Justice League On Film

JUSTICE LEAGUE ON FILM IS MOVING

While this blog will remain for archival purposes, new updates on "Justice League" and the heroes that make it up can be found over at Earthsmightiest.com. Just click on the image below to be brought there. 

WARNER BROS. ANNOUNCES SEQUEL TO "BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM"

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment today announced that it will be the worldwide publisher of the sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum™, one of the year’s most highly reviewed and top-selling video games. The sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum is currently in development with Rocksteady Studios and is based on DC Comics’ core Batman property. Fans can visit www.arkhamhasmoved.com to sign up to receive updates regarding the game.

“We are thrilled to build a global game franchise from Batman: Arkham Asylum, which is receiving an incredible response from gamers and Batman fans around the world,” said Martin Tremblay, President, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “Rocksteady has taken Batman to a new level in the video game space and we are committed to delivering a sequel the fans will love.”

“Getting the opportunity to create Batman: Arkham Asylum and seeing its success has been a dream come true for the team,” said Sefton Hill, Game Director, Rocksteady Studios. “We are honored to create the next chapter in this compelling story and promise to deliver another game worthy of the DARK KNIGHT.”

CRISIS ON TWO EARTHS TRAILER

SCIFI TV ZONE.COM: THE VIDEO

GREEN LANTERN: DIRECTOR MARTIN CAMPBELL DISCUSSES F/X

In an interview with The Coventry Telegraph, director Martin Campbell discusses the challenges he'll be facing in terms of the visual effects for Green Lantern. "It's daunting," he said. "Just the process, something like 1,300 visual effects shows, it's mind-blowing, quite hoenstly. A lof of the special effects shots work will concentrate on the Green Lantern power ring. It's energized by a batter on the planet Oa, which taps into the willpower of everyone in the universe. From that ring you can form constructs. So if you got into a fight, you could form a giant fist or a fighter plane."
   In the same article he discussed the appeal of shooting the film in New Orleans, with production beginning in April. He also sang the virtues of GL being different from other superhero characters: "He's the only superhero to my knowledge who regularly goes to another planet. Superman and Batman were essentially locked into a particular city. The Lantern isn't so Earthbound."

THE MAKING OF "SUPERMAN/BATMAN: PUBLIC ENEMIES"

 

Based on the storyline from the Superman/Batman comic book, the film poses that a large chunk of the planet Krypton is on a direct-heading for earth, which seems to be all of the ammunition that Luthor needs to bring the Man of Steel down once and for all.

 

“To a large degree, this is Luthor’s story,” offers writer Stan Berkowitz, who adapted the comic. “When you first meet him, it seems that he’s been reformed and is making a real difference in America. It’s just this meteor that screws everything up, and Luthor’s hubris to not want to work with Superman. That’s his fatal flaw in this story. He’s the science nerd who won’t accept the help of the star athlete and he just goes crazy.”

 

Jeph Loeb, who had been writing the Superman comic before launching Superman/Batman, explains that his goal with “Public Enemies” was to deal with the fact that he had made Luthor president. “It was time for Luthor to go,” he says matter of factly. “So that was the big story. At the time, the whole idea was to act as a metaphor for a country insisting there were weapons of mass destruction in another country and then invading that country. Which we all know would be fiction. This was another fictional account of what would happen if the President of the United States decided that something was an imminent threat and would then make sure that people, who were actually innocent, would be hunted down and put into some kind of prison situation. It was a great way to kick off the series, which was to have Luthor offer a billion dollar ransom for the capture of Superman, which meant every villain in the world would come out after him and that anyone who helped him would be convicted as well, which put Batman on the outside — which is where he wanted to be anyway.”

 

The challenge of adaptation, says Berkowitz, was to make it believable that the public would turn against Superman. This was accomplished when it seems that Superman has killed one of his enemies, Metallo, and Luthor makes the claim that the closer this Kryptonite meteor gets to earth, the more impact its radiation will have on Superman, causing him to act irrationally. The general public then becomes paranoid about Superman, making it all the more believable.”

