Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

Joel Schumacher, the director of The Lost Boys and two Batman movies, has died aged 80.

In a career that covered multiple genres, Schumacher wrote the screenplays for two fantasy pieces for the movies – The Wiz and The Phantom of the Opera – as well as directing many other fantasy movies. He inherited the Bat-chair from Tim Burton, bringing Val Kilmer and George Clooney’s interpretations of the Caped Crusader to Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, and also helmed The Incredible Shrinking Woman and Flatliners. His career had begun as a costume designer, including work on Woody Allen’s Sleeper, and as a production designer for disaster movie Killer Bees.