The fictional character Batman, a comic book superhero featured in DC Comics pub

lications, has appeared in various films since his inception. The character firs
t starred in two serial films in the 1940s, Batman and Batman and Robin. The cha
racter also appeared in the 1966 film Batman, which was a feature film adaptatio
n of the 1960s Batman TV series starring Adam West, who also starred in the film
.
Toward the end of the 1980s, the Warner Bros. studio began producing a series of
feature films starring Batman, beginning with the 1989 film Batman, directed by
Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton. Burton and Keaton returned for the 1992
film Batman Returns, and in 1995, Joel Schumacher directed Batman Forever with
Val Kilmer as Batman. Schumacher also directed the 1997 film Batman & Robin, whi
ch starred George Clooney. Batman & Robin was poorly received by both the critic
s and the fans, and after a long hiatus in which multiple possible Batman script
s were developed, Warner Bros. rebooted the film franchise in 2005 with Batman B
egins, directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale. Nolan also dir
ected the 2008 sequel The Dark Knight with Bale reprising his role. A third and
final installment in the Nolan series, The Dark Knight Rises, is in post-product
ion and is scheduled to be released in Summer 2012.
Batman has also appeared in multiple animated films, both as a starring characte
r and as an ensemble character. While most animated films were released direct-t
o-video, the 1993 animated feature Batman: Mask of the Phantasm was released the
atrically.
Having earned a total of $1,449,683,452 million, the Batman series is, according
to BoxOfficeMojo.com the fourth highest-grossing film series of all-time.[1]