If you are one of those people who watch any “Batman” movie or show but find yourself wondering, “but what about Commissioner Gordon?” Your pleas for some back story to the life of Gordon have been answered. Deadline has reported that Fox is working to develop a new live-action series called, “Gotham” that will follow the adventures of a young Detective James Gordon. The series comes from “The Mentalist” creator Bruno Heller. Continue reading
World renowned composer Hans Zimmer seemingly has scored a majority of the DC Comics feature films including Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy and Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel. So he was a natural choice when it came to choosing someone to score the upcoming Superman/Batman film. But Zimmer hasn’t agreed just yet. Continue reading
The upcoming Batman prequel game, “Batman: Arkham Origins” has offered a few updates recently as its impending release looms closer. The game, which is being developed by Warner Bros. Games Montreal features an expanded Gotham City and introduces an original prequel storyline occurring several years before the events of the games “Batman: Arkham Asylum” and “Batman: Arkham City.”
Taking place before the rise of Gotham City’s most dangerous villains and assassins, the game showcases a young, raw, unrefined Batman as he faces a defining moment in his early career as a crime fighter that sets his path to becoming the Dark Knight. As the story unfolds, witness identities being formed and key relationships being forged. Continue reading
This infographic concept was produced by Chapman Automotive Group.
TV Guide recently revealed the first look at the Joker and his appearance in the animated film version of Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. It was also announced that Michael Emerson, most known for his role on “Lost” will be vicing the character.
The Dark Knight Returns is the upcoming animated feature based on the graphic novel. The story will be split up into two separate films with the Joker being heavily featured in the second part. Emerson commented on his role in the project, stating:
He’s one of those great villains that an actor like me likes to play because he has layers — he has a face for the world and a face for himself,” Emerson said. “He is, in a way, a villain who is a natural actor. All of that is that is delightful and confounding at the same time. It’s freeing because of the largeness of it. When he laughs, there’s nothing subdued about it. When he screams in rage, there’s nothing controlled about it. The amp is turned to 11 at all times.”
In the film, the Joker has been declared as legally sane by Dr. Wolper. He is released from his cell at Arkham Asylum and of course returns to his old ways in the wake of the return of Batman.
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 will be released on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital platforms on September 25th with the second part expected to land in February of 2013. The first part is described as follows:
It’s been a decade since Bruce Wayne hung up his cape, following most of the other superheroes who had been forced into retirement. Facing the downside of middle age, a restless Bruce Wayne pacifies his frustration with race cars and liquor – but the bat still beckons as he watches his city fall prey to gangs of barbaric criminals known as The Mutants.”
Peter Weller provided the voice of Batman/Bruce Wayne and is joined by David Selby as Commissioner Gordon, Ariel Winter as Robin, Wade Williams as Two-Face and Michael McKean as Dr. Bartholomew Wolper. The film is directed by Jay Oliva, written by Bob Goodman and executive produced by Sam Register and Bruce Timm.
You can check out the previously-released trailer below:
The Dark Knight Rises topped the Box Office Report for the second weekend in a row since its release. The Dark Knight Rises dropped in sales Friday, partially due to the Olympics according to ComingSoon, but grossed an estimated $64.1 million on Saturday.
Internationally, the film has made $248.2 million for a worldwide total of $537.3 million.
It wasn’t an easy week for box office newcomers though, as both Adam Sandler’s That’s My Boy and the musical Rock of Ages failed to reach the top 12.
20th Century Fox’s Ice Age: Continental Drift took second place again, dropping 35% in its third weekend, and earning $13.3 million. It has earned $564.8 million globally.
Another newcomer, The Watch, took third place this weekend, earning 13 million in 3,168 theaters. The comedy, which stars Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and British comic Richard Aoyade, earned just over $4,100 per site.
The fourth installment of the dance franchise Step Up Revolution came in second place Friday with $4.8 million, but fell to fourth place for the weekend with $11.8 million. So far, the film has earned less than its predecessor, Step Up 3D, which opened to $15.8 million two years ago.
