Justice League On Film

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.”

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.

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

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."

MEDIA GEEK: THE GRAYSONS & THE POWER OF PRAYER

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GOTHAM CENTRAL

Frank Miller's All-Star Batman and Robin, The Boy Wonder certainly made some news recently as DC recalled issue #10 because of a "printing gaffe" where Batgirl and some thugs exchange obscenities (S-words, F-words, C-words and A-words) that were supposed to be blacked out. The series does not have a mature readers warning on the cover. DC caught the problem early in the week of publication and stopped some shipments, but had to request retailers to destroy the rest. Despite the clear request, many issues made their way into the hands of readers. If you must have one of the recalled issues, then eBay should be your next destination (I recently saw 260 listings). The non-recall intended version of issue #10 came out on September 24th.
   I wish I could talk about Grant Morrison's "Batman R.I.P." arc more, but that arc is still taking a hiatus this month. So I think I'll wait until next month to talk about it more. Mark Sable's Two-Face Year One #2 has been pushed back until October 8th. I talked to Sable myself online and he is very upset with the delays. I was not a fan of Ra's al Ghul Year One or Scarecrow Year One, but Two-Face Year One is very good thus far. It is faithful to The Long Halloween and does a neat job of laying the early continuity roots for the acclaimed title Gotham Central. Sable knows Harvey Dent and early Gotham well. Fans of the show Dexter may want to check out the story, as Sable openly borrows from it to craft the plot of Two-Face Year One.
   In movie news, there still really is no movie news. Aaron Eckhart told MTV that the Nolan brothers have more Batman stories in them (for what that is worth). The Dark Knight is apparently going to be re-released in early 2009 (probably IMAX only) as a means of reminding Academy members of the film for the Oscar race.
Plenty of Batman video games are either released or on the horizon. Lego Batman: The Videogame was released September 23rd and stars almost every Batman character. On November 10th, Midway will release Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, which will include Batman and The Joker. Sometime in 2009, Rocksteady Studios (developer of Urban Chaos: Riot Response) will release Batman: Arkham Asylum, which is a single-player game based on the comic book mythos. Head over to IGN to see the few pictures out there for this game; it's the one I'm most excited for.
   I leave you with a favorite quote from The Joker in Grant Morrison's Arkham Asylum. It's the end of the graphic novel and Batman is leaving Arkham feeling spiritually reborn. Joker says to him as he's walking outside to the cops, "Parting is such sweer sorrow, dearest. Still, you can't say we didn't show you a good time. Enjoy yourself out there... in the asylum. Just don't forget -- if it ever gets too tough... there's always a place for you here."
                      -- Jeff

GOTHAM CENTRAL

Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Jeff G.  I've been invited to do a weekly round-up of Batman news here at Voices From Krypton (I will also be doing some Batman comic and graphic novel reviews).  I have a Ph.D. in Batmanology from the University of Self-Aggrandizement.  But enough about me, let’s get to the news. 

   Over at Newsarama.com, Brian Azzarello (Lex Luthor: Man of Steel) offered a glimpse into he and Lee Bermejo’s October 22^nd graphic novel Joker.  Fans are anticipating the release because of Azzarello’s success with Lex Luthor: Man of Steel and Lee Bermejo’s gruesome scarred-face Joker (Bermejo’s design actually preceded The Dark Knight).  According to Brian, the premise is Joker, released from Arkham, finds that his assets have been divvied up by the Gotham underworld and he wants them back.  The story is told from the point of view of one of Joker’s henchmen.  Many guest stars are promised, including Killer Croc (who plays a big role as one of Joker’s henchmen), Penguin, Riddler, and Two-Face.  Brian said, “It’s a brutal book. I have a reputation for writing all kinds of hardcore, violent things. This is the most violent thing I’ve ever written.” 

   Fans of All-Star Batman and Robin, The Boy Wonder (not me) will be relieved to hear that issue #10 has just been released.  It’s amazing that this title started in July 2005 and is only now on issue #10.  Apparently, Axl Rose is fed up with the delay (joke). 

   Looking at the current release dates, Morrison’s “Batman R.I.P” is taking a hiatus for the month of September. 

   Time for some movie news:  Blu-ray.com has The Dark Knight DVD release date as December 16^th.  In the domestic box office, The Dark Knight recently broke $500 million.  As for sequel news, there really is none at this point; Johnny Depp affirmatively denied being cast as The Riddler and denied that any casting is being done.  A sequel will likely happen, but Nolan was not too keen initially on even doing The Dark Knight.  The sequel and Nolan’s involvement is a “wait and see” matter.  But I hear two more DC animated original movies featuring Batman are planned, one being tentatively titled Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (based on the Loeb/McGuinness story of the same name which saw Lex Luthor deposed as President of the United States). 

   That’s all for this week batfans.  Tune in next week, same bat-time, same bat-channel. 

--Jeff--

JAMES TUCKER ON "BATMAN AND THE BRAVE & THE BOLD"

Having recently put the animated Legion of Superheroes behind him, supervising producer James Tucker has segued over to Batman: The Brave and the Bold, a forthcoming Cartoon Network animated series that, taking a cue from the classic DC comic of the same name, will present adventures in which Batman teams up with a different character from the DC Universe each week. In this exclusive interview, James details his approach to the series.

THIS WEEK ON THE BATMAN...WITH ALAN BURNETT

Throughout this past season, The Batman has had the Dark Knight teaming up with different members of the Justice League. Tomorrow, in what will mark the final episode of The Batman, the entire team is being brought together for one last adventure. Where the DC Tooniverse goes from here, of course, is anyone's guess, although the rumors are flying that there will be a Brave & The Bold series with Batman teaming up with different DC heroes in every episode. In the following exclusive interview with supervising producer Alan Burnett, just as he's done all season with VFK, he previews the new episode of The Batman.

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THIS WEEK ON THE BATMAN...WITH ALAN BURNETT

This Saturday, Batman teams up with The Flash in "A Mirror Darkly" on The Batman. In the episode,  the Mirror Master arrives with a plan to trap everyone in their own mirror image. In this exclusive interview, supervising producer Alan Burnett previews the episode.