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Batkid Gets His Own Movie

By James DeRuvo (doddleNEWS)

The new Fox television series Gotham may tell Bruce Wayne’s story when he was a kid, but it’s got nothing on Batkid. Unless you’ve been stuck on location for over a year filming, you’ve no doubt been caught up in the phenomenon known as Batkid 5-year-old, a Make-A-Wish child whose dream it was to become the Caped Crusader for a day. The story went viral and became one of the best feel good stories of 2013, as Batkid went around San Francisco with Batman, fighting crime, and having the entire city in on the event. And the world came along for the ride. And now, a documentary is being made which will tell this story on the big screen. And you can help make it happen.

 

His name is Miles Scott, a five-year-old child with the guts of a crime fighter. Fighting cancer, Miles wrote to the Make-A-Wish Foundation with his dream of being able to play Batman for day. Make-A-Wish’s sole reason for being is to take the dreams of kids struggling with illnesses and make them come true. But not even Make-A-Wish could have expected what would happen when this story went viral.

Thanks to social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook, the world suddenly got caught up in the Batkid phenomenon, and it quickly became what would become the largest Make-A-Wish experience ever mounted. Over 10,000 volunteers responded to Make-A-Wish requests to help make Miles’ dream a reality. The San Francisco City Council voted to provide support, practically turning the city into Gotham for the Day. Streets were lined with 25,0000 onlookers watching as the makeshift Batmobile with Batman and Batkid drove up to capture The Riddler, Penguin, and other criminals, and put them behind bars. Networks sent out crews from all over the world to cover the event.

Batkid. Best Batman ever. #SFBatKid #MakeAWish @SFWish
Ben Affleck (@BenAffleck) November 16, 2013

Christian Bale and future Batman Ben Affleck both chimed in saying that Batkid was the “best Batman ever” on Twitter. “It's so touching,” said Bale to the Huffington Post, “Wasn't that fantastic??I've never been on Twitter, but how great a thing that it can create something like that! I mean, wonderful.” Even President Obama got into the act, via Vine, congratulating the junior caped crusader on a job well done. It was a truly epic example of feel good humanitarian joy. Something that young Miles can run on as he continues his battle.

And normally, that would’ve been the end of the story. But Batkid has legs. The phenomenon has taken on a life of its own, as everyone wants to have Batkid?show up to save the day. From the White House to Opening Day for the San Francisco Giants 2014 season (where Batkid?threw out the first pitch), people want more of Miles and theBatkid wave continues to grow. And now, filmmakers are raising money on Indiegogo to tell this story for the big screen.

Batkid Begins – One child. One wish. Millions moved. Batkid takes SF & the world on his quest to conquer evil. – Indiegogo campaign

Called BatKid Begins (perfect title), this documentary goes behind the scenes of the events leading up to the day Batkid saved San Francisco and how it turned into a worldwide phenomenon. Award-winning filmmaker Dana Nachman interviews Batkid’s parents, representatives of the Make-a-Wish foundation, Oscar winning composer Hans Zimmer, who wrote Batkid his own theme song, and even Batkid himself to answer the question “Did Miles need the world for inspiration? Or did the world need Miles?”

And you can help. Nachman is currently almost halfway to her goal of raising $100,000 to tell Miles story. You can go to her Indiegogo site and get involved. If there’s any story that will make you feel good these days, it’s Batkid. Lets get them over the top with plenty room to spare! And more than that, let’s pray that Nachman’s documentary is so good, it wins an Oscar, and makes up for the fact that they cancelled Batkid’s appearance this year at the last minute!

You can also help others like Miles get their wish, by visiting Make-A-Wish’s site.