Seth MacFarlane’s comedy Ted, starring Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis, came in fifth place. It has earned $193.6 million in five weeks.
Another superhero took spot number six this weekend. The Amazing Spider-Man earned $6.8 million, bringing the film to a total of $654 million worldwide.
Disney-Pixar’s Brave came in seventh place with $4.2 million, and Magic Mike dropped to eighth place iwth $2.6 million.
Oliver Stone’s crime drama Savages took ninth place with $1.8 million, and Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom rounded out the top 10 in its 10th week.
For a more in-depth look at the box office results, visit http://www.comingsoon.net/boxoffice/.
Why are you interested in this adaptation?
Rachel-
No one who reads our column will be surprised that I am a huge Batman fan. I think I was introduced to Batman through the excellent Batman: The Animated Series as a kid, but since Saturday morning episodes weren’t enough for me I was also picking up whatever comics I could get my hands on.
I love Batman. I love the whole Bat Family! They’re all so DAMAGED!
Needless to say, I’ve seen Nolan’s Batman Begins (I FELL ASLEEP in the theater watching that, you guys…I own it, though, so I’ve since seen it several times. I hate it. I HATE IT), and it’s not my cup of tea. Nolan’s obsession with making Batman realistic, the made-up character of Rachel…. The Dark Knight is much better and far more watchable, but I still feel like Nolan’s take on Batman is more like a Bond film with a different suit and not a comic book movie. I’m interested in The Dark Knight Rises because I want the Nolan trilogy to end. That’s kind of harsh. But it’s true. I’ve sat through the other two and I’m going for some Batman kicks.
Elena-
Can we change the question to be “why are you not interested”? Because I am not interested. Do you guys remember how when The Dark Knight came out in theaters, everyone loved it—and I mean everyone—except there was always that one token friend or friend of a friend that you had who didn’t like it, but they were such a minority they were almost the exception that proved the rule? Y’all recall that? I was that one friend. I was the one person I and all of my friends knew who didn’t like the movie.
I liked the first one okay. I don’t have a strong attachment to Batman or any of the old manifestations, so I didn’t mind the attempt to make it more realistic and less comics. Whatever. The directing was good, and the story didn’t piss me off.
The Dark Knight was awful for me. Too long by about an hour, waaaaay too many ancillary and pointless plotlines, and I guess it made me dislike Batman’s entire ethos because it is clearly not preventing awful people from doing awful things but rather punishing them for doing awful things. Totally different thing. Drop the Joker off the building, city-destroying disaster averted. Oh, wait, what’s that, it would be immoral to do it? Look, I’m as libertarian as it gets on civil liberties, I respect things like due process more than 99% of politicians would like, but that’s if you’re acting within the law—it’s to prevent the government from trampling your rights. In the context, Batman has SEEN the Joker plan atrocities and LAUGH. And his decision as a goddamned vigilante is to not kill him when he has the chance? THE FUCK? And then that shit went on for a whole nother 90 minutes before it was over. It’s the closest I’ve come to walking out of a movie in recent memory.
I’m still traumatized by that one.
So I was only enthused about TDKR in the abstract, in the sense that if it exists to finance Nolan’s next Inception then I am all on board with him making it…I just don’t want to see it. The one thing that would make me want to see it would be if it turns out to be, as the title suggests, Batman giving up his morality to actually be a dark knight who kills the motherfuckers before they can burn his ghetto to the ground. Give me THAT movie, and MAYBE I will go see it.
What would make it awesome?
Elena-
I believe I just answered that question. Abstain from redundancy.
Rachel-
What would make it awesome is if Batman is in the movie? The other two films show Bruce having to discover then rediscover Batman. If Batman has to re-Batman again in another hour and a half of “inner struggle” about how Gotham doesn’t need Batman…I will freak out.
I’m hoping for some Catwoman action. Out-smarting all these tech obsessed boys would also be great.
What would make it suck?
Rachel-
I know already that it’s going to be three hours long…so that will probably suck. Only because I know how the Nolan Batman films can DRAG, and sitting there for three hours while Batman batrasps at me and moons over dead fakeRachel will suuuuuck.
