When Extras Change the Release Plans
In my previous post, I detailed the background for the release plans for the DC Animated Movie “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.” This was the first two-part release that the DC animated movie development team had planned and that was due to the wealth of source material they were drawing from in Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns” graphic novel. But behind the scenes, Alex Gray was reaching out to Frank Miller in the hope that after three years of rejections, Frank would agree to participate. And then it happened - Frank agreed to be interviewed. For Alex, this was a moment of euphoria. For Bonnie Spence, it was the beginning of a whole new task…
If you haven’t read part 1, When Extras Are More Than Extras
An image from the documentary “Masterpiece: Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns” of one of the comic panels
When filmmaker Alex Gray informed studio executive Bonnie Spence that Frank Miller had agreed to participate it was a moment of mutual celebration. Bonnie recalls that Alex’s excitement was fever pitch. Now their hoped-for movie-length documentary was a real possibility. But they needed an increase in the budget. As Alex went off to begin his pre-production planning, Bonnie went over in her mind what this all meant. A feature movie-length film on Frank Miller would potentially be a game-changer for the marketing team. But how could she get the additional dollars needed to do this properly? Her answer? A Deluxe Edition with both part 1 and part 2 of the movie tied together with this new feature-length documentary film on Frank Miller as an exclusive extra. Adding this SKU (new product) would mean the budget could be increased. However, Bonnie understood it was still a risk because this simply hadn’t been done up to this point in the DC animated movies. The final call would be up to marketing.
The first person Bonnie reached out to was the marketing manager on the title, Hallie Federman. Hallie immediately saw the potential and she set up a meeting with GM and EVP, Jeff Brown. It didn’t take much convincing for Jeff Brown to see the value of a potential Deluxe Edition. “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns” was already the most important title to date for the DC animated franchise and expectations were high. And while there was no precedent for a Deluxe Edition in the DC animated movies, there were plenty of theatrical Deluxe Edition films released as Director cuts.
Image from the documentary of Frank Miller in his workspace.
Mike Carlin, Creative Director of Animation at DC at the time, had been supportive all along with the concept of a featurette on Frank Miller. But there had been little reason to believe Frank would participate in any of the extras. When Mike heard Frank had agreed to an interview, he wholeheartedly gave his support to a feature-length film that would provide fans with the story told directly from the legend. It had been 25 years since the books were published, enough time to cement the legacy of “The Dark Knight Returns” and Frank Miller as pillars of the DC Batman universe.
From Bonnie Spence’s perspective, it was all about saying, “what if.” “What if we get Frank Miller?” “What if we turn the featurette into a feature-length movie?” “What if we release this as a Deluxe Edition with the documentary as an exclusive?” “What if the Extras can be more than extras?” The answer? You get “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns” Deluxe Edition and the profits that it brought to Warner Home Video.
In a time of cost-cutting at the studios, the opportunities lie in asking the question: “What if we do more extras like ‘Masterpiece’ that go bigger, that take fans deeper and connect them more intimately with their heroes?”
Additional credit to Alex Gray and Bonnie Spence for their assistance in writing this blog post.
The Extras is an Amazon affiliate and by selecting these links you are supporting the podcast and website. Thank you.
Batman images copyright DC Entertainment.