In 1966 the Batman character was a pop culture staple, with his own long standing comic book series and a hit TV show. At the end of the first television season a Batman movie was produced. The movie was released by 20th Century Fox on July 30th of 1966. It only achieved moderate success at the box office despite the popularity of the TV series at the time. The extra funding that was available for the film allowed for the construction of the Batboat and Batcopter props, which where then used in later TV episodes of Batman.

Many of the same people involved with the TV show were also involved in the movie. The script for the film was written by Lorenzo Semple Jr, who was one of the main writers for the television series. The film's producer, William Dozier was also the TV series' executive producer. The film's director was Leslie H. Martinson. Martinson was a very prolific director of the time, who had directed two of the Batman TV series episodes during the first season.

The cast of the film was filled with many of the actors from the TV series. The TV series' stars Adam West and Burt Ward played Batman and Robin for the movie as well. In addition the characters of Alfred, Chief O'Hara, Comissioner Gordon, and Aunt Harriet were all played by the same actors who played these characters during the television series. The plot of the film involved a collaboration between the four super-villains the Joker, the Penguin, Catwoman, and the Riddler. These four villains were all played by actors who had guest starred as the characters at some point during the TV series.

The original TV series, which enjoyed more popularity and commercial success than the film, is not currently available on DVD. The legality of releasing the entire series to DVD is apparently not forthcoming enough in order to allow for it to occur. The 1966 film is however available on DVD. The film has seen success in the DVD format, possibly as a result of the non-release of the TV series. Making it the only available representation of the Adam West days of Batman.