Scott, do you really want to know?
It started when WB wanted to spinoff Michelle Pfieffer's Catwoman from Batman Returns into her own franchise. She said she'd love to so long as Burton directed it. Turned out getting these two in the same studio together was tougher than scheduling Indiana Jones IV and the project went away, especially after what happened with Burton's failed (but expensive) Superman project and Schumacher's Batman nosedive.
Years later, the project was still considered viable with a new leading lady but the same Crow-knockoff origin from Batman Returns; Timid chick gets murdered and is resurrected via kitties to avenge her own death. But in order to distance this Catwoman from the last Bat-disasters, it was decided that this would be an entirely new character. No Batman, no Gotham, but the same origin with a twist; this time she gets super powers!
Ashley Judd was romanced for the lead role, but after reading the script and realizing it had nothing to do with the Batman mythos, she bowed out. Enter the next flavor of the moment, Oscar™ award-winning actress Halle Berry. Now all they needed was a cheap new director with a visual flair to package it. That's where French newcomer Pitof came in.
After seeing the extended trailer in front of Spider-Man 2, I have to admit there's some nice eye candy in there. Not enough to make me pay to get in, of course, but I am curious to see if they really make no mention of Batman. (Rumor has it an "east coast Catwoman" is mentioned, but that's about it. Fanboy speculation had the lead love interest actually being Bruce Wayne in disguise at one point, but I think people are simply justifying wanting to see this bastardization).
This movie was ill-conceived from the beginning. While it MIGHT have been interesting to see a Pfieffer/Burton spinoff TEN YEARS AGO, this project should have died with the last Bat-franchise. Catwoman could have been an intriguing prequel to Batman Begins, but those in charge of its production had waited too long already to get this movie to theatres and were no doubt under pressure to get it wrapped up in spite of a major franchise relaunch only 11 months away. Now they're counting on Catwoman's brand appeal and Berry's box office bankability to break even.
Hopefully audiences will mostly forget this incarnation in time for next year's model. I'd much rather see a Selina Kyle spinoff that's faithful to the source material than something made up by studio execs under pressure to milk a dead franchise.