I’m really nervous about Bane. Why is Bane British? Why can I not understand him in the trailers? What’s going on with his aerosol mask? Is this movie going to be one unintelligible guy shouting at another unintelligible guy with Anne Hathaway making stupid jokes in between?
Elena-
It will suck if it is as needlessly overcomplicated as the second one was. That many plotlines that are ancillary to the main story are basically masturbation fodder. Which, fine, if you’re into that sort of thing, but I’m not, so save it for the director’s cut and let me skate out of this with only two hours of my life lost and not three, k thx bye.
Thoughts on casting/production?
Rachel-
I am ambivalent about Tom Hardy. He’s cloned Captain Picard from Stark Trek: Nemesis. He has puffy lips. Those lips will supposedly never be seen as he is playing Bane, and Nolan’s version of Bane is a dude permanently hooked up to Darth Vader’s respiratory machine. I don’t know why. Will we learn why?
Elena-
Wait, Tom Hardy is Bane? Suddenly I almost want to see this! Hardy is still on my automatic-cred list because of Bronson. It’s going to take a few more stinkers from him for that glamour to wear off…although he does seem to be trying pretty hard to just play the same character every time now. I guess that’s ergonomic. Maybe Bane will add some range to his recent portfolio.
Rachel-
Anne Hathaway as Catwoman is both really interesting and really terrifying. Hathaway has that old-fashioned brunette with a round face look that Nolan casts IN ALL OF HIS FILMS. The Catwoman costume I’ve seen is OK. It’s a black jumpsuit with stupid-ass goggle cat-ear things. There appears to be no whip. She also wears RIDICULOUS shoes. Nolan is so obsessed with making everything hyper-realistic, but he’s got Catwoman in shoes she wouldn’t be able to climb around buildings on. So I’m going to assume that she doesn’t climb around buildings and she just wiggle-walks everywhere…hopefully while flipping everyone off. Her casting is definitely a callback to Julie Newmar rather than the Darwyn Cooke design with the head gear, goggles, and short hair.
Elena-
Gotta be honest, Hathaway is a challenge for me. She is one of those actresses that I can never see as the character; I always just see her as Anne Hathaway, even though I think she actually is kind of okay at acting? Maybe? So she seems pretty much like a terrible choice to me for Catwoman. But I don’t know who would do it better so why not?
Reaction to film: ***Spoilers Abound***
Elena-
So. Convince me to see this one. If you can.
Rachel-
Welp….
That was…that was, well actually it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Yes, Batman did have to re-Batman his Batman for two hours. WHY? WHY CAN’T HE JUST BE BATMAN?
Bruce has spent the last eight years being a shut-in with a cane (why he needs the cane is unknown, because he seemed FINE at the end of the last film…I guess he was shot?) even though, and this is the fundamental part of Batman that Nolan seems to not understand, Bruce would never STOP being Batman. This is an issue that comes again and again in the film, culminating in an ending where Bruce permanently gives up Batman.
WHAAAT?
That’s just a Batcation, right? Bruce is going to get bored in about 12 seconds (five seconds after Selina realizes spending all her time with a no-longer-super-rich dude not stealing things suuuucks) and head back to Gotham and the mansion he left to the city for a Vigilante Orphan Boys Home. He’ll go down into the Batcave and let notRobin know how to sign in to the Batcomputer and then call out to Alfred, who would also HAVE NEVER LEFT BRUCE, “Alfred! Bring me another Orphan Boy!”
And all will be well with the world.
Wedging Bane in as Talia’s protector and tying it all back to the League of Shadows in Batman Begins felt a little forced, an attempt by Nolan to bring his trilogy full circle. (I see what you did there, you Lazaraus Pit hater! GHOST LIAM NEESON CAN BITE ME!) However, I still appreciated the fact that Nolan dipped more into the comics for TDKR than in his previous Batman films. Several scenes seemed pulled straight from the comics, if not in meaning then at least in visual language.
