Batman Forever opened on this day 30 years ago. The movie was respectively less violent and dark than the Tim Burton entries which had preceded it, but that did nothing to hurt the bat box office, as Forever would become the second-biggest blockbuster of 1995, behind only Toy Story. After the controversy that had dominated their promotion for Batman Returns having Happy Meal toys for a film in which Christopher Walken gets electrocuted, you would think Mickey D’s would be reluctant to go back to Gotham, and yet they did so in a big way with Batman Forever.
How big are we talking? Well, McDonald’s released a fucking teaser trailer for a marketing campaign! Now I can’t find out where this was shown or when. Was it on TV? In movie theaters? Was this exclusive to employees? Was it on a promotional video cassette? Doesn’t matter. All that matters is we have a trailer for a Batman-themed hamburger, and I fucking love that…
So, what did Ronald McDonald have in store for fans? Well, I can tell you one thing, he didn’t have Happy Meals! Don’t even ask him that! Batman Forever was rated PG-13, and Ronald cared about the children! (Even though, I dunno, Forever is pretty much a PG as far as violence goes, with Batman not killing anyone, unlike the Burton flicks). For starters, there was a “Super Hero Burger”–part of the “Taste of the Month” series at McDonald’s, because we used to be a proper country–which consisted of three patties on a long “superhero” bun, along with a variety of toppings. People really get nostalgic for this when you bring it up, and why wouldn’t they? It’s called a “Super Hero Burger” for crying out loud! The name alone makes it sound appetizing.
But what many considered the star of the show were the collectable glasses. And I do mean glasses. These bad boys, which sold for only 99 cents with food purchase, were fucking fancy. Seriously, look at the detail on these things! It’s insane you could buy these with your French fries. The only sad thing is that you couldn’t get crystalized Nicole Kidman to enjoy your Diet Coke with.
Have a bat night, y’all!
