Batman Returns Writer Didn't Like Tim Burton's Batman 1989
Daniel Waters, who wrote the screenplay for Warner Bros.' Batman Returns, apparently did not like the film's predecessor. Batman Returns, which premiered in 1992, was director Tim Burton's sequel to his 1989 film Batman. The film saw the return of Michael Keaton as the titular caped crusader and famously added Danny DeVito as the villainous Penguin.
The film is the second installment of Warner Bros.' first Batman series. Batman Forever (1995) and Batman and Robin (1997) followed in subsequent years, but Joel Shaumacer replaced Burton as director for the final two films, while Val Kilmer and George Clooney, respectively, replaced Keaton as Batman/Bruce Wane. Burton apparently expressed apprehension regarding his return as director for Batman Returns initially, after the result of his first Batman left him unsatisfied. However, Waters' writing talents and script impressed and convinced Burton to embark on directing the film. (Writer Wesley Strick, it should be noted, went uncredited for writing the shooting draft as well.)
Related: Tim Burton Did Joker's Trick With The Penguin in Batman Returns
Burton's disillusionment with the first film is evident in Waters' recollection to Vulture of the director's clear-cut instructions for the sequel's narrative, and Waters' easy agreement due to his own dislike for the film. Waters' distaste ran so deep that he, in fact, wanted to hatch a narrative revenge device to gloriously kill off his least favorite character from Batman, but Burton insisted that he wanted the sequel to have nothing to do with the first film at all. Check out his statement on his process of writing Tim Burton's Batman Returns below:
I wasn’t even given directives by Tim Burton — just that he didn’t want Batman
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