As social media film cognoscenti (aka “Film Twitter”) prove time and time again, there is no cinematic detail for big or small or really, really small not worth analyzing thoroughly.
See the amount of theories that have emerged in the wake of the publication of Batmanthe Matt Reeves-directed, Robert Pattinson-starred DC Comics reboot that follows a younger, more emo Bruce Wayne than we’ve ever met, just two years into his secret life as a vigilante and still spoiled after the double murder of his parents , which he witnessed as a child.
It is revealed in the film that Bruce’s parents, Thomas and Martha, were killed 20 years before the events of the story, a week-long span that begins on Halloween and ends on election day. Anyone who has ever read a Batman cartoon or seen a Batman movie knows that Waynes was killed by an assailant or assailant in an alley after leaving the Monarch Theater in the center of Gotham.
Make that assumption, then, that detective-themed Batman takes place in the fall of 2021, internet speculators have taken to theorizing and stepped out which real-world movie from 2001 the family watched together before the fatal attack.
The first such hypothesis to gain popularity came from CNN’s Josh Billinson, who claimed it it was “very likely” they went to see Shrek, the age-appropriate (Bruce is believed to be around 10 at the time) animated megahit that opened in May 2001 and subsequently spawned its own franchise. More than 250,000 Twitter users “liked” it [idea].
This past weekend, comedian and TV writer Mike Drucker – admittedly unaware of Billinson’s viral tweet – arrived at another conclusion. Since the film suggests that Waynes was killed in October 2001, it is possible that they came out Zoolander, the beloved Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson male model comedy, which opened in late September. (For the sake of good order, Twitter user Scott Simpson made the same claim weeks earlier.)
As Drucker claims after being made aware of Billinson’s post, the release early in the summer Shrek would still not be in theaters in May. “In fact, according to my research, they were murdered a few days before Shrek was released on VHS and DVD, ” Informs Drucker.
Of the highest-grossing films of October 2001, Zoolander probably makes the most sense even though it was rated for PG-13. It feels more likely than the month’s top three employees ahead of it: Training day, Do not say a word and A stroke of luck.
Of course, there were a few other movies in the cinema that month that could possibly have passed the bill to inspire a Wayne family fun day. The Chris Kattan star mafia comedy turkey Corky Romano, anyone? (Probably not, but it would make these murders even more tragic.) Max Keeble’s great features? It was kid-friendly, even though the world collectively forgot that this movie existed until this moment.
But wait! It turns out that there is also a wrinkle in Drucker’s detective work.
As referenced in the comments to Drucker’s tweet, documentary filmmaker Ben Crew – Letterboxd famously pointed out to meet his wife over their mutual love for Mank – that Bruce states in his opening story that date there ThursdayOct 31.
That would put the current year to 2024, not 2021, meaning Bruce lost his parents in 2004. “The Wayne family saw Shark Tale that fateful night, “says Crew resolutely about another DreamWorks-released animated hit, which opened in theaters on October 1, 2004.
But wait again! As a commentator points to Crewit is shown in Batman that Thomas Wayne ran for mayor in 2001, meaning that Bruce’s people were actually killed that year.
Does your head hurt yet?
It’s almost as if Reeves and the company did not map this seriously vital detail to his masterpiece. (We have contacted for a comment and expect an answer back in no time, so never.)
But it probably was not Shrek. Or Zoolander. Or Shark Tale. Not even Corky Romano.
In fact, if Reeves thought about what movie Waynes watched together that fateful night, he might have failed canon, to the hero who inspired Batman creators Bill Finger and Bob Kane, and to the movie they’ve seen since Frank Miller’s cartoon from 1986 The Dark Knight returns: 1940 towing protector Zorro’s brand with Tyrone Power in the lead role. That’s the movie Waynes goes out in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justicealso, though the monarch’s tent in 2019’s Joker built 1981s Zorro, Gay Blade (along with Brian De Palma’s Blow outwhich they certainly did not see together).
Tim Burtons Batman ignored Zorroinstead of going with the fictional musical Footlight Frenzy. Hos Christopher Nolan Batman beginsthey skipped the movies altogether, and instead went to the opera (Mefistofele), which at least felt on the mark of the affluent Waynes.
But the black-masked vigilante Zorro, as it has long been known, inspired Bruce Wayne to become Batman.
Who would he have become if he had looked at Shrek or Zoolander?
See Reeves, Pattinson and costar’s speech Batman: