Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993), the Best Theatrical Batman, Was Made for Home Video

Guest post alert! We’re rounding out the year by welcoming yet another new writer into the fold: Ted Kendrick, a talented young filmmaker and a fellow alum of Homewood High School (and Mrs. McGuffey’s AP English class). Ted pitched me this concept and mentioned that he contributes to the Watchtower Database YouTube channel covering the DC Animated Universe; as you can see by their extremely high number of subscribers, they know what they’re doing over there. Ted even blazed a new trail for this newsletter by speaking to some of the creators involved in making this film! To that end, he’d like to thank producer Alan Burnett and storyboard designers Kevin Altieri, Dan Riba, and Brad Rader for their insights (and I would like to echo that thanks). Take it away, Ted!

Batman dominated the box office during the 90s thanks to a quadrilogy of films, two each from directors Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher. But on Christmas Day of 1993, another Batman film was released in theaters to very little fanfare—perhaps because Batman: Mask of the Phantasm only played matinee screenings in 1,500 theaters across the country.

Warner Bros.’ original plan was to release the film direct to video, so a fullscreen aspect ratio was used to accommodate TV sets from the far-gone days of the 20th century. But late into production, the studio decided to release the film to theaters instead—which meant that the aspect ratio had to be adjusted from fullscreen for home video to widescreen for theaters.

The idea for a direct-to-video movie for Batman: The Animated Series came from the success of another Warner Bros. animated movie: Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation. According to writer Paul Dini, "the edict from the higher-ups at Warner Bros. was to make a Batman movie that a parent would feel good about renting for their kid…something that's not going to be grotesque and offensive.” This was likely in response to the 1992 controversy around the McDonald’s ad campaign for Batman Returns.*

Kevin Conroy had just begun voicing Batman in 1992 for Batman: The Animated Series, and he immediately brought a vocal gravitas to the character that he maintained for three decades across animation, live action, and video games.** Alongside Mark Hamill as The Joker, they became two of the most highly regarded, classic depictions of the characters across the Batman franchise.*** Conroy's personal connection to Batman, rooted in his experiences as an openly gay man, added depth to his portrayal; he understood the nuance behind putting on a mask.

Toeing the line of what’s “appropriate” for kids, the feature film perfected the “dark deco” aesthetic—inspired by a combination of film noir classics, Japanese animation, and German expressionism—that was first established in the animated series. This style is evident from the jump, as seen in the stunning skyline of Gotham City from the opening credits.****

Writer/producer Alan Burnett stated that the computer-generated Gotham City was in production early; in fact, this was what had the execs excited to put the film in theaters in the first place. Had fellow producer Eric Radomski not created that opening, the project would have remained a home video release. When Burnett turned in the final script in November 1992, he was asked to pitch it as a theatrical release to Bruce Berman, head of theatricals at Warner Bros. And it worked: The decision to release theatrically came in February 1993.

Despite the animators' excitement, they faced a tight production schedule for the widescreen format, since they weren’t treated to a budget increase or a schedule extension. The overseas animation studio was likely never even informed that the format had changed from home video to theatrical. Radomski and his co-director Bruce Timm led the reformatting process, adjusting boards for the new aspect ratio.*****

Backgrounds became much larger than they were on the TV show, which typically used paint splatter to convey texture on a building. The feature needed closer attention, so they worked with larger paintings to fine-tune the background styling for the big screen. Storyboard artists were allowed more elaborate camera moves and effects than they would’ve had for TV.

Radomski and Timm reboarded several sequences and rejiggered the visuals themselves. Typically, this would be accomplished by cutting some space at the top and bottom of the frame—which usually takes place during the conversion process—but Mask of the Phantasm was unique.

Physical media typically only includes one format of a film, but the 2017 release of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm presented both widescreen and fullscreen options because each version holds different information in the frame.

For example, observe when Andrea Beaumont confronts Bruce Wayne in the cemetery. Fullscreen shows the character’s ankles (if you’re into that sort of thing) and more of the tree. Widescreen reveals additional letters on the tombstone. They’re negligible differences, but they’re differences all the same. Both versions possess some information in the frame that is missing from the other.

Widescreen is cropped at the top and bottom, but it actually has a bit more picture on the sides. Even though fullscreen is the closest to the complete picture because it has more content in the top and bottom of the frame, the fullscreen version is also slightly cropped on the sides to fit the standard aspect ratio format. Which means unique material can still be found on the widescreen version.

I can already hear you screaming. “So which aspect ratio is better for Batman: Mask of the Phantasm? Do I need to watch it in fullscreen or widescreen?” I leave it up to whatever looks best on your screen. I first fell in love with a VHS copy, so I believe any format will work!

In fact, most fans of the film discovered it the way I did: on a TV. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm gained a cult following upon its home media release and was eventually deemed a financial and critical success. But the crew expressed remorse that Warner Bros. had not marketed the film more aggressively, claiming it was treated as if it were not a “real” movie. Even Siskel & Ebert didn’t cover the film on At the Movies until its home video release, at which point they voiced regret for not paying attention to the film during its theatrical run.******

Many Batman fans still regard it as one of the greatest Batman films ever made regardless of format. This claim was backed up when Time Magazine ranked it among their top 10 best superhero movies ever alongside even The Dark Knight, though that list was released in a pre-Avengers world. Robert Pattinson also cited Batman: Mask of the Phantasm as a prime example of a film that effectively personified the Bruce Wayne character's "inner bubble" and psyche.

If you have yet to get your hands on a physical copy of the film, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm celebrated its 30th anniversary with a remastered 4K release sourced from the original camera negative. As a callback to the original home video, my copy also included a comic book adaptation of the film.******* It’s a film that I rewatch frequently for comfort and inspiration, and it’s one that I would recommend to anyone—no matter which format you choose.

*Outrage groups such as One Million Moms deemed the Batman Returns ad campaign to be way too dark, violent, and sexual, and they pressured McDonald’s to quickly pull the ad.

**Kevin Conroy was roommates with Robin Williams at Julliard in the 1970s. It’s a small world.

***Mask of the Phantasm’s cast also featured Abe Vigoda as Salvatore Valestra, perhaps in reference to another Vigoda role as Salvatore Tessio in The Godfather.

****Two fun facts about the music in this film. First, the choral lyrics in the opening credits are many of the music team’s names spoken backwards. Second, the score was composed by Shirley Walker, but it was Hans Zimmer himself who played synthesizer on the soundtrack.

*****They weren’t the first team forced to recalibrate their formatting like this. On the Waterfront experienced similar issues as widescreen was still new in 1954 and originally created to give theaters a cinematic edge over television.

******The Kenner toy company was responsible for the biggest flub related to the film, though. They released action figures that included the titular Phantasm—but the character was unmasked in the packaging, revealing a serious spoiler even before the film’s release.

*******Kelley Puckett, Mike Parobeck, and Rick Burchett are the creative team here. They were also behind The Batman Adventures series, notable for the first comic book appearance of Harley Quinn.

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is now streaming on Max, and it is available for rent elsewhere.

Screenshots courtesy of James Harvey and DCAnimated.com.