Now here’s something to get excited about! Warner Bros. has reportedly sealed the deal for Christopher Nolan to return to the director’s chair for his rabidly-anticipated sequel to The Dark Knight. As if that weren’t good news enough, the A-list director is going to take on a “godfather” role to the Superman film franchise, overseeing the development of a fresh vision of The Man of Steel.

Deadline.com brings the report, and they try to make clear that Nolan is not attached to write or direct the new Superman incarnation, which WILL NOT be a followup to Bryan Singer’s 2006 Superman Returns. The studio is trusting Nolan to guide the movie into a new direction, and just in the nick of time – legal battles have been ongoing regarding the rights to Superman and as of right now, they expire at Warner Bros. and return to the heirs of creators Siegel and Shuster in 2013. This means that the studio has to get moving if they plan to meet that deadline, and I can’t imagine a better show of support for this franchise than bringing Nolan on board.

Collider speculates that there might be some further negotiations made in order to secure sequel rights for the studio (let’s be real – why would they jump-start this franchise without plans to make more?), and suggest perhaps Nolan will bring a grittier approach to Metropolis. Personally, I think Nolan accepted this job because of the property’s colossal differences with his Batman franchise. I don’t think we’re going to see a dimly lit, dark adaptation of Superman – I think Nolan knows the clean world of Metropolis is different from anything he’s ever done and is looking forward to seeing if he can contribute to such a world instead of conforming everything to his already-established style.

As for Batman, Nolan is finishing up Inception for a July release while his brother (and frequent co-writer) Jonathan and colleague David Goyer are tackling the writing duties on the newest adventures of the Caped Crusader. Deadline emphasizes that Superman 3.0 is in the earliest stages of development, and with Batman 3 barely in the script phase – the writing team just “cracked” the idea for the story – we won’t be seeing either of these properties on the big screen for at least a couple of years. But it’s great to know that forward momentum is being made, as Nolan’s involvement bodes extremely well for both franchises.

It’s still the weekend and there’s still no worthy news so here’s another cool fan trailer. It’s from the same guy who made The Incredible Hulk vs. Wolverine, but this time Batman faces off against Blade, defying not only studio rights but also comic book worlds.

You can see more videos like this on YouTube user silverlightsaber’s account by clicking here!

When watching Batman ride through the streets of Gotham in The Dark Knight did you ever look at his suit and think to yourself “I want one”? Well now you can, as Warner Bros. have announced that an official Dark Knight motorcycle suit will be available to purchase in the near future!

From SHH:

Conveying the strength, elegance and awesome power of The Dark Knight, UD Replicas – the officially licensed division of Universal Designs Ltd. – has begun production on a replica Dark Knight Motorcycle Suit, and orders are being taken at the company’s website, UDReplicas.com.

Produced under license from Warner Bros. Consumer Products on behalf of DC Comics, the Universal Designs Dark Knight Motorcycle Suit is a stunning recreation of one of the most iconic movie costumes of all time. The Dark Knight Motorcycle Suit comprises a full-leather jacket that includes lightweight interior lining, as well as molded-leather and Kevlar armor sections; pants that include heavy-duty, four-way stretch Spandex inserts and CE-approved armor; authentic gloves and boots that replicate the amazing on-screen design.

Each Dark Knight Motorcycle Suit can be customized to fit sizes ranging from XXS to XXL. Orders can be placed exclusively at UDReplicas.com, and each Dark Knight Motorcycle Suit retails for $998 U.S. (or $1,149 CDN for orders placed in Canada, United Kingdom and Australia). A maximum of 1,000 Dark Knight Motorcycle Suits will be created.

If you can afford the suit then all you’ll need is a cape and you’ll have the perfect Batman costume.

The Hurt Locker is a war movie, no doubt. But war movies come in many shapes and sizes, since the only criteria is that the movie be about war or be about a particular war. Good Morning Vietnam? Still a war movie. Lions for Lambs? War movie.

Movies about the Iraq War haven’t been doing so well at the box office in recent years. It might have been because the American Government was making their own policy horror film and facing that reality on our free time was not the movie-going public’s idea of entertainment. Or maybe those movies just didn’t know how to approach the subject matter.

When I know I’m strapping in for a war movie, there are some things I have come to expect:

1) War is confusing, so there will inevitably be a scene where key information about what’s happening is withheld from you.

2) The people who serve our country are heroes, so except a character with strong moral fiber.

3) There will probably be a character who wasn’t expecting the realism of life or death situations. This character will break down in a battle situation, adding tension because he’s obviously not doing his job.

4) There will be a “What does it all mean?” scene or discussion which usually ends with something like: “War Is Hell.”

The Hurt Locker doesn’t fail to meet these criteria, though some of the above four points are hit harder than others, but what makes it different from other war movies is that it’s primarily set in combat, and that it might be the best superhero movie to come out this year.

The Hurt Locker was directed by Kathryn Bigelow, whose diverse career thus far includes vampires in Near Dark, surfers in Point Break, and the only movie poster I own but refuse to put up on my wall, the dismal submarine flick, K19: Widowmaker. She shot the movie on Super 16mm film, mostly handheld, in Jordan from a script by Iraq reporter Mark Boal. As a result, this film drops you into combat and keeps you there for the duration. The tension is immediately cranked up from the first scene where we learn that things explode and kill people.

This isn’t a movie about situations, this isn’t a movie about message, this is a movie about waking up every day knowing that things explode and kill people, and this is a fact. The uncertainty each day revolves around swimming against the tide, hoping that whatever happens in your corner of the war, it isn’t you that dies.

Enter Jeremy Renner in the role of Staff Sergeant William James. James is brought in to serve as team leader for the three-person EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team. He’s the guy that straps on the suit and does the work that gets himself ‘sploded. This is your superhero this summer. He is Mavrick before Goose, and even when you think the guy is going to have a Goose moment and start doubting his cocky attitude and impeccable talent, Jeremy Renner refuses to let the character crack. When he shows up, he scares the living shit out of Sergeant JT Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) by not using the robot to find the IED (Improvised Explosive Device) reported somewhere down the street. James just suits up and goes for it. Later, he’ll take off his gigantic not-quite-bomb proof suit to defuse a bomb because if he’s going to die, he’d rather be comfortable.

He’s introduced as the bad ass wild man and continues to be such through the film. There is no doubt that Sgt. James is actually a hot shot, diffusing over 800 bombs and still staying alive. Even when the EOD gets pinned down by sniper fire, James proves himself as a capable leader when explosives aren’t involved. The great thing about a war movie is that you can introduce a character like James, a character who is unquestionably good at what he does – the hero of the story – and still have us fear for his life in every scene because…well, because it’s Iraq not Gotham, God dammit.

Last summer, we had Bruce Wayne asking the big questions, questions about a hero’s place in society and the power of one man on the side of good or evil making a difference; since The Dark Knight has divided superhero movies into two different camps: fantasy-escapism or realism-escapism, where does that leave real superheros in the real world?

Make no mistake, Sgt. James is a superhero. And I’m not saying that because I’m too chickenshit myself to enlist. As Winston Zedmore would say: he has the tools, he has the talent. He’s also a person addicted to the drug of war, and since we’re not talking about a sniper or a SEAL, he’s not placed in a situation where he has to kill on someone else’s orders or make a tactical decision that could turn the tides. All Sgt. James does throughout the whole film is try to save lives, sometimes in a very-real explosion type of way and other times in a more psychological manner.

So, much like Batman, the question that is the most interesting throughout the film is how this changes a person, how it affects them. While Sgt. Sanborn’s will to live practically oozes out his pores and Specialist Eldridge’s fear of death becomes his story purpose, Sgt. James still tries to save lives the only way he knows how. And these attempts aren’t always successful, but in a good superhero story, they never are.

The Hurt Locker as a war movie falls on the exact opposite of the Iraq spectrum as Jarhead. That film was suppose to create the ennui of war in the viewers, and sort of succeeded for better or for worse. The Hurt Locker doesn’t give you a lot of time to breathe, even using a (pardon the seemingly bomb related reference) ticking clock of this particular team’s deployment to move the story towards its conclusion. Kathryn Bigelow knows action, and this is an action movie on its surface.

