A cursory study of the production of 1989’s “Batman” reveals that producer Jon Peters was hell-bent on adding as many giant names to the project as he could. For example, the film has two official soundtrack albums, one by composer Danny Elfman (who was chosen by director Tim Burton to score the film) and the other by Prince. That Prince collaboration was the end result of Peters’ original and more ambitious plans for the soundtrack.
According to Jeff Bond’s liner notes for the La La Land Records release of Elfman’s complete score, Peters wanted to attach a different pop star to the film’s three main characters: Prince for the Joker, George Michael for Vicki Vale, and Michael Jackson. for The Batman This idea went so far as Prince rejected the idea of doing a duet with Jackson, and the multi-personality-themed tune demoed for that duet eventually became the first single from the soundtrack, “Batdance”.
Another big name that Peters saw an opportunity to tie into the film was Nike, whose popularity had risen with the introduction of its Air Jordan shoe line in 1984. As assistant costume designer Graham Churchyard explained in one of the DVD videos of the movie:
“Jon Peters came to see me one day and said, ‘Warners’ has this with Nike. Can you wear any of their tracksuits? [in the Bat Suit]’? And I talked to Bob [Ringwood, costume designer], and he said, ‘Well, ’80s sportswear isn’t going to fit our ’40s look. And then it occurred to us, why don’t they make the Bat-Boots? They made the Bat-Boots from scratch based on one of their crossover trainers at the time.”
According to specialists and Keaton himself, the boots were a success, as Nike’s design was “a really comfortable and supportive boot”.