BENJAMIN MELNIKER- HIS LEGACY WAS BATMAN
Benjamin Melniker was a producer when he and his partner purchased the rights to the Caped Crusader. Had they not made this choice, the world may never have known the Batman we know today.
Benjamin Melniker began his life on May 25, 1913, in Bayonne, New Jersey. Benjamin’s parents, Hyman and Lena Melniker, had four children: Benjamin, Annette, Catherine and Harry. Benjamin Melniker graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn at the tender age of 15. He then promptly continued his education attending Brooklyn College for his Undergraduate degree. He graduated from Fordham Law School when he was just 18 years old and then began his long career in the entertainment field.
Melniker’s first job was working evenings as an usher at the Loews King Theater in Brooklyn. Melniker did so well as an usher that he was promoted to Assistant Chief Usher. For a short time, Melniker worked in private practice. In 1939, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, Melniker’s received a life changing opportunity to work as an Entertainment Attorney for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This job would be a game changer for Melniker and would turn out to be his key to going from absolute obscurity to eventually be able to scale the heights of fame, fortune and celebrity.
Melniker’s resourcefulness and relentlessness in negotiating the deals of MGM resulted in Melniker being known as the “MGM Lion.” After an almost 30-year period at MGM, Melniker’s stellar reputation and his uncompromising integrity elevated him into the position of Sole Executive Vice President as well as Chairman of the Film Selection Committee, General Counsel, member of the Board of Directors, the Executive Committee and the parent Loews’ board. During his tenure at MGM, Melniker was involved with some of the most memorable films ever made, including Ben-Hur, Dr. Zhivago, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Gigi.
Melniker had two marriages. His first wife was Jean Brody and then in 1945 Melniker married Shirley, and they had two children: Harvey and Charles who passed away in 2012.
After Melniker left MGM, he became President and CEO of Jerry Lewis Cinemas. For the next 40 years Melniker was a producer or executive producer of several movies and television programs. These included the movies Mitchell, Shoot, Swamp Thing, Return of Swamp Thing, Constantine, The Spirit, National Treasure, and all the acclaimed Batman feature motion pictures. His television credits included the series Dinosaucers, Fish Police, Three Sovereigns for Sarah, and Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego, for which he won a daytime Emmy.
A decision made by the Partners in 1979 which totally changed the trajectory of Melniker’s career. This was the year that Melniker teamed with Michael Uslan to buy the movie rights to DC Comics’ Batman. Uslan and Melniker approached DC Comics President, Sol Harrison, asking to buy the rights to Batman. Harrison advised them against this and instead told them to save their money. Harrison stated that since the Batman TV show went off the air, the brand was dead. Harrison thought that the Batman comics were also in danger of being cancelled. In a last-ditch effort to persuade the men, Harrison asked if there was any way he could talk them out of this idea. They both emphatically said “no.” Thus the sale took place and as a result, Melniker and Uslan’s names were placed in the credits for all Batman productions.
Under the terms of the sale, Melniker and Uslan were to receive 13 percent of the net profits of the Batman film, which was a giant accomplishment. However, Warner Bros. argued that the 1989 Batman film had not made any net profits, even though it grossed 400 million dollars worldwide. A California judge decided in favor of Warner Bros., noting:
“Mr. Melniker negotiated the Warner Agreement on his and Mr. Uslan’s behalf. No one is less likely to have been coerced against his will into signing a contract like the Warner Agreement than Mr. Melniker. This former general counsel and senior executive of a major motion picture studio (Metro Goldwyn-Mayer) knew all the tricks of the trade; he knew inside and out how these contracts work, what they mean, and how they are negotiated… Mr. Melniker was an old hand at motion picture agreements of this type and had negotiated other ‘Net Profits’ contracts like this himself. He had experience with similar provisions, yet he never mentioned the interest issue with anyone at Warner Bros. Plaintiffs offered no evidence that they expected Warner Bros. to compute interest in any other manner. They have thus failed to prove that the contract defeated their reasonable expectations.”