However, it’s Jeremy Renner who shines in this film as Sgt. James. If I was only reading the dialogue on the page of the script, I would think James was almost too perfect, possibly insane. When he pulls saved bomb-parts out from under his bunk, mementos from things that almost killed him, I was afraid the scene would go all Speed on me with a speech about how a bomb is a beautiful thing that is meant to explode. What really happened was a Renner moment, where the character’s struggle to stay super, to not just become another confused hero who found himself in a war movie. The flaws in Sgt. James are never spoken, they’re acted, and when the film comes to a close, Renner’s performance suddenly rushes at your memory, revealing itself to be the center of the film, a center that is handled very quietly and very deliberately. And you just don’t see that kind of character work in summer films these days.

The Hurt Locker can currently be seen by those of you in New York and Los Angeles that have nifty art-house theaters, cinemas that are slowly getting pushed out of the summer months when everyone else is letting summer tent pole movies take their hard earned recession money.

Christian Bale recently spoke to TotalFilm and suggested that he wants to break the trend of third movies not living up to expectations (Spider-Man 3, X-Men 3).

“Will we do a third movie? It’s got to be the right story. You can’t make something like The Dark Knight and then come out with something disappointing.

“I would like it if people say, ‘You’ll never make a good third movie.’ I say, ‘OK, let’s make a third movie in that case, let’s prove them wrong. But that’s just me. The fact is, I have to! I’ve signed up! Chris doesn’t. So I’m in a bit of a fix if he says he doesn’t want to!”

With The Dark Knight getting universal praise and earning over $1 billion worldwide, making a better third film will be a huge challenge. I wouldn’t want to be in Christopher Nolan this time next year when the Batman 3 cogs start turning.

Bale also spoke about Heath Ledger’s Oscar win and the technology used in The Dark Knight. Read the whole interview here!

Some fanmade videos are crap, where as others are amazing. All I will say is watch this in HD!

Made by silverlightsaber

Since Christian Bale is starring as John Connor in May, I figured I’d make an interesting cross-over between the Terminator franchise and Bale’s other blockbuster franchise, Batman. The Terminator vs Batman, who wins? This was a very difficult crossover to make so I hope you enjoy it.

The Dark Knight has finally crossed the $1 billion worldwide mark! From Variety:

Warner Bros. made the announcement Friday afternoon, saying that the combined domestic and international gross had totaled $1,001,082,160 to date — about $533 million domestically and $567 million overseas.

“Knight” had been about $4 million short of the 10-figure mark when Warner Bros. re-released it into Imax screens on Jan. 23, the day after its eight Oscar nominations were announced. Grosses from Ecuador also helped nudge the Batpic over the mark, a spokeswoman said.

Only “Titanic,” with $1.8 billion, “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” have topped the billion-dollar worldwide mark previously.

I have a feeling that the sequel, whenever it comes, will find it hard to reach this total, just like Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End didn’t surpass Dead Man’s Chest. The huge amount of money The Dark Knight made was down to a number of factors, such as Heath Ledger’s death, strong word of mouth, and simply making a great movie. The same buzz that surrounded The Dark Knight may be hard to repeat next time round.

via reddit

The Dark Knight has been nominated in 8 Oscar category’s, including Heath Ledger for Best Supporting Actor, however Batman fans are a little angry that the film was not nominated for Best Picture and that director Christopher Nolan hasn’t been given a nod. This has lead screenwriter Jonathan Nolan to responded to fans via darkcampaign.com:

“hey — not sure who to address this to as it looks like a collective effort, but I just wanted to pass along my thanks.

It’s truly humbling that you guys would take the time and effort to try to get the film recognized. I, like you, was disappointed that Chris didn’t get some recognition this morning, but for Heath and so many of the people who worked so hard on this thing to get nominated is thrilling.

Any nominations for a comic book movie is a thing of beauty no matter how you slice it, and that takes the sting out a bit. Besides, I’ve been to the big show before, and, like any of these things, it’s a little disappointing. Did you know it’s not even an open bar once the show starts? At least this time I would have remembered to bring a little cash so I could buy myself a drink after losing.

The best part of this experience is seeing other people getting passionate about the film the way that we did. It has been a truly incredible experience. So thank you again.

best,

jonah nolan”

In December we were given a list of 15 movies that were in consideration for the 2008 Visual Effects Oscar, and now that list has been narrowed down to 7.

Here is the list in alphabetical order:

Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Iron Man
Journey to the Center of the Earth
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

On January 15th members of the visual effects branch will watch excerpts from the movies, and the list will then be narrowed down to 3. The winner will then be announced during the award ceremony on January 22nd.

Which movie do you think deserves the Oscar?