History Trivia / BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm

* RoleReprise: Given that this movie was released in theaters, this is the only DCAU production to receive a Canadian French dub, as TV series and direct-to-video movies produced by Warner Bros. are rarely dubbed in Quebec (where most Canadian French dubs are produced). Said dub features Éric Gaudry as Batman, reprising his role from both the [[Film/Batman1989 1989 film]] and ''Film/BatmanReturns''.

* AcclaimedFlop: The film received [[https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/batman_mask_of_the_phantasm/ critical and audience acclaim]], but bombed when it was originally released in theatres, which was due to a last-minute decision to release it theatrically.

* BoxOfficeBomb: Due to a lack of advertising, the film bombed ''hard'' during its theatrical run ($5.6 million on a $6 million budget). This didn't last forever, though, see VindicatedByCable.

* ImageSource: SpoiledByTheMerchandise (spoilers, obviously)

* BoxOfficeBomb: Due to a lack of advertising, the film bombed ''hard'' during its theatrical run ($5.6 million on a $6 million budget). This didn't last forever, though, as a certain trope to be seen below indicates...

* TroubledProduction: Most of the movie production went smoothly...but according to Paul Dini's memoir ''ComicBook/DarkNightATrueBatmanStory'', he got mugged and badly beaten up, which nearly killed him and caused him to have HeroicBSOD. After a long surgery, Dini needed more time to hand in his parts of the script, mainly focusing on the Joker. It's quite amazing that the finished product is solid.

** Dick Miller, who provides the voice of Phantasm's first victim Chuckie Sol, would provide the voice of Boxy Bennett in a few episodes of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''' second season the year after the movie came out.

* AcclaimedFlop: The film received [[https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/batman_mask_of_the_phantasm/ critical and audience acclaim]], but bombed when it was originally released in theatres.
* BadExportForYou: The movie had this treatment in France.
** Initially, due to its poor box-office performance in the US, Warner decided to release ''Batman: Mask of the Phantasm'' straight-to-VHS in many overseas conutries, including France, where it received a complete dub with the cast of the animated series. For a long time, this release was the only official one here...
** In 2006, Warner announced a Z2 DVD release of the movie. After being pushed back to 2009, it was finally cancelled without explanation, leaving again the movie only available in cassette.
** The movie was finally released in Blu-ray in 2018. Finally, fans could enjoy a good quality release of the movie... but this Blu-ray contained the Quebec dub instead of the much more popular European French dub. Many fans were angry, leading to complaints to the local Warner aftersales services. After months of silence, the studio decided to press a new run of Blu-ray with the correct dub and to offer them at free exchange. It turned out that those Blu-rays either malfunctioned or did not work at all, shredding any possibility to find the European French dub of the movie in other releases than the now out-of-print VHS.
* BoxOfficeBomb: Due to a lack of advertising, the movie bombed ''hard'' during its theatrical run. This didn't last forever, though, as a certain trope to be seen below indicates...

* FranchiseKiller: Not for animated DC films as a whole, but it was the only animated DC film to receive a wide theatrical release until ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoBatmanMovie''

* RealitySubtext: Andrea is named after Andrea Romano, the voice casting director for the series. The entire romance plot came about because of Creator/KevinConroy ad-libbing an "Oh! Andrea" after a series of grunts. It was originally intended to be Batman getting punched, but the ad-lib made it sound [[ImmodestOrgasm a little different]].

* SpoiledByTheMerchandise: Creator/{{Kenner}}'s figure of the titular villain revealed that [[spoiler:"he" was actually Andrea Beaumont, Bruce Wayne's LoveInterest.]]
* VindicatedByCable: The movie turned a ''huge'' profit when available on VHS, earning ''millions'' more than it did while in theaters.

** The movie was originally planned as the series finale for ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', which explains why Joker seemingly dies at the end.
** The movie's story was mostly taken from two unmade episodes of the animated series; a two-parter called "Masks" featuring Batman Year Two's villain Reaper, and a standalone ep called "Vigil" detailing Batman's origin from Alfred's perspective.
** One of Kenner's figures for the movie was "Retro Batman," who sported a costume [[EarlyBirdCameo that looked more like the one from ''The New Batman Adventures.'']] Perhaps this iteration, seen only in shadow for a few seconds (the belt looks chunkier), was supposed to get more screen-time.
* YouLookFamiliar:

** The film was going to be completely computer generated, but that was dropped for traditional cel-animation. The CG buildings during the opening credits are an artifact from that plan. And 2 years later ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' was released.

** The film was going to be completely computer generated, but that was dropped for traditional cel-animation. The CG buildings during the opening credits are an artifact from that plan.

* PlayingAgainstType Stacy Keach voicing a sympathetic businessman who breaks the law, and later voices a violent vigilante, will be a major surprise to people who know him from playing law enforcement officers or detectives.

* The fighting style Bruce was shown practicing was very close to Taekwondo, despite him calling it "Jui Jitsu". The move Andrea performed on him, however, ''was'' from Jui Jitsu.

* BadExportforYou: The movie had this treatment in France.

** The movie was originally planned as the series finale for ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', which explains why Joker seemingly dies at the end. It was also originally going to be a two-parter called "Masks" featuring Batman Year Two's villain Reaper, with Batman's origin being a standalone ep called "Vigil."

* FranchiseKiller: Not for animated ''Batman'' films as a whole, but it was the only animated ''Batman'' film to receive a theatrical release until ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoBatmanMovie''

* ActorAllusion:
** Creator/DanaDelany delivers the line "He laughs!" exactly as she did in ''Film/{{Tombstone}}''.
** While it's purely casual, in the Finnish dub Joker says that the Phantom looks like [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader]]. Coincidence?
*** Also it happened in the Hungarian dub. [[HilariousInHindsight More hilarious]] if you know the fact that [[https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reviczky_Gábor Joker's voice actor]] for this dub is Emperor Palpatine.

** Andrea is voiced by Dana Delany, who later became more famous as the voice of Lois Lane in ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries''. In fact, WordOfGod has stated that it was her stellar performance here that caused them to pursue her for the role of Lois in the first place. Bruce even had a brief relationship with Lois.

* YouLookFamiliar: Andrea is voiced by Dana Delany, who later became more famous as the voice of Lois Lane in ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries''. In fact, WordOfGod has stated that it was her stellar performance here that caused them to pursue her for the role of Lois in the first place. Bruce even had a brief relationship with Lois.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: The film did ''not'' have a pre-release screening for critics, which hurt it badly, since when a production company does that, it indicates that the film is probably awful. The reviews that did come out were generally positive, but they were on a ''Saturday'', instead of the launch day, and generally, movie reviews on a Saturday are passed over by readers.

** Creator/DanaDelany delivers the line "He laughs!" exactly as she did in ''{{Film/Tombstone}}''.

** Dana Delany delivers the line "He laughs!" exactly as she did in ''{{Film/Tombstone}}''.

* YouLookFamiliar: Andrea is voiced by Creator/DanaDelany, who later became more famous as the voice of Lois Lane in ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries''. In fact, WordOfGod has stated that it was her stellar performance here that caused them to pursue her for the role of Lois in the first place. Bruce even had a brief relationship with Lois.