Soaring fuel prices, economic slowdown and looming recession have all failed to put a dent in the public’s enthusiasm to watch a movie where a man dresses up like a bat, latest reports show.
The movie, about a wealthy businessman who puts on a bat costume and fights crime, has almost made $500 million in ticket sales, despite rising interest rates and the continuing credit crunch.
“It really is quite remarkable,” said Prof. Alan Tenner, an economist from the Deutsche Bank. “People from all corners of the globe are feeling the pinch, and are tightening their belts accordingly, yet are still finding the money to splash out on extortionately-priced cinema tickets, just to go and see a man dressed up like a bat.”
While retailers and businesses have witnessed a decline in sales, the bat-based movie has put cinemas on course for one of their most lucrative years in history, and leaves the film industry in a particularly buoyant position.
“It seems that in times of great economic decline and financial hardship, people like to turn to movies about millionaires dressing up like flying rodents and punching clowns,” a Treasury spokesman said. “A similar phenomenon was recorded in the Depression-era of the thirties, when Mr. Wittlestorm’s Travelling Carnival of People In Bat Costumes entertained sold-out crowds for much of the decade.”
Rumours that Britain is thinking of changing its currency from the pound to guano to capitalise on the public’s love of bats have so far been unconfirmed. 
