Batman vs. Bayonne!

During the recent Commercialthon, internet searches for this summer's 'War of the Worlds' movie (shot partly in Bayonne, NJ) far outnumbered those for 'Batman'. As a service to our loyal readers, Mr. Snitch sussed out the reasons for this.

The films' basic premises are well-known:

BATMAN: Batman shows up in his badass, high-tech Batmobile. After they've trashed the city, he catches Riddler, Joker, Penguin. Then he fades into the night.

WAR OF THE WORLDS: Martians show up in their badass, high-tech spaceships. After they've trashed the planet, they catch colds. Then they drop dead.

Since the premises suggest no obvious reason for an edge in popularity, we dug deeper. Here are the Top Ten Reasons more people are interested in 'War of the Worlds' than 'Batman' right now:



10) LADIES' CHOICE: Your daughter's date shows up at the door. You want to see this guy, or this guy?



9) BUT WILL IT PLAY IN PEORIA: Spielberg's public personna: Fatherly, fuzzy, Red-State suburban. Nolan's public personna: Edgy, artsy, Blue-State urban.



8) LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION: Gotham City way skeezier than Bayonne.



7) CREATURE FEATURES: Loosely associated with War of the Worlds: Strange creature believed to have healing powers. Closely associated with Batman: Strange creature believed to have rabies.



6) YOU ARE WHAT YOU DRIVE: Batman's Ride: Road-hogging Monster Truck. Martians' Ride: Roads? Who needs roads?

5) IT'S UNREAL: Summer audiences like lots of CGI with their popcorn. Nolan made a 'real' Batman with real stuntmen and an actual, working Batmobile. The Martians haven't been 'real' since Orson Welles' radio broadcast.

4) HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE: Bayonne-ites are psyched to see their town on the big screen. Gotham City-ites aren't. (We don't have to explain this, do we?)


3) REINKARMANATION: The Batman 'reboot' follows a reviled Clooney/Schwartzenegger camp yuckfest and a goofy TV show. The WOTW redo follows a tradition of respected renditions of Wells' novel.


2) NO BAT LANGUAGE: People are wary of yet another round of "batusis", "bat credit cards", "bat shark repellent", et cetera.

1) GUILTY PLEASURES: You can always draw a crowd by blowing up something in Jersey.

{A note from the Just-the-Facts-Ma'am Brigade: In Spielberg's version of 'The War of the Worlds', the Space Invaders are never actually referred to as 'Martians'. After years of mostly-robotic space exploration, and years of epic sci-fi films, the public more or less accepts that there's no civilization hiding anywhere on Mars, and that invaders could arive from much further out-of-town.}

{More 'comic-book lit': How to make a Fantastic comic book adaptation, Hulk vs. Yourish, Men in black (capes), and When Han Solo left, he took the Force with him}

('Batman Begins' producer Charles Roven is from Bayonne.)