I still found Bane to be absolutely unintelligible. I got maybe every fifth word. It was incredibly frustrating. Nolan’s attempt to make Bane more intelligible seems to have been to just up his dialogue track by 200 percent and give us the finger. Thanks. That didn’t help at all! It just made Bane seem like he was being dubbed in and mixed by a telenovela team.
Elena…I know you are not into Batman, so I want to make it clear: ROBIN’S NAME IS NOT ROBIN. His name is also not John. I…don’t understand how this happened. Nolan is so anti-Robin that he’ll make up a dissatisfied cop character and…NAME him Robin? IT’S SO WEIRD! There are plenty of actual Robin name’s to choose from but…well, what’s wrong with naming him Richard?
If he was worried that his heavy-handed foreshadowing throughout the film was ruining the surprise, then keep the John name and change the “actual” name stupidest last line for a movie ever from “Robin” to “Richard.” What? Was he worried that people who didn’t know DICK about Batman wouldn’t get the reference?
Here’s a thing…
…How about you shouldn’t CARE! If my mom watched that movie and didn’t get why having him named “Richard” (assuming “Dick” was too old fashioned) was related to the character taking on the Batmantle, as it were…WHO CARES?! My mom isn’t watching this film. You know who is? FANS. People for whom the reference is a Google or a lean over to the person next to them away if they didn’t get it already.
ROBIN IS NOT HIS NAME. That would like me becoming “Rachel Gal” and then attempting to have a secret identity.
UGH. THAT WAS REALLY ANNOYING.
I think the people who are really into the Nolan Batman films are fine. I’m glad they enjoy them. I’m glad that they can watch those films and read the comics and not have issues. I’m not one of those people. I don’t think an adaptation should slavishly follow the source material, but I do think that the main identifying characteristics and personality of the most important characters should make it from page to screen.
Nolan’s Batman has always been a tool for Bruce Wayne to go from damaged child to well-adjusted adult. Batman is something that holds Bruce back, if Nolan’s Alfred is to be believed. In actuality Batman has always been more than a mask and more than a symbol. Batman IS Bruce Wayne. The play boy, the rich kid…he is the tool of Batman. Bruce is the mask. Nolan doesn’t think this, and so I’ll never like these movies as much as some of you, but I respect that Nolan has ushered in an era of comic book movies as more than comedy action flicks. They should be as topical and inspiring as the comics. Hopefully though, the next Batman reboot won’t take it QUITE so seriously. I’d like to see a Gotham that has room in it for a Batman that never gives up.
Elena-
Even your fake enthusiasm was not enough to sell me on this one. Maybe some pictures might help?
Last night I excitedly headed to the BIG theater in my city to see a movie I just couldn’t wait for, The Dark Knight Rises. I want to preface this review by saying that I went into this movie with high expectations. After the impressive film, The Dark Knight, I felt like this film, the ending of a trilogy, had to be better than the previous, though I had in my mind it might be an impossible standard.
However, The Dark Knight Rises does NOT disappoint. I will say that I did not think it was better, but it was on par and as good as the previous installment.
The film pulls the audience in very early on with the almost immediate introduction of Bane. We are only a few minutes into the film when we are introduced to the main “villain” of this tale and with it the story quickly begins its jaunty three hour ride. Not to mention I was ecstatic to see Petyr Baelish make an appearance ( or Aidan Gillen for you non Game of Thrones watchers.)
We also are very quickly introduced to Anne Hathaway’s character, Selina Kyle/ Catwoman. I was totally against her in the role from the minute her casting was announced. It wasn’t that I didn’t think she couldn’t handle the role, I just have never really liked her in her other projects. (I also have a spot in my heart that is taken by Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman.) BUT, Hathaway’s performance was almost flawless. She portrayed the sultry, confident cat burglar who is actually not evil, isn’t a villain. I also found her to be a great foil for Batman/Bruce Wayne. Her ideals and actions are opposite his but deep down they are very similar – they want to get out on their own terms. You can see the chemistry between the actors from the get go and it only grows through out the film.
JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT. (need I say more?)
YES. THIS.
Also his acting was fantastic and I sense Night Wing on the horizon.
This movie did make me feel like an idiot though. Not in the way you think. There is a HUGE twist at the end, that still surprised me. After it was revealed, I felt dumb for not seeing it sooner. It might have to do with some misdirection by some of the cast members in interviews, but I was definitely caught off guard by the big reveal. I won’t give it away here because you deserve to experience it on your own if you reading this before seeing the film.
One thing that I disliked what the time framing. After Bane comes to power and Batman (is somewhere else entirely) there is no frame of reference of how much time is passing. We can ASSUME it is at the least a few weeks, but there is no real knowledge of it has been week, months, or even a year. It’s not like I was some cliched montage or some equally annoying shit, I just want some frame of reference. We only find out how long it has been right before the action is about go down and someone outright says it. But it takes to long to establish that more than a few weeks as passed. I found it to be slightly lazy on either the Director’s part or the screenwriters part. However, while cinematically, this bothered me, it in no way hindered the actual movie for me.
Most of all, this film was a great addition to the trilogy as awhole. It flowed seamlessly from the end of The Dark Knight to create something you can watch back to back without missing a beat. It looks similar to the first two and was just as action packed and character oriented as the rest.
Also: TEARS WERE SHED. The ending was PERFECT. Tears of sadness followed by tears of joy. (There is just something so heartbreaking about watching Alfred blubber that released the floodgates of tear waterfall.) The ending gives closure to not just this film but the entire trilogy. It packs everything up in a neat little bow while closing the stories of some characters and opening the doors of others.
Seriously, who can watch him breakdown and not at least tear up?
The Dark Knight Rises opens in theaters on July 20 in about 18 countries worldwide, and another 38 markets the following weekend, according to Variety.com.
WB has upped the amount of screens they’re putting the film on by about 4,000 over 2008’s The Dark Knight, according to ComingSoon.
The new film will be played on about 15,000 screens overseas, which ComingSoon reported isn’t the biggest overseas opening, but still sizable.
In promotional news for the film, Hot Toys unveiled a Dark Knight Rises action figure. It comes with multiple accessories, faces and hands that are interchangeable.
The figure can also be placed on a Batpod or in a new vehicle called The Bat (sold separately).
To see the new toy, check out the photos below:
Editor’s note: I find the above toy incredibly creepy and Patrick Bateman-esque. Anyone else feel this way?
Christopher Nolan, finally finished with his Batman trilogy, has answered rumors speculating that he has plans to make a Justice League film featuring the Dark Knight, Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern. The rumors began after the filmmaker’s involvement as a producer on next summer’s Superman reboot, Man of Steel, but Nolan has assured us that he is in fact, NOT working on the rumored Justice League film.
“No, none at all,” Nolan said in an interview over the weekend. “We’re finished with all we’re doing with Batman. This is the end of our take on this character.”
Nolan also added that he has no plans for involvement with any solo Batman films when distributor Warner Bros., owner of DC Comics, decides to launch a new take on the classic character.
“Batman will outlive us all, and our interpretation was ours,” Nolan said. “Obviously, we consider it definitive and kind of finished. The great thing about Batman is he lives on for future generations to reinterpret, and obviously, Warners will have to decide in the future what they’re going to do with him. We’ve had our say on the character.”
Nolan reiterated that he will have “…certainly, no involvement with any Justice League project.”
After Disney’s Marvel’s The Avengers, the big-screen adaptations of Marvel Comics superheroes has pulled in $1.45 billion worldwide, and viewers are speculating that Warner Bros. might create its own ensemble film and where better to start than with the much loved Justice League series?
Nolan’s 2005 trilogy-opener Batman Begins broke box office records, and its 2008 sequel The Dark Knight won an Academy Award for Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker.Fans across the world are eagerly awaiting the finale feature to hit theaters this summer on July 20th that will see the addition of Cat Woman and Bane as major antagonists in the film.
Check out the trailer for The Dark Knight Rises below: