Batman: Year One animated movie trailer

If you're a fan of Batman, you're going to love this trailer.  It is for the upcoming DC Animated Universe DVD; Batman: Year One.  The same graphic novel by Frank Miller that redefined the character to the one we know today.  If it isn't for Frank Miller, there is no Christopher Nolan's interpretation of the character.  Enjoy the trailer and let us know what you think.

A stand alone Justice League film is in the works... for 2013?!

It feels like a case of deja vu.  A few years ago, just before the writers strike in Hollywood, we were supposed to see a Justice League film.  Now, the writers are happy, superhero films have flourished, and Warner Brothers is promising a Justice League film by 2013.

Warner Brothers owns DC Comics and is the sole distributor of all of it's films, unlike Marvel comics.  Marvel is owned by Disney.  Before superhero movies were the huge money makers they are now, Marvel licensed out its movie rights to various studios (Fox got X-Men characters, Sony has Spider-Man, etc.).  Even with various studios distributing their films, Marvel has created a film universe where all of its characters co-exist, culminating in The Avengers film. 

So is Warner Brothers taking a page out of the Marvel handbook?  Nope.  They're going to make a completely separate franchise, independent of the individual characters' films.  So we will not see Christian Bale as Batman and Henry Cavill as Superman in the Justice League.

I have to be honest, at first glance, this made me upset.  Maybe because I'm a fan of continuity and love to see the same actors portray the same characters in sequels and such.  But this makes a lot more sense.  Marvel shot themselves in the foot by making Iron Man 2 a prequel to The Avengers.  That movie suffered greatly because of continuity issues (and a new actor for War Machine).  So maybe it's not a bad idea after all to make it a separate franchise.

There are multiple comic books going at once, why not multiple stories in films at once.  Everyone online seems to differ on this point, but I like it.  Hopefully the same skill, patience and story telling will go into the Justice League that Christopher Nolan has put into the Batman films.  Only time will tell.  With Green Lantern coming out this summer, Superman: The Man of Steel late next year, and a Flash film in development, this may be a BETTER culmination than The Avengers.  Your thoughts?


The picture above is from DeviantArt artist: daikaiju.

Adrianne Palicki is this generation's Wonder Woman

The title pretty much speaks for itself, but I can clear up a few things.  "Wonder Woman", the DC Comics legendary character will come in the form of a TV screen, not a Hollywood picture.  NBC has the rights and the show is set to air within the next year.  The producers have promised it will be a much more serious than the campy 1970's version that had men drooling over Lynda Carter. 

I have never seen any of Adrianne Palicki's work.  I know she stars in the TV version of "Friday Night Lights" and was in last year's Legion.  If you can't tell already, she's stunningly beautiful.  I also read she's tall, which may serve well for the show.  If you know anything about Palicki, let us know.  Have you watched her past shows, is she any good, etc?  I have Legion on Blu-Ray so maybe I'll watch it tonight and see what she's all about. 

Superman/Batman Movie Coming In September?! Yes, but it's animated.

If I told you a Superman AND Batman movie was being released in September of THIS year, you'd probably be ecstatic right? Well then I'd have to follow it up with "not exactly". It's the latest from Warner Brothers Home Entertainment and their line of awesome animated DC Universe movies. These straight-to-DVD movies are a fanboy's dream. I have them all and think they're great translations from the comic books.

The latest is Superman/Batman: Apocalypse. It's a sequel to the successful Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. The movie will be released on DVD (1 and 2 disc) as well as Blu-Ray on September 28th. Included is an animated short featuring Green Arrow!

Later this month Batman: Under the Red Hood will also be released on DVD and Blu-Ray. You can check out these trailer here. Check this post, you can expect to get even more Batman in your living room. Warner Brothers and DC's next DVD is Batman: Year One, based on the Frank Miller novels. Like I said above, I'm a big fan of these DVD/ Blu-Ray's and love what they're doing. Let's hope Marvel takes a page from DC and helps me to forget what was Planet Hulk.

Quickie: "RED" Trailer, Very Cool

I remember when FattMatt first posted about the cast for this film, and I was in love. Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Mary Louise Parker, how cool. The concept? Very simple. Retired ex-CIA agents get called back into action, based on the DC Comics. Check out the trailer and let us know what you think. Enjoy

Green Lantern writer hired for Green Lantern 2 and The Flash?

