BATMAN RETURNS: The Penguin Suit Performance Test From Stan Winston Studios

Remember those creepy giant penguins that Tim Burton used in his 1992 DC film Batman Returns? Those things always weirded me out! Remember Burton even strapped rockets on the back of these things. It was an army of giant penguin commandos!

Stan Winston Studios created those penguins for the movie. They designed and built thirty full-body mechanical penguin puppets, “ten each of three different penguin species, and six mechanical heads and suits, all of which were interspersed with live penguins to create the Penguin’s army.”

I thought I’d share a cool behind-the-scenes video that was shared that shows the team at Stan Winston Studios doing a penguin suit performance test. It’s kind of crazy to see how these things were brought to life!

Chris Swift, who sculpted the suit-and-head version, said: “Our mechanical puppets were slightly larger than the real penguins and then we had even larger versions, which were little people in suits, with mechanical heads. The heads and the flapping wings were puppeteered, but the walking was done by the little people in the suits.”

I didn’t even realize that when I first saw the movie. Anyway, there’s some cool stuff to see and learn here! You can get even more details here.