It was the first Batman movie for a decade, it featured arguably the most popular super-hero amongst actual comic book readers and got great reviews, but it took "only" £374 million dollars (half of any of the Spiderman movies that preceded) it...so why did Batman begins not do so well commercially? Was it a hangover from the woeful Batman and Robin film?

Batman was a dead franchise.

It didnt had 3D tickets, so like always the numbers of movie with 3D tickets gets to look bigger, even when its not.

Nolan wasnt a famous director back then and people didnt hate him, the people that now hate him, loved him, because in that time being a Nolan Fan made you a cool kid, now being a Nolan Hater make you a cool kid, even when coolo kids dont try to be cool.

It came back after a bunch of bad decision, the last Batman movie, the dehumanization of Batman in the JL cartoons and in his own cartoons and several things like that.

Movies keep in the direction that Matrix give to them and superheroe movie werent a sure bet.

Besides the fact, it was a Batman movie that didnt care about selling toys or making it a kids movie, it was a bold move, Batman came from being in the JL that was for kids, the past franchise that kids could also watch and his cartoons that were getting more kid friendly.

It had to fight against what everybody else was doing, kid friendly superhero movies, they try to kids watch them and sell it to them, even Wolverine and Punisher try to sell themselves to kids.

It was goins against the tradition of Superhero movies.

This. And Nolan is still cool.

Both these gentlemen are very right.