Batman original filming location was in backlot in Burbank California but they changed it to Pinewood Studios in England because of the media interest in the film. It started in 1988 and used 18 sound stages. Other locations for the film included the Knebworth house, Hatfield house as Wayne Manor, Little Barford and Action Lane Power station. The Filming was secretive and some people even tried to pay off the unit publicist to provide pictures of the film, especially that of the Joker as played by Jack Nicholson. Later in the production, two reels of footage, of about 20 minutes were stolen and the police were called in. This was one of the main problems that hit the filming of Batman.
Interesting Facts
The 1998 Writer’s Guild of America strike did not allow Hamm to perform re-writes, forcing the whole script to be changed during filming. The script was re-written by Jonathan Gems, Warren Skaaren and Charles McKeown and got criticized by Hamm, who blamed the changes on Warner Bros. The climax was also changed: it was supposed to end with the Joker killing Vicki Vale to make batman angry instead, Jon Peters reworked it without informing Burton. He commissioned the production designer to come up with a model of the cathedral and even Burton had no idea of how the film would end.
The Filming was completed in January 1989 and was released in June the same year. During the opening weekend, Batman earned $43.6 million breaking the record held by Ghostbusters II. It was the first movie that earned $100 million within the first 10 days of its release. It was also the highest earning film as based on a DC comic book until Batman: The Dark Night in 2008. It received positive reviews, although the fans were not happy with the casting of Michael Keaton as Batman and won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction.