In Batman, solitary billionaire Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton – Birdman) was inspired to become the famous vigilante crime-fighter after the unavenged death of his parents. After terrorising the criminal underworld, he ended up dropping their killer, Jack Napier (Jack Nicholson – A Few Good Men) into a vat of chemicals. The Joker was born along with a new type of villain. The super villain. Eventually he was defeated (AKA killed), and a relative peace returned to Gotham City.
As my Dad always said, “You only get one chance to make a first impression”.
Hollywood knows this, and badass title sequences have since become big bidness. They’ve evolved significantly from the title cards of old. Now works of art in their own right, they are even directed and produced by entirely different people than the film itself.
From the likes of the various babe-infused arty Bond incarnations, to the wicked dark David Fincher openers (like this one), a memorable title sequence can set the tone for the 90 minutes to come.
One such ultra-memorable sequence all the way from 1995 is that of Ghost in the Shell.
One of the more surprising details of Tim Burton’s 1989 game-changer Batman is that Robin was originally meant to turn up half way through the film. Now thanks to the vocal talents of the legendary Animated Series cast, you can watch the whole scrapped sequence via a cool little animatic.
Akira is the most important anime every made.
It was the conduit by which many Westerner such as myself discovered anime. It was the first “cartoon” movie I ever saw on crackly VHS that had an age rating. It’s cover held a dark promise of adult violence and forbidden language.
And we’ve managed to find some concept art for another one of it’s botched live action remakes.
The Movie Bastards 