 Initially President Luthor offers a bounty for Superman’s capture, resulting in numerous villains going out after him. Then he turns to America’s superheroes and, issuing an executive order, has them (including Hawkman and Captain Marvel) try to bring Superman and Batman in, resulting in an incredible super powered smack down that spans a decent part of the film’s running time.

SMALLVILLE: EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS BRIAN PETERSON & KELLY SOUDERS

Justice League On Film editor Edward Gross was among reporters who had the opportunity to speak to Smallville executive producers Brian Peterson and Kelly Souders at this year's Comic-Con. What follows is an audio version of that conversation, in which they discuss season nine of the series.

Click To Play

WONDER WOMAN'S (ALMOST) RETURN TO TELEVISION

Back at the beginning of the decade, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman creator Deborah Joy Levine developed a new TV version of Wonder Woman, and got as far as writing the script for the pilot and beginning the casting process before the project fell apart. At the time, though, we caught up with Levine who, between casting sessions, took a few minutes to discuss her approach to the Amazon Princess. This interview was originally posted at our sister site at www.scifitvzone.com.

SCIFI TV ZONE: So, what is it with you and super heroes?

DEBORAH JOY LEVINE: I guess I’m back. I didn’t mean to come back, but I came back to Warner Bros. after working for some time at Columbia Sony Tri-Star. And just as I arrived at Warner Bros., they purchased the rights to do Wonder Woman from DC Comics. I was here, they looked at me and they looked at DC Comics and the rest is history. It was the same kind of deal that I had with Lois & Clark: “Come up with a new take on Wonder woman.” I think I’ve managed to do that. At least I hope it’s a new take, because I never saw the old [Lynda Carter] series and I decided I didn’t want to read a lot of comic books so that I wouldn’t be influenced.

SCIFI TV ZONE: So how would you describe your new take on Wonder Woman?

DEBORAH JOY LEVINE: I guess my new take is that she is a Greek history professor, a young and very bright woman having a hard time juggling her personal life with her work. In this case, of course, her real work is being an Amazon warrior. It’s, like, “I’ll save the world, come home, pop a Lean Cuisine in the oven and watch the soap I taped this afternoon.” In many ways, she’s like a real woman, a real person. There’s a lot less holier than thou, out to fight for truth and justice, and more or less the fact that she’s here, she did come from Paradise Island, she was sent by her mother who the gods spoke to and said you have to send an emissary. So she came here and that’s sort of what she’s supposed to do as Wonder Woman, but she’s trying to live a normal life as Diana Prince, Greek history professor, as well.

SCIFI TV ZONE: On Lois & Clark, the super heroics, at least in the beginning, were very much a backdrop to the relationship . Where does that stand in Wonder Woman?

DEBORAH JOY LEVINE: I think about the same. There’s more concentration on her personal life, her love life. I think that she tries to live a normal life, but she will kick ass when she has to. That will probably happen in episodes a couple of times because she does, of course, get herself into situations that she shouldn’t. I think this is not a show that’s totally about her fighting the bad guys, and certainly not , as it was in the comic books, where she has to fight monsters. No monsters here.

SCIFI TV ZONE: Were there any lessons from Lois & Clark that you think you’re bringing to this show? DEBORAH JOY LEVINE: I think what worked on Lois & Clark is that it was really 50/50 or 60/40 relationship and stuff going on between them versus the bad guys they had to deal with. The problem with Lois & Clark in the later years is that there was less emphasis when I left the show on relationship, or very sort of hurried relationship to try and serve the plotline of the bad guys. I sort of think people want both. I guess if you were to compare this to something, it would have to be Ally McBeal meets Xena. She can be like Xena and beat a group of people if she has to, but the drama of her life as a single woman living in Los Angeles is probably the priority here. -- Edward Gross

NOW AVAILABLE:

Click image for details.

