumped by an alarming rate of over 40 percent each week. By the weekend of July 17, Batman Returns had slipped to an ignominious sixth place in the standings, earning a relative trickle of $4.3 million. How come?

''Batman opened wider than any movie has before,'' says Varietyanalyst A.D. Murphy. ''When more people go to see a movie at the beginning, more are bad-mouthing it if they don't like it, and it falls off faster.'' A top Warner exec concedes, ''Obviously, word of mouth is not positive.''

Make no mistake: With domestic box office expected to total $160 million, Batman Returns is still a huge hit. But in the ultra-high-stakes arena of home-run smashes like the original Batman($251 million), Terminator 2 ($204 million), and Home Alone ($285 million), that figure looks almost anemic, even accepting that sequels generally earn less than their originals.