CATNIP FOR GEEKS - WB WANTS 7 BATMAN FILMS

On the eve before NYC's comic-con, this bit of news should make everyone happy. While the sequel to "The Dark Knight" is just in the beginning stages of development, Warner Bros is already looking much further down the line. During today’s Time Warner earnings call, it was reported on the web that CEO Jeff Bewkes compared the Batman series to the Harry Potter film franchise, saying that they hope to release a long line of sequels.

“We look at Harry Potter. It’s fantastic to have franchises that last that long. We want to do that with Batman and Superman and perhaps Sherlock Holmes. The sequels are as good, with new characters added, as were the originals. That wasn’t the case in the years ago. Warners has more tentpoles as an on-going strategy that very much lifts its distribution and performance. We think that’s going to hold up our slate in the 2009 - 2010 period. We’ve got four more big tentpoles coming this year.”

All we can say is ... AWESOME!

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PENGUIN PICS LEAKED: SEYMOUR HOFFMAN SHOWS UP AS BAT VILLAIN

Altho this pic is probably a fake, here is some concept makeup art that popped up all over the interwebs that have Philip Seymour Hoffman as Batman villain The Penguin.

Even though there have been scores of denials about Hoffman's involvement on the next Bat project, this pic won't stop people from photo shopping his HUGE noggin into a penguin-esque shape.

But is it real?

Cinema Blend claims a source contacted them saying this picture was in fact an authentic studio make up test (just to see if the look fits). Pretty much everyone has denied its authenticity.

Looks pretty cool, tho ...

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DON'T WISH THE DARK KNIGHT HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Dayummm!, We all knew that Bats was brooding and all but he didn't have to take it out on his ward...

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DID 'THE DARK KNIGHT' SUCK?

Well, I don't think so... But it might not be the End-All Be-All of superhero movies as most people think.

I posted an item yesterday about The Guardian calling "The Dark Knight" one of the most ridiculous plots of the year. I wanted to take another stab at the flick after writing the post and came to the (probably blasphemous) conclusion that there are indeed more-than-a-few flaws with the lauded superhero flick. Here's what I think:

* It's WAY too long. There I said it. It goes on for at least a half hour longer than it should have. Imagine how effective it would have been in those final scenes of Bats zipping along on his Batpod vigilante-style had it clocked in at a lean and mean 120 minutes.

* It was way too dense. Kudos to the Brothers Nolan and scribe David S. Goyer on their multi-layered approach to make Gotham as realistic, relevant and current as possible, but geez, if there was ever a flick to watch with the captions on, it's "The Dark Knight." Every bit of dialogue, character nuance and glance means scores to the plot. My copy didn't have subtitles and I'm afraid that I may have missed a few things (even after a couple times in).

* It simply wasn't fun. I'm very well aware that Batman is the brooding James Dean superhero in the DC Universe, but man, talk about your downers. Even without the stunning and Gothic art direction of the Tim Burton Batman films, "The Dark Knight" is one bleak piece of moviemaking. And yes, before everyone goes all nuts on me, I'm well aware that this is "The Empire Strikes Back" of comic book films. The Godfather Part II" if you will... 'Empire' ended on a downer and I'm all for a downtrodden ending but there was zero, zilch, zip fun in the entire film.

While the action scenes were deft, precise and explosive, there wasn't that element of razzle-dazzle fun. The only iota of fun came when the Caped Crusader is chasing the Joker on his Batpod and literally scales a wall and turns around at 90 mph in a second or two. THAT was fun. We needed more of that. And for those who tell me the film was an allegory for what's happening in the world today, please... Get over yourselves. I don't want a comic book movie to do that. Entertain me. I have the news for all else.

* Is Clint Eastwood in this film? For the love of all that's holy, why in the world did Christian Bale sneer, whisper and growl his way through his Batman scenes? Honestly, most of the time I couldn't understand what he was saying. My call? Hands down, I'd say that Michael Keaton put on the best Bat voice in terms of menace. Bale was doing God knows what. Let's all pray he drops it or at least takes it down a few notches. Totally dopey.

