The First Look At 'Merry Little Batman' Has Been Released
The HBO Max castoff premieres December 8 on Prime Video
Merry Little Batman, the Batman franchise’s first official Christmas movie is just four weeks from release. A first look has been released to Entertainment Weekly before the film lands on Amazon Prime Video on December 8 in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.
The publication certainly doesn’t hold back on the Home Alone comparisons, as Damian Wayne, voiced by Elio’s Yonas Kibreab finds himself alone in Wayne Manor on Christmas night, having to fight off Batman’s famous rogues gallery, which would indeed be far more formidable than Wet Bandits Harry and Marv. Frankly Damian might even be younger than Kevin was, at least Macaulay Culkin’s. Certainly closer to Mike Weinberg’s Kevin from the fourth movie. Even if younger than that, he’s still too young for the Robin mantle (probably) so he becomes “Little Batman” to take on these foes. It was important that he be a child for this story to uphold that Christmas spirit.
"Because it's a Christmas story, telling it through the eyes of a child seemed apropos," Mike Roth, the film's director and producer told. "Typically, Damian is a teenager who struggles with good and evil. While this was an interesting idea that was initially explored, we landed on a younger Damian. We decided to turn the clock back on Damian's petulant nature to a time when he was more innocent and wide-eyed. The idea of a teeny, tiny, little kid in this huge city aspiring to become Batman like his dad was such a fun starting point. It gave us the heart and comedy we were looking for and opened the window to a Gotham City Christmas like we've never seen before." Roth has an extensive history writing at Cartoon Network dating back to Camp Lazlo but most prominently has written many episodes of Regular Show, and he and his crew, especially screenwriters Morgan Evans and Jase Ricci put a lot of effort into their Joker, voiced by David Hornsby.
Roth describes this Joker as “heavily inspired by Bob Fosse's portrayal of the Snake in the 1974 version of The Little Prince” and “a perfect foe to a little kid” due to being “like a big, peevish child himself — coaxing, cunning, and apt to rapid and irrational tantrums. His temperament swings from merry to murderous faster than you can say, 'Holy nightmare, Batman.'" Evans was a producer on Earth to Ned, while Ricci was a staff writer on the first season of Nickelodeon’s first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. Roth also serves as executive producer alongside studio head Sam Register.
Merry Little Batman was one of six HBO Max projects also intended for Cartoon Network removed from the development slate in August 2022 by Warner Bros. Discovery as a “cost-cutting measure”, believing they could make more money and monetize content by selling projects to third-party buyers. Notably, this first look comes on the heels of the company not even finding it worth doing so for the intended Looney Tunes CG/live action hybrid theatrical release Coyote vs. Acme, instead opting to shelve it to the ire of any sensible person. While Merry Little Batman was not the first to be successfully shopped, it still rather closely followed what did to Prime Video, Batman: Caped Crusader, said to be a spiritual successor series to Batman: The Animated Series, from executive producers Bruce Timm, J.J. Abrams, and The Batman director Matt Reeves. The film was originally announced in September 2021, with two of the movies it would later be dropped with: Did I Do That To The Holidays: A Steve Urkel Story, now known as Urkel Saves Santa: The Movie! and The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, which is gearing up for some sort of theatrical release through GFM Animation. Bye Bye Bunny: A Looney Tunes Musical and The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie were the other two dropped films but they don't have any sort of update.
This first look comes on the first anniversary of beloved Batman voice Kevin Conroy’s death, and as similarly-discarded series Star Trek: Prodigy gets a Christmas Day premiere date for its already-released episodes to arrive on Netflix. Merry Little Batman also stars Luke Wilson as Bruce Wayne aka Batman and James Cromwell as Alfred Pennyworth. The film is expected to be followed up by a spinoff, Bat-Family, which was ordered at rescue time.
Source: Entertainment Weekly