REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Monday June 12, 1995

THE future of the Gold Coast’s Indy Carnival hung in the balance.

American IndyCar bosses told the State Government to save the Gold Coast grand prix and end wrangling over its programming.

US officials arrived on the Gold Coast to end the stalemate over the race dates which put the event in jeopardy.

The then tourism and sports minister Bob Gibbs admitted he was “not overly optimistic” about Indy’s future.

Premier Wayne Goss told the Gold Coast Bulletin that a combination of bad dates and undermining by the state opposition meant his Government was not in a position to write a blank cheque to fund the event. This left the 1996 carnival in danger.

Mr Goss said the final fate of the event would be resolved by a board meeting.

However, a last minute deal was reached between IndyCar and the State Government.

Indy went ahead in 1996 and continued until 2008 when its contract was not continued.

Meanwhile, Batman’s return to cinemas was big news for the Gold Coast. Just days before Batman Forever arrived in cinemas, sets from the film were installed at Warner Bros Movie World as part of the planned “bat blitz”. It starred Nicole Kidman and Val Kilmer as the “new Batman”, replacing Michael Keaton.

Batman Forever was hugely profitable but critically mocked.

Its sequel, Batman and Robin, with George Clooney, was a bomb which ended the character’s film adventures for eight years until Christopher Nolan’s gritty reboot, Batman Begins, in 2005,