Since Melniker was the one who negotiated the contract, he was in no position to state that the contract was unfair or unconscionable. The case between the partners and Warner Bros was an example of how film studios arrange for net profits to remain less than zero. In this way, they avoid paying out certain amounts. Even though Melniker’s “knowledge and experience,” worked against him, he was admired by a great many of his colleagues. Melniker spent a good amount of his lifetime engaged in nightmarish legal strife with money hungry adversaries. Melniker and Uslan have producer credits on nearly 40 Batman films. However, they were given creative influence on only the first few of these. Uslan credits Melniker with supporting his vision of filming Batman as a dark, serious character, and not as the camp buffoon familiar from the TV series.
This sale cemented Melniker’s legacy as a producer on almost all Batman projects from Tim Burton’s 1989 adaptation starring Michael Keaton to Ben Affleck’s iteration in 2017’s Justice League. Also included in this deal were the animated Batman projects including The Lego Batman Movie, Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, Batman: The Killing Joke as well as the Batman: Ninja movies. Melniker was also an executive producer of the television show, Fish Police, which was another comic book adaptation. Melniker’s last movie was Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold released for a DVD on 9 January 2018.
In addition to working on Batman films, Melniker and Michael Uslan worked on a variety of comic book films including, Cat woman starring Halle Berry in 2004, Frank Miller’s adaptation of The Spirit in 2008 as well as the live-action Constantine in 2005 starring Keanu Reeves. Melniker’s last movie was Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold released for a DVD on 9 January 2018.
Before Uslan and Melniker began working on their first Batman movie, they worked to revive another DC Comics character, Swamp Thing, a 1982 film directed by Wes Craven. Uslan and Wes Craven watched in awe as Melniker, then almost 70, took charge of negotiations at an LA restaurant table, “occasionally resorting to speaking Yiddish.” Melniker’s reputation as a relentless negotiator at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios had proven itself again.
Melniker spent a considerable amount of his life in legal scuffles with other adversaries who were money hungry. Melniker and Uslan have producer credits on nearly 40 Batman films. However, they were given creative influence on only the first few of these. Uslan credits Melniker with supporting his vision of filming Batman as a dark, serious character, and not as the camp buffoon familiar from the TV series.
Melniker went on to arrange contracts for such mega-productions as “Ben Hur”; “2001: A Space Odyssey”; and “Dr. Zhivago.” Possibly his most acrobatic feats of deal-making involved the 1970s Canadian tax shelter loophole, wherein investors in Canadian-made films received 100 percent of their investment back in the form of a tax credit. Melniker’s efforts made possible some of the resulting cheaply made movies, mostly in the horror genre.
Uslan’s autobiography, recalls that even before their first Batman movie was “greenlighted,” he worked with Melniker to revive another DC Comics character, Swamp Thing, in a 1982 film directed by Wes Craven. Uslan and Craven watched in awe as Melniker, then almost 70, took charge of negotiations at an LA restaurant table, “occasionally resorting to speaking Yiddish.”
His leonine qualities as company general counsel and vice president were especially welcome when Melniker was called upon to work with attorney Louis Nizer in United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc., also known as the Hollywood Antitrust Case of 1948. In this Supreme Court decision, recounted by Nizer himself in his “My Life in Court,” movie studios were banned from owning their own theatres, thereby dealing a death blow to the studio system. Since studios could no longer hold exclusive rights over which theatres would show their films, Hollywood movies were thereafter produced, distributed, and shown differently. Melniker labored to make the separation of MGM and the Loews theatre chain, which until 1959 would be the parent company of MGM, as painless as possible for the studio. As an MGM dealmaker, Melniker went on to arrange contracts for such mega-productions as “Ben Hur”; “2001: A Space Odyssey”; and “Dr. Zhivago.” Possibly his most acrobatic feats of deal-making involved the 1970s Canadian tax shelter loophole, wherein investors in Canadian-made films received 100 percent of their investment back in the form of a tax credit. Melniker’s efforts made possible some of the resulting cheaply made movies, mostly in the horror genre.