* Never thought I'd be saying this but take a cue from Marvel. The once film-fledgling Marvel is going to great lengths to instill a sense of continuity in their films. Example? It builds excitement when Sam Jackson shows up as Nick Fury in "Iron Man" or when Robert Downey, Jr. shows up as Tony Stark in "Hulk." It's geeky yet cool. Would it kill WB and DC to do a little more of that? It's awesome that Christopher Nolan is going to great lengths to incorporate a massive sense of realism but take it one step further and mention Metropolis... Throw in a Lois Lane appearance... I dunno ... Something. Build their universe and the continuity. It'll work wonders.

* Again, as with most Batman films, there are simply too many characters, namely villains. Between Heath Ledger's awesome Joker, the duality of Aaron Eckhart's Two-face, Eric Roberts' stereotypical gangster, the Asian corporate invader/thief, and all the hoodlums and henchman and you've got a jambalaya of dare I say stock criminals (with the exception of the first two). Why does this always happen? The Bat cannon is full of great villains. Let's not use them all at once. Which leads me to...

* Nolan wrote himself into a pickle. What I mean by that is that his Nolanverse is so authentically realistic, writing in such A-List Bat villains as Catwoman, The Riddler and The Penguin (especially) will be near impossible. Take his Joker, there was no origin ala the Tim Burton film or from the famous comic book lore. I mean, it sorta worked in this instance -- a wacko shows up in clown paint and is a lunatic. But I don't think that ambiguity will work so much for the others. Hmmm, is that why he's yet to sign on for a third film? Has his Nolanverse run its course?

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DEPP AS RIDDLER? HOFFMAN AS PENGUIN?

Even though "Dark Knight" helmsman Chris Nolan is on the down-low, the interwebs are ablaze that Warner Bros. suits know exactly who they want the third Batman film's villains to be and who they want to play them.

Talking with MTV News, Michael Caine revealed that he not only heard the rumors of the various villain casting choices for the next film floating throughout the media, but that he brought up the topic with a Warner exece who seems to have confirmed that some of them were right.


He says:

"I was with [a Warner Bros.] executive and I said, ‘Are we going to make another one?’ They said yeah. I said, ‘How the hell are we going to top Heath? And he says ‘I’ll tell you how you top Heath — Johnny Depp as The Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin.’ I said, ‘S–t, they’ve done it again!."

Hoffman's name as a British or Russian arms dealer version of 'The Penguin' first floated around in 2006, right after "Batman Begins" but before the villains of "The Dark Knight" were set. Depp's link to 'The Riddler' is more recent but the most talked about of the rumors and Depp himself recently said he'd be open to considering the opportunity.

Personally, I hope they keep it to one villain -- Depp would have a field day. Why do these Bat-films insist on stacking up bad guys??

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WAS BATMAN A PEDOPHILE??

Thanks to futureofthebook.org for posting this one... It's times like this that make me question that maybe, just maybe, Golden and Silver-Age Batman might have... just might have ... been a pedophile.

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TIMES ARE TOUGH...

...Even on The Batman.

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DIG IT... RETRO-FEELING BATMAN in 'BRAVE AND THE BOLD'

Here's a Batman ripe for the cocktail set... Actually, it's the teaser from the recent ComicCon called "Batman: The Brave and the Bold." Looks like for the new 'toon, we're seeing less of a broody and grim Dark Knight that makes way for a more campy Bat in the POW! BAM! BOOM! vein. Looks like tons of fun.

The animated series based on the famed DC comic book title and, as the title suggests, will feature Batman teaming-up with various characters in the DC Universe. Known characters to have been revealed so far are Green Arrow, Blue Beetle, and Aquaman. The series was set to start airing in Fall 2008, but was pushed back to March 2009 instead

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YOU DON'T MESS WITH BATWIFE

The alleged confrontation between "The Dark Knight" star Christian Bale and his 61-year-old mother may have stemmed from a long-running family feud of Bale's wife, Sibi, according to a report in the British newspaper.