I was reading this at /Slashfilm and really didn't know what to think. Sooo, Warner Brothers is loving Green Lantern (1), so much, they're starting part 2? Wowzers. I am impressed. WB hired Greg Berlanti, Michael Green, and Marc Guggenheim to start writing Green Lanter 2 as well as The Flash.

So we knew that WB was green lighting superhero movies left and right. We knew that. But we didn't know it was going to happen so fast. I've told you my thoughts on the superhero movies WB has lined up. I've also told you who I think should play these characters, now it's up to the studio to cast them correctly! Let the writing begin!

Quickie: Batman Year One is Warner Brothers coming

I love the Warner Brothers direct-to-video, animated films. A few weeks ago I told you about their latest outing, Batman: Under The Red Hood. Now comes news from Comics Continuum about a Warner Brothers animation movie; Batman: Year One.  Due out later this year.

The movie, I'm sure, will follow Frank Miller's legendary graphic novel which pulled Batman out of the "campy" and into the "dark side". The graphic novel is considered a classic and some of the key points were inspiration for Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins.

Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, The Flah, Aquaman are all going to happen?!

Warner Brothers is tearing it up! I love it! The superhero genre is in full effect at Warner Brothers Studio. The guys at /Slashfilm has some great news to make this blogger a very happy camper. Let's dive right in.

So we already knew about the Green Lantern film starring Ryan Reynolds. But what we didn't know was that there is an animated series set to begin after the live-action movie is released. The show will very obviously be called: "Green Lantern: The Animated Series" on Cartoon Network.

Next is news of two other superheros about to be greenlit for their own live-action films. I keep reading that Wonder Woman and The Flash are weeks about from a green light. I would love to see a Wonder Woman movie, hopefully with an actress that is both beautiful AND can act. I realize that is a tough combination when it comes to today's young actresses, but it's OK, I have hope.

As for The Flash, I could care less. If they make the movie I hope it's nothing more than a setup to a Justice League film.

And lastly there are rumors of an Aquaman film, I love it! I posted something about this a long time ago; but now it's starting to come back around. Nothing more than rumor right, but I WANT TO SEE AN AQUAMAN MOVIE!

Nathan Fillion as Ant-Man in The Avengers?

This is some pretty cool news. The big rumor is Nathan Fillion has been cast as Ant-Man in Marvel's The Avengers movie. You may know Fillion from TV, "Castle", "Firefly" and the corresponding film, Serenity. He's a pretty good actor and has a very, very distinct voice.

In fact, he's done some work as a voice actor for Marvel's rival, DC Comics. He was in the 2009, straight-to-DVD animated film, Wonder Woman.

Here's a little bit about the Ant-Man character you guys may not know:

- His alter ego is Henry Pym, a brilliant scientist

- His powers the ability to shrink or grow to whatever size he wants, communicate with insects because of a special helmet he wears. Can fly when he wears special wings that transform him into Yellow Jacket

- Kind of a hot-head, like a Wolverine

- Not much of a team player, but will do what needs to be done to save the world

- Married to Wasp, another character in various versions of The Avengers


I like the casting of Fillion, he's a good actor. I think he has the physical presence to play Ant-Man and will do a good job. I hope the technology is there to sell the fact that he's going to be 50-100 feet tall. No offense to Favreau and company, but the robots in other movies looked better than the droids in Iron Man 2.

Superman has until 2011 to start production or else!

Today was a really sad day for comic book fans across the world. A judge has given most of the rights to Superman to the family of his creators. DC Comics purchased the rights from Superman creators years ago, but just now the families are filing suit. The judge ruled in favor of the families which means a number of different things. Warner Brothers' rights to the Superman properties runs out 2013 before they would have to restructure a deal with the families as far as profit sharing. After 2013 the families are going to ask for more money... A LOT MORE MONEY. Which means both Warner Brothers and DC Comics could lose the character to their competition all together.

Are you serious?! A Marvel Comics Superman? Yes, it could happen. Even though Superman has no other home than DC Comics, it is a very serious option. So for all you comic book fans what does that mean? You could be picking up books featuring a Superman/ Magneto fight. For all of us movie fans? It could mean an Avengers movie with Superman in it!