His astuteness and experience worked against him in a 1994 case, Batfilm Productions, Inc. v. Warner Bros. Inc., in the Superior Court of California. Melniker and Uslan were to receive 13 percent of the net profits of the Batman film, which was a giant hit. Yet Warner Bros. argued that the 1989 Batman film had not made any net profits, despite having grossed over 400 million dollars worldwide. Surprising some, the California judge decided in favor of Warner Bros., noting:
He is credited as co-executive producer on every Batman film from Tim Burton’s 1989 effort to Batman Ninja (2018). His career proves that no comic book villains could match the nefarious dealings of filmdom’s kingpins.
A considerable amount of Melniker’s long lifetime was spent in hellish legal strife with penny-pinching adversaries. Since victories in Hollywood are almost always Pyrrhic meaning that these victories are not worth winning because the winner has lost so much in winning.
For Melniker and Uslan who had producer credits on nearly 40 Batman films but unfortunately they had creative influence on only the first of these. Uslan credits Melniker with supporting his vision of filming Batman as a dark, serious character, and not as the camp buffoon familiar from the TV series.
Uslan wrote in a Facebook reminiscence that Melniker was no less serious, refusing to write his memoirs out of a sense of personal responsibility. Although he knew where all the skeletons of Old Hollywood were buried, Melniker did not want to “negatively impact those people, their children or their grandchildren,” Uslan observes, concluding: “Ben was a mensch.”
Even before their first Batman movie was greenlighted, Uslan worked with Melniker to revive another DC Comics character, Swamp Thing, in a 1982 film directed by Wes Craven. Uslan and Craven watched in awe as Melniker, then almost 70, took charge of negotiations at an LA restaurant table, “occasionally resorting to speaking Yiddish.” Melniker’s reputation as a relentless negotiator at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, which hired him in 1939,
Melniker and Uslan were to receive 13 percent of the net profits of the Batman film, which was a giant hit. Yet Warner Bros. argued that the 1989 Batman film had made no net profits, although it grossed in excess of 400 million dollars worldwide. The California judge decided in favor of Warner Bros., noting:
“Mr. Melniker negotiated the Warner Agreement on his and Mr. Uslan’s behalf. No one is less likely to have been coerced against his will into signing a contract like the Warner Agreement than Mr. Melniker. This former general counsel and senior executive of a major motion picture studio (Metro Goldwyn-Mayer) knew inside and out how these contracts work, what they mean, and how they are negotiated… Mr. Melniker was an old hand at motion picture agreements of this type and had negotiated other ‘Net Profits’ contracts like this himself. He had experience with similar provisions, yet he never mentioned the interest issue with anyone at Warner Bros. Plaintiffs offered no evidence that they expected Warner Bros. to compute interest in any other manner. They have thus failed to prove that the contract defeated their reasonable expectations. By knowing all the “tricks of the trade,” Melniker was in no position to claim that the contract was unfair or unconscionable, since he had negotiated it. This case has become a textbook example of how film studios arrange for net profits to remain less than zero, thereby avoiding paying out certain sums. It is cited in Victor Goldberg’s “Framing Contract Law: An Economic Perspective” and Donald Biederman’s “Law and Business of the Entertainment Industries.” In these books, Melniker’s bitter courtroom defeat as an octogenarian may serve as a warning to educate future generations of entertainment lawyers and negotiators. Even though his “knowledge and experience,” as mentioned in the 1994 case, worked against him, with colleagues he remained widely admired.”
Benjamin Melniker died at the age of 104 and was buried at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, New York. He was preceded in death by his wife of 70 years, Shirley and he left several children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. As of 2024, Uslan continued to own the Batman rights, now with Melniker's estate following his death.
~Blog by Renee Meyers