The Daily Mail reports the quarrel in a London hotel room on Sunday night on the eve of the movie's European premiere, led to Bale's arrest on Tuesday. He denies the assault allegation, and police released him after four hours without pressing charges except for a whole lotta bad press on what's potentially the biggest week of his career.

For the record, though, I must admit that this story sounded fishy from the get-go. Bale always seemed to be the kind of low-key guy that was never in trouble, constantly worked, had a stable marriage, and didn't party - so when I had heard the initial story, I felt that there was a layer to it that we all, perhaps, didn't know.

What's more, I also heard that in Britain, one can get arrested for verbal assault. Not sure how true that is but damn, if all the guy was doing was shouting... Sucks to be him right now.

Unfortunately, all people will think from here on out is that Christian Bale is the prick that assaulted his mom and sis. Sucks...

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HOLY BATCRAP!!!

BATMAN star Christian Bale has been arrested by detectives investigating a claim of assault, police sources said today. Bale, 34, faces questioning over the claim — made by his own mother and sister.

A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said: “A 34-year-old man attended a central London police station this morning by appointment.

“He was arrested in connection with an allegation of assault. He currently remains in custody.”

Bale was arrested just hours after he attended the first European screening of the new Batman blockbuster, The Dark Knight.

But he was able to attend the first European screening of new Batman blockbuster The Dark Knight in London’s West End.

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'THE DARK KNIGHT' SETS RECORD

"The Dark Knight," the highly-anticipated sequel to 2005's "Batman Begins" raked in $66.4 million in its opening day to set the single-day box office record, according to its distributor Warner Bros. The Friday tally bests previous record-holder "Spider-Man 3" which set the prior record with a $59.8 million opening day last year.

Dan Fellman, head of distribution at Warner Bros., told Reuters the film will likely break the opening weekend record of $151.1 million set by the Spider-Man movie,

Three summer's ago, "Batman Begins," grossed nearly $49 million its first weekend in America and collected $372 million worldwide.

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FIRST NEGATIVE REVIEW FOR 'THE DARK KNIGHT'

It was bound to happen. While "The Dark Knight" is currently getting 100% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the first bad review of "The Dark Knight" has surfaced. Film critic for New York Magazine David Edelstein calls it “a morbid affair”, claiming that “It could only be darker if Batman died. From what has been written, he is right -- The Dark Knight is not Adam West’s Batman, it’s not Tim Burton’s campy Bat and it’s not even Frank Miller’s vigilante. Edelstein comments that when Burton’s Batman came out critics complained that the film was too violent for kids. “Wait’ll they get a load of this,” he says. Like Kevin Smith said - this is "The Empire Strikes Back" of comic book movies.

Here's a sample:

Bat Out of Hell
They don’t make superhero franchises much darker than this.
By David Edelstein

Even if the death of Heath Ledger hadn’t already draped it in a funeral shroud, The Dark Knight would be a morbid affair: It could only be darker if Batman died. (He does die a little, on the inside.) The director, Christopher Nolan, has decided to get real with the thing. Forget Gotham City—or Anton Furst’s splendid Gothic Gotham of Tim Burton’s Batman, which summoned up the freaky superhero’s inner landscape of vaulted arches and gargoyles. We’re now in a modern, untransformed Manhattan, where the Joker’s opening bank heist unfolds in a tense, realistic style with multiple point-blank shootings. It’s a shock—and very effective—to see a comic-book villain come on like a Quentin Tarantino reservoir dog. But then the novelty wears off and the lack of imagination, visual and otherwise, turns into a drag. The Dark Knight is noisy, jumbled, and sadistic. Even its most wondrous vision—Batman’s plunges from skyscrapers, bat-wings snapping open as he glides through the night like a human kite—can’t keep the movie airborne. There’s an anvil attached to that cape.

To read the rest of the review, click HERE.

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HILARIOUS: WHAT IF MICHAEL BAY WROTE 'THE DARK KNIGHT'?

The dudes at Spill have created a faux screenplay (Lord, let's hope it's fake) written by director Michael Bay for his take on The Batman. It's hilarious and filled with all the Bayisms that filmdom has come to embrace (if you're a suit) or loathe (or you're a film enthusiast).


For those under a rock, Michael Bay is an American film director and producer who has given us the gems:

"Transformers," "Armageddon," "The Rock," "Pearl Harbor," "Bad Boys" and its sequel "Bad Boys II"

He's also one of the members of the Los Angeles music video production company Propaganda Films. His style? Fast edits, dodgy camera movement; slick pace; gorgeous actors and music. LOTS of loud music.

Bay and Wydncrest Holdings recently bought the special effects company Digital Domain from James Cameron and Stan Winston. He also runs his producing company, Platinum Dunes, that produces horror genre films (mostly commercially successful remakes of 1970s films).
To read more of the script, click HERE.

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SLASHFILM PUBLISHES ITS 'DARK KNIGHT' REVIEW

Peter Sciretta at Slashfilm is one of the best film journalists online. Bar none. He's been given the go-ahead to publish his review for "The Dark Knight" and it's an out-and-out rave. Not a fanboy fave. A fave for serious film critics. He calls it the "Empire Strikes Back" of comic films...

Here's an excerpt:

I have been given the go ahead to review The Dark Knight, but this is the type of film that I need to see at least two or three times before attempting such a task. The film is so very expansive, so incredibly epic. I decided that instead of a full review, I will just share my first impressions. But lets first talk expectations. Going into 2008, I was looking forward to only a few films, The Dark Knight being one of them. As you probably already know, WALL-E was at the top of my list, and Pixar’s latest didn’t disappoint. I was very sure that WALL-E would end up being my favorite film of the year, and it is… errr WAS. That is until I saw The Dark Knight. I screened the film on Saturday night in Los Angeles, and now that I’ve had a few days to think about the film, I thought I would share my ten spoiler-free reasons why I believe that The Dark Knight is a masterpiece - an almost flawless comic book movie adaptation.

1. The Movie is Epic - The Dark Knight is not just a superhero movie. It is the first comic book adaptation to transcend the genre. Imagine one of the greatest crime thrillers of all time which just happens to have a guy who dresses in a bat costume and fights crime. Think Godfather 2 or Heat, with a insane terrorist who paints his face like a clown and goes around killing random people. It’s expansive in feel and tone. It’s the type of film which you make a point to refer to as a “film” instead of a “movie”.

To read the rest of the review, click HERE.

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BATTLE OF THE BATMANS (COOL VIDEO)

In Gotham City, there are four rogue Batmen running amok. This brilliant short film culls footage from all of the contemporary Batman films to produce this faux trailer about the Battle of the Batmen. Which one will reign supreme?

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TWO FACE VIDEO CLIP

LOTS of viral action online action today (which also started this weekend) in regards to the "The Dark Knight." The new material includes most importantly some new viral video which technically is the first new offical "clip" from the film. That said, it actually isn't new at all - it first aired at Wizard World in Chicago last year. However, it DOES give our first glimpse at the villain Two-Face (albeit, from behind. Check it out below or at either here in flash or click here for an HD version.

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HOW AWEOME ...

... is this new "Dark Knight" trailer?????

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A NEW TAKE ON THE BAT

We all knew the Dark Knight was a tad twisted but damn... This video has to be one of the most interesting representations of the psyche of Batman that I've ever seen. And you gotta love Johnny Cash's "Hurt." Awesome song choice...

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BATMAN 'GOT MILK?'

How many parents across the nation are head over heels that The Dark Knight is appearing in a "Got Milk" campaign?? At least now the little buggers have a reason to drink up.

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40 NEW 'DARK KNIGHT' PICS LEAKED (HI-RES)

The above is part of gigantic batch of new Batman/Joker pics recently leaked. It seems to be the last batch of "Dark Knight" publicity pics officially released as of May 10.

Click HERE to check 'em out.

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