Legendary Film Director Dies

NEW YORK (AP) – Joel Shumacher, who shepherded the so-called”Brat Pack” to the big screen in “St. Elmo’s Fire” and directed two 1990s-era “Batman” films, has died.

A representative says the director died Monday at 80 after a year-long battle with cancer.

Schumacher’s credits included “The Lost Boys” and “Batman Forever,” “Batman & Robin,” “A Time to Kill” and “Flatliners.”

Though Schumacher’s “Batman” films were trashed by critics and have been endlessly mocked, they’ve achieved cult status in later years as entertaining, self-aware, and playful offshoots of the Batman mythology in the spirit of Bob Kane.