BATMAN: THE MOVIE CELEBRATES 20 YEARS

BATMAN: THE MOVIE Starring Michael Keaton Celebrates 20th Anniversary

with New Single Blu-Ray Book

from Warner Home Video

Debuts May 19 with Hours of Bonus Content

Including Tim Burton Commentary and 50 Pages of

Collectible Essays, Trivia and Photos

Burbank, Calif., March 16, 2009 - BATMAN: The Movie, the film that launched a global phenomenon, celebrates its 20th anniversary May 19 with a new single release. 

BATMAN: The Movie 20th Anniversary Blu-ray Hi-Def will be packaged in a premium hardcover book format that is loaded with hours of bonus content, including commentary with director Tim Burton and a digital copy which allows consumers a single non-transferable download of the full-length film compatible with iTunes® and Windows Media devices™. The Blu-ray book includes original script pages, excerpts from the Batman Official Book of the Movie and the DC Comics comic book adaptation of the film!

BATMAN: The Movie 20th Anniversary Blu-ray Hi-Def will be available for $34.99 SRP.

About the Movie

Tim Burton’s direction and Michael Keaton’s performance combine perfectly in the first film of the Warner Bros. series which captures GOTHAM CITY’S sinister atmosphere and BATMAN’S brooding nature. Jack Nicholson stars in a memorable performance as the maniacal villain, THE JOKER and Kim Basinger is VICKI VALE, the beautiful and resourceful photojournalist. Featuring songs by Prince and a score by Danny Elfman, BATMAN won the 1990 Oscar® for Best Art Direction/Set Decoration. 

Special Features

(Includes all of the special features from the Two-Disc Special Edition DVD): 

* Commentary by director Tim Burton

* On the Set with Bob Kane

* Legends of the DARK KNIGHT: The History of BATMAN

o The Comic Book Saga as Reinvented and Reinterpreted over Seven Decades

* Shadows of the Bat: The Cinematic Saga of the DARK KNIGHT Parts 1-3 

o The Road to GOTHAM CITY

o The Gathering Storm

o The Legend Reborn

* Beyond Batman Documentary Gallery – 6 Featurettes:

o Visualizing Gotham: The Production Design of BATMAN

o Building the BATMOBILE

o Those Wonderful Toys: The Props and Gadgets of BATMAN

o Designing the BAT-SUIT

o From Jack to THE JOKER

o Nocturnal Overtures: The Music of BATMAN

* Three Prince Music Videos

o Batdance

o Partyman

o Scandalous

* The Heroes and The Villains Profile Galleries

* BATMAN: The Complete ROBIN Storyboard Sequence

* Theatrical trailer

BATMAN 20TH ANNIVERSARY BLU-RAY BOOK

Street Date: May 19, 2009

Pricing: $34.99 SRP

"GREEN LANTERN FIRST FLIGHT": AN INTERVIEW WITH PRODUCER BRUCE TIMM

Warner Bros. animation veteran Bruce Timm continues his role as producer of DC's made-for-DVD titles (which have included Superman: Doomsday, Justice League: New Frontier, Batman: Gotham Knight and Wonder Woman) with this summer's Green Lantern: First Flight. For an interview with Bruce Timm on the film, just head over to our Green Lantern Film.net site by clicking HERE.

WATCHFRIENDS: WHEN WATCHMEN MEETS SUPER FRIENDS

BAT-STATS

With The Dark Knight having grossed $1,001,082,160 worldwide, the film currently stands as the highest grossing film in Warner Bros. history. Additionally, it's the second-highest grossing film domestically of all time and the fourth-highest worldwide. In terms of IMAX,The Dark Knight is considered the largest "2-D digitally re-mastered" IMAX release of all time both domestically ($49.6 million) and worldwide ($64.9 million). Says Warner Bros. President of Domestic Distribution, Dan Fellman, "From our initial record-shattering opening weekend to the unprecedented momentum of the film's box office run, we could not be more proud of The Dark Knight's unparalleled success. We salute our filmmakers, cast and crew on making cinematic history."

EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK: DIRECTOR LAUREN MONTGOMERY ON "GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT"

DC has announced its newest direct-to-DVD animated film, Green Lantern: First Flight, which follows Superman: Doomsday, Justice League: New Frontier, Batman: Gotham Knight and this week's Wonder Woman. To check out an exclusive interview with Green Lantern director Lauren Montgomery, just head over to Green Lantern Film.net, by clicking HERE.

THE UNFILMED GREEN LANTERN

If everything goes according to plan, the Green Lantern movie will finally go before the cameras in the spring of 2009. This after about ten years of development and a number of false starts, thankfully in some cases (Jack Black as a Green Lantern?!). One of the aborted attempts to birng GL to the big screen came from Knight Rider executive producer Gary Scott Thompson. Our sister site, Green Lantern Film.net, has scored an interview with Thompson in which he discusses his efforts on the project. To check out that interview, click HERE.

MEDIA GEEK: SUPERMAN REBOOTS

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

FOR MORE MEDIA GEEK, CLICK HERE.

FROM THE WATCHTOWER: TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE?

One of the reasons George Miller's movie version of Justice League was derailed had to do with the fact that the Australian government denied the production an important tax break that would have made shooting there fiscally viable. As a result, Miller threatened to take JL, Happy Feet 2 and other productions out of country. Now, however, word has come out that the director will get said tax break for Happy Feet 2 and that production will start in January. Given how the situation has changed, however, odds are this won't make a difference in terms of Justice League gearing up. Due to the success of The Dark Knight, Warners has shifted gears to focus on solo superhero films with a potential Justice League further on in the horizon. No doubt Marvel's success with Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, and for the forthcoming Thor, Captain America and The Avengers has played some influence as well.

MEDIA GEEK: THE GRAYSONS & THE POWER OF PRAYER

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

FOR MORE MEDIA GEEK, CLICK HERE.

LYNDA CARTER GETS LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

SOURCE: Lab Business Week
DATE: November 9, 2008
The National Museum of Women in the Arts will present a Lifetime Achievement Award to Lynda Carter Friday, November 7 at NMWA's Annual Fall Benefit. At the event, Lynda will perform a variety of pop and Broadway hits from her current Cabaret show.
   Before winning our hearts as Wonder Woman in the television series, Lynda was an accomplished singer performing in Las Vegas and clubs around the country. After the series ended, Lynda had the distinction of starring in five of her own network television specials, several of which were Emmy-nominated. She has performed onstage with many of the world's most popular singers, including Tom Jones, Kenny Rogers, Ray Charles and Ben Vereen.
   Lynda Carter made her professional singing debut at 14 in Tempe, Arizona. She studied classical dance for seven years at the School Ballet of Phoenix. She also studied piano, and had her dramatic training with Laura Zucker, Stella Adler, Charles Conrad, Milton Katselas, Lieux Dressler, and Greta and Sandra Seacat. In 1973, she won the Miss World-U.S.A. title and shortly thereafter outdistanced hundreds of other actresses for the part of "Wonder Woman."
   The iconic Wonder Woman character has been featured in contemporary art works such as Dara Birnbaum's 1978-79 video, Technology, Transformation: Wonder Woman. Birnbaum's work was part of the landmark exhibition WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, which was on view at NMWA in fall 2008.
   The 2008 NMWA Annual Fall Benefit celebrates the 10th anniversary of its Shenson Chamber Music Series. A portion of proceeds from the benefit goes to fund the series, which offers concerts featuring emerging and established composers and musicians from around the world.

MEGAN GALE VS. MEGAN FOX AS WONDER WOMAN?

SOURCE: The Daily Telegraph (Syndey Confidential)
DATE: November 7, 2008
AUTHOR: Holly Byrnes & Joel Christie
Megan Gale might want to keep the whip at the ready after fighting off an online challenge by comic geeks to lasso Transformers femme Megan Fox into her role as Wonder Woman.
   Warner Bros, the US studio behind the stalled production of Justice League of America, in which Gale is signed to star, has been forced to deny web reports and a convincing poster campaign which features Fox as the lycra-clad super-heroine.
   Fox, rated as one of the sexiest women in the world, was mocked up in the movie-style trailer which teased fans this week with political-type slogans, including ``it's time for a new `W''' and an Obama-esque ``A real change is coming''.
   But the rumor on Wonder-Who.com has been exposed as a fake produced by comic fans attempting to force studio executives to cast Fox over Gale.
   The campaign was deemed credible in movie gossip circles, given the trailer featured the company logos of Warner Bros, Legendary Pictures and DC Comics -- all with links to the Wonder Woman story.
   However, London's The Guardian newspaper exposed the fan fraud in a blog entitled: ``The week in geek.''
   Confidential yesterday sought Gale's comment over the cyber push to unseat her from her Wonder Woman role, but her publicist said her Justice League contract with Warner Bros prevented her from speaking on the controversy.
   “Megan has an agreement with Warner Bros that she cannot comment on details of film projects that she's been linked with and she has to respect that request,'' her publicist said.
   The movie's Australian director George Miller did not return calls, but has previously backed Gale as his first choose to debut as the alter ego of character Diana Prince.
   “She got the job because she blitzed her screen test. I had no idea she was so good. She was brilliant,'' Miller told Confidential in August.
   “Once she read we all looked around at each other and said, `Well, there's no question.''' The success of Batman movie The Dark Knight and issues over local film subsidies have contributed to the Justice League project being put on hold.
   While Warner Bros is still committed to making the all-superhero movie, Gale revealed last month it had to be put back.
   “Batman [the central character in The Dark Knight] is part of the Justice League and so there are a lot of other things that have to be taken into consideration before they shoot,'' she said.
   Gale, the brand ambassador for David Jones, is also planning to firm up her contacts with studio executives and directors with another trip to Los Angeles this year.

BACK ISSUE NO. 30 - TV SUPERHEROES SPECIAL

Back Issue magazine number 30, from TwoMorrows Publishing, will undoubtedly appeal to Justice League fans as the issue is devoted to television superheroes. Kicking things off is an in depth look at Captain Marvel (as in Shazam!), starting with a look back at DC's 1970s revival of the character. This is followed by a look at an unpublished Captain Thunder story (the thinly veiled version of the good Captain who went up against Superman in Action Comics #576. Which in turn leads into one-on-one interviews with the two actors to play Captain Marvel in the Saturday morning Shazam! television series, Jackson Bostwicke and John Davey.
   ABC's 1970s version of the Justice League -- in the form of Super Friends -- is next, getting 14 pages of coverage and looking at the show from the point of view of a Hanna-Barbera (the animation company that produced the series, along with numerous others) employee, as well as from DC Comics' perspective in terms of titles based on or influenced by the series. Then there are photos and discussions of an unproduced "fourth wave" of the "Super Powers" action figures -- featuring characters from the show.
   Marv Wolfman actually pens a retrospective look back at the 1988 Superman animated series from Ruby-Spears that he produced. "I suggested the title The Adventures of Superman, based on the original live-action show I had watched as a kid," Wolfman revealed. "That show was the reason I got into comics in the first place. I also suggested using the opening from the TV show (and radio show): 'Look! Up in the sky!' etc... but set to the John Williams Superman movie score. The best of all possible worlds."
   To give an idea of the kind of stories he relates, Wolfman discusses the writing of the show's pilot episode. "I had a big scene at the end where Superman, using all his powers, smashes through a series of attacking giant robots, destorying them in a big scene. This was back in '88 or so and unlike these days, fighting on cartoon shows was not permitted by any of the networks. In fact, one character aggressively touching another was forbidden. S&P [Standards & Practices] said we had to change the ending. Superman, they said, can't destroy the robots because, and this is a direct quote, 'Even robots have souls.'" Yeesh! His retrospective spans three features and features storyboards and character model sheets.
   Other stories in the issue (with absolutely no connection to the Justice League) include a look back at the late Dave Stevens (The Rocketeer) and the Saturday morning cartoons Space Ghost and Astro Boy. To order this issue of Back Issue, go to TwoMorrows.com.