The Future of Batman

And I was just praising Warner Brothers in my previous post. Though it's unlikely to happen, Warner's CEO Jeff Bewkes announced the studio's desire for several Batman 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.”

Well if Bewkes is right about anything, this is not the case years ago. Does anyone remember "Batman and Robin?" I will say that the quality of the Harry Potter films have, more or less, been pretty good. I thought the fourth film was a bit of a slip up, but the fifth movie recovered the series quite well. If Batman were able to maintain that it'd be great... but can it?

Christian Bale and Micheal Cane are two actors that are "musts" for the franchise now. And frankly I don't want this Batman universe to continue without director Christopher Nolan. Maintaining the quality without him would be difficult. Have Warner Brothers come up with a plan to keep him on board? They're already having a hard enough time pulling him in for a third movie... Or are they?

Recent rumors have surfaced that the script for the third movie is currently seeing progress. IESB announced that Johnathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan and David Goyer were working on a script. Producer Chuck Roven replied to IESB with the following information:

The creative driver of the project at this point is Chris. There’s really nothing more for me to say about that. When he feels that he’s got something to talk about, then we’ll be able to talk about it.

But when asked who the villains might be, Roven responded:

[Big smile and a laugh] I really don’t want to talk about that project right now.

So what does it mean? My guess is the information on the third film being worked on right now is slightly exaggerated. If anything, Johnathan, Chris and David are probably just jotting notes and exchanging sparse phone calls now and then.

Judging from Roven, it doesn't sound like the third Batman film is very far in pre-production. Any other "reports" that come in can be labeled exaggerated or false until Warner Brothers and/or Christopher Nolan says something up front.

As for the rest of the franchise... Lets see if the third movie gets off the ground first.

"Casino Royale" Director to Light "Green Lantern?"

Go Warner Brothers! Go! Though it's not yet confirmed, reports are in that Martin Campbell, director of "Goldeneye," "The Mask of Zorro," and (his masterpiece) "Casino Royale," is in talks to helm the upcoming Green Lantern film.

It was reported a while back that Marc Guggenheim, Michael Green and Greg Berlanti were nearing the final stages of the script. Most assumed Greg Berlanti would direct, but apparently Warner Brothers wants someone who has proven himself in the director's chair.

While that sucks for Berlanti, the co-writer has also stated he's fine with the decision-- And so am I. Campbell has been slowly climbing the ladder over the course of his career. His reinvention of Bond (twice) mark two of the best movies in the series. The same praise goes for his revitalization of Zorro with "The Mask of Zorro."

Warner Brothers has proved, once again, they're pretty smart. I hope Campbell takes the job and I can't wait to see a Green Lantern movie! More when it comes.

TRAILER -Dragonball Evolution (Trailer 2)

Perhaps its just my fanboy giddiness, but this movie is looking to suck less and less. Should be fun. Here's a full trailer of the footage shown recently. It includes a few more shots such as Yamcha and a glimpse of Goku and Piccolo fighting in mid-air.


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April 8.

"HP6" Posters

Pretty generic posters, yes-- It's about what we've come to expect of the Harry Potter movie promotion. Dumbledore and Harry both look more aggressive than ever in these shots. My favorite would be the "HP6" one if it weren't for the fact that I hate the "HP6." Simply "HP" would have been fine, or even nothing. We all know what movie it is there's no need to stick that tacky, badly photoshopped "6" in there.

Anywho. Minor complaint. Click to enlarge:

TRAILER - S. Darko (Teaser)

And I thought some of the Super Bowl teasers are bad. This may take the cake for the absolute worst teaser trailer ever. Keep your eyes open. You don't want to miss this trailer cut completely with footage from the first film.



Excited yet? Even if you really are, don't be. The film is being released directly to DVD April 28th-- Where it will probably get as little exposure and backlash as possible.

Yikes...

TRAILER - Dragonball: Evolution (Talkshow Footage)

I normally leave this stuff to dbthemovie.com, but I thought this was too fun to pass up. Whereas "G.I. Joe" looks laughable because it takes its absurdity too seriously, and "Transformers 2" looks just bland, "Dragonball: Evolution," while, like the first two films, won't be any masterpiece, but it just might be the most entertaining of the poorer summer action flicks.

The more that gets released of this film, no matter how subtle it is, the more impressive it looks. Here's snippets of an upcoming trailer from a Japanese talk show.

Yes kids. That's the Eternal Dragon:


Not terrible. Not terrible at all. April 8th.

Full T-600 Revealed for "Terminator: Salvation"

Gamepro revealed a full on design of the T-600 in "Terminator: Salvation." Though it's not as sleak and refined as the T-800s we're use to from T1 and T2, it does seem to fit the evolution well. The hulking design of the creature gives the idea that Skynet is perfecting their weapons, but they haven't quite grasped their infiltrator roots. Click to enlarge:

IMAX "Watchmen" Poster

Warner Brothers knows how to market this thing! The IMAX poster for "Watchmen" has an echo of the "floating heads" posters many action movies adopt. But the colorful variation of that idea is far more entertaining than what I've seen in recent years. Gorgeous and badass. It takes a lot to merge the two flawlessly. Take a look:

TRAILER - Star Trek (Spot)

The last of the Superbowl trailers I'll be posting tonight is also the best. Though it's not exactly as exciting as the second trailer released at the end of last year, this spot offers a great deal of new footage and a better idea at what the characters will be like:


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I love the shot of the Enterprise firing its weapons. The ship has a great frontward view. Chris Pine's Kirk certainly doesn't seem like the character originally brought to life by The Shat, but I can see where this is going. By far my most anticipated movie this year.

TRAILER - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

And here it is. The much anticipated teaser for the Transformers sequel. Surprise. It looks no different from the first film. At least the "G.I. Joe" trailer presented the idea you would be able to tell what the hell is going on:


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Once again, the robot character designs are incomprehensible and the action looks as if its deflated by Bay's favorite use of camera work. It was a flat trailer. Not bad, but certainly not exciting-- It brings nothing new to the table, and it doesn't draw any new fans.

I'm sure some will get a kick out of Optimus having his face mask broken off, but... whoopy-doo. And if the giant-"er" robot at the end of the preview is Devestator that's just sad. What a missed opportunity.

TRAILER - G.I. Joe (Teaser)

You know those movies that look so bad they're good? Stephen Sommers has made a career out of those. Sure, "The Mummy Returns" and "Van Helsing" might be some of the dumbest movies ever made, but they're a hell of a lot of fun.

Here it seems Sommers has gone deeper into the realm of idiocy to keep his dumb-fun title. No doubt "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" looks like you're giddy, I'm-a-21st-Century-MTV-edited-action-extravaganza-with-no-mind, but we all know... well... at least most of us know, that the line between "fun" and "unbearable" is very thin. "G.I. Joe" is walking that line in ways I can barely relay.

For those of you who think "Dragonball: Evolution" looks bad (but entertaining), please check this out:


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Was I the only one laughing? Do tell. Come August I may have to slap down some of my hard earned money for this. I had no idea it was going to be a comedy.