'Batman' and 'Lost Boys' director Joel Schumacher dies aged 80

A representative for Schumacher said the filmmaker died on Monday in New York after a year-long battle with cancer.

Joel Schumacher, the flamboyant journeyman director who counted Brat Pack movies and the Batman franchise among his varied output, has died at the age of 80.

A representative for Schumacher said the filmmaker died on Monday in New York after a year-long battle with cancer.

Schumacher became one of the pre-eminent genre filmmakers of the 1990s after the success of St Elmo's Fire, with Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Emilio Estevez and Ally Sheedy, and teen vampire horror The Lost Boys.

Joel Schumacher has died aged 80 picture: Getty Images

After films including Flatliners and A Time To Kill, Schumacher inherited the DC universe from Tim Burton.

His garish take on Batman resulted in two of the the franchise's most cartoonish movies in 1995's Batman Forever and 1997's Batman & Robin.

Schumacher also directed the thrillers Tigerland and Phone Booth, as well as The Phantom Of The Opera.