Some could argue that the studio and book publishers have been greedy and made billions of dollars on the Superman property, and that it's the family's turn to reap the benefits. I strongly disagree. If I go to work for DC Comics today and create the single greatest, most profitable, superhero that ever lived... DC Comics owns the property, not me! But we ARE in American and the American dream is to sue for what you want. What makes me even more mad is the fact that it isn't even the creators themselves suing; its their family two generations later. It's such b.s. But that's the way the cookie crumbles.

On a final note, you can bet that Warner Brothers is going to do everything in its power to speed up the process on a Superman film. We told you a few weeks ago that the Wachowski Brothers were in talks with Warner Brothers to write and direct the movie, that's becoming more real day after day. The film would have to move into production as soon as next year for Warner Brothers to be able to finish it, release it, release the DVD and absorb all of the profits for itself before the 2013 deadline.

Look up in the sky... it's a bird... it's a plane... it's Spider-Man and Superman!

DC's Green Arrow movie coming soon?

Well it seems as though a Green Arrow film is in the works. For those who don't know who the Green Arrow is, he's like the Robin Hood of the DC Universe. The project is actually Super Max, and was supposed to star the Green Arrow, but was rumored to have other characters from the DC Universe as well. There were rumors of Lex Luthor, The Riddler and the Joker being in the movie as well.

/slashfilm is reporting that the project is still a go, and David Goyer (The Dark Knight, story) is still attached to produce. He had this brief yet poignant thing to say:

We’re working on that. We’re about to bring on another writer. Obviously, Warner Bros. is now heavily into mining all of the various DC properties.

Warner Brothers is not going to let go of any rights to any comic book movie that's for sure! There is just too much money to be made from these movies. So even though the movie has slowed its pace to theaters, it is definitely still a go!

Wachowski Brothers in talks to write/direct the next Superman

Holy wow! A Wachowski brothers directed Superman? Are you kidding me?! That-is-AWESOME! Ok so the creator of Superman's family won the rights to all Superman properties as of 2011. What does that mean? A lot! DC, the hope of Superman since day one loses their most viable character. How weird is it to see Superman with a Marvel Comics logo on it? It's a possibility. Also that means Warner Brothers loses their rights to a movie after that date. So the studio is frantically trying to get a movie off the ground. The team at IESB is reporting that Bryan Singer's film is simply an end to the Richard Donner legacy. A "book-end" movie that closes a chapter in the character's history. So the film will be an action-packed reboot. This part of the news is nothing new, its been rumored for over a year now that there wouldn't be a sequel, but rather a complete reboot.

But Singer is out as director and talks with the Wachowski Brothers have began. The other director's name in the mix is James McTeigue, an Australian filmmaker (Ninja Assassin). The other bit of news is that Brandon Routh's place in the movie is in limbo. I think if its a true reboot, you have to recast. And none of this "unknown" bull. Cast a heavyweight A-list actor to do this. I understand Donner's reasoning to cast an unknown in the 70's, but now, commercially and critically we need someone better than Routh as Superman. My vote, always has and will remain Jim Caviezel; that's right, the true messiah to this franchise, Jesus himself! He's got the look and the acting chops to pull it off. Who want's to agree to disagree? Give us your vote for the next actor to play Superman!

Jonah Hex becoming more and more real

Jonah Hex is a western comic book series that is published by DC Comics. The character made his first appearance in 1972 and quickly became a fan favorite. Now, of course he's not as popular as the other DC properties like Superman and Batman, but I think that's because he's a little different. He's an anti-hero of sorts, kind of like Wolverine is to the Marvel Comics universe.

Nonetheless, the movie will be out shortly. Here's a couple of tid bits about the movie:

It will be directed by Jimmy Hayward, who comes from an animation background with Pixar. He's animated on movies like Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monster's Inc., Finding Nemo, Robots and Horton Hears a Who. Wow, good list of movies.

The movie stars Josh Brolin from No Country For Old Men (a personal favorite of Matt and I).

Also stars the always terrific John Malkovich, you all know him from Con Air and maybe even Rounders.

Eye candy: Megan Fox... a freakin' terrible across who built a career solely based on her looks. Oh well, she wont have to do much in this movie OTHER than look good.


We just discussed in the posting prior to this one, how the comic book genre is in full swing, and we don't see any signs of it slowing down! Warner Bros. is taking on the film, and they know a thing or two about superhero movies.