The Screengrab

Casino Royale director Martin Campbell is in negotiations to helm a live-action version of the DC comics staple Green Lantern for Warner Bros. The power ring-wearing superhero is now “at the top of DC properties being set for movie treatment by WB,” Variety reports. “While the studio is hoping director Chris Nolan will follow its 2008 smash The Dark Knight with another Batfilm, DC projects such as Superman and Justice League were expected to happen quickly, but have stalled.” Aquaman – dissed again.

While we’re talking superhero movies, it looks like Ben Stiller and Tina Fey have joined Robert Downey, Jr. for another one – and it’s not Iron Man 2.

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In the Los Angeles Times' Hero Complex blog, Geoff Boucher has a lengthy conversation with Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan, whose superhero epic is teetering on the verge of making a billion dollars.  Considering that's just U.S. and foreign box office, and doesn't even take into account merchandising and the vast sums it's going to rake in once it comes to home video, that's the kind of cash that even Bruce Wayne would greet with a low whistle.  Nolan, though, if he isn't exactly taking the news in stride, at least isn't letting it go to his head:  "I can't get my arms around it, to be frank.  It's mystifying.  It's terrific, but at the same time, it's a little abstract, the numbers are so big...there's something liberating in knowing that my next film, whatever it is, isn't going to make as much money.  I don't have to try for years."

Wait a minute..."whatever it is"?  Surely it's going to be a third Batman movie.  Surely Nolan isn't going to walk away from a franchise that netted widespread critical acclaim and a ten-figure box office return, right?  The man himself is cagey on the subject, saying that if there's a compelling enough story to tell, he'll be on board, but noting that no such story has yet revealed itself, and asking the very sensible question:  "How many good third movies in a franchise can people name?"

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It seems strange to be talking already about the contents of a Dark Knight DVD already.  After all, the movie is still playing in theaters all over the place -- in fact, it's still in the middle of a real barn-burner of a theatrical run, with each week proving that a Spandex-clad Christian Bale still has some legs under him.  By the time the last theater in America yanks the latest installment of Christopher Nolan's Batman series in favor of Election Movie or whatever other Jason Friedberg/Aaron Seltzer abomination comes down the pike, it may be the most profitable movie in the history of the world.  Still, today's media cycle is shorter than Billy Barty, and it can't be denied that some people were already demanding a Dark Knight DVD release on their way out of the theater after having seen it for the first time. 

That's why we're grateful to insider site Blu-Ray.com (via a Spanish DVD fansite, so please do consider the source before writing us angry letters) for some advance info about what we're going to get when we finally plunk down our $30 for the deluxe DVD release of Dark Knight.  Neat stuff:  it'll be a double disc, with director's commentary, making-of featurettes, production stills, trailers, viral marketing content, gadget stuff, and all the rest.  Multiple audio formats will be available, and there'll be plenty of origin-of-a-scene stuff and special effects spotlights for the geek contingent.  Especially fun:  the release will include six different clips from fictional Gotham City news shows and media broadcasts, treating the events of the film as if they were real stories; this could be setting audiences up for the next movie in the series -- tentatively titled, simply, Gotham -- in which it's rumored we'll see all the action from a citizen's-eye view.

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Admittedly, it ain't Christopher Nolan.  But in a cleverly conceived -- and surprisingly watchable -- example of what YouTube is capable of delivering, filmmaker Andre Perkowski brings us Silent Shadow of the Bat-Man, a detourned collage film made up up of found footage and scenes snipped from some of the same old silent movies that influenced Batman's creators, Bill Finger and Bob Kane, in designing the character, including The Bat, The Man Who Laughs and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

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As our own Scott Von Doviak tipped you yesterday, beloved character actor, Oscar winner, and voice of God Morgan Freeman was involved in a somewhat serious car accident on Monday, having flipped his car while driving down a rural road in Mississippi.  After reports that the 71-year-old actor fell asleep at the wheel and had to be removed from the car via the jaws of life (and subsequent, albeit incorrect, information that he was in critical condition), there was much trepidation in film blogger circles that we'd be having to write his obituary today.  Happily, the Seasame Street vet/Metatron proved more resilient than we thought; he's reported today to be in good spirits, joking with doctors and reporters, with not much more than a broken arm and elbow and hopes to get released from the hospital within a few days.  So relax, office wags -- your "Driving Miss Daisy" jokes will now seem merely lame and not completely tasteless.

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Now that Dark Knight is finally going to be opening nationwide, we can finally return to the natural occupation of the comic book fan:  deranged obsession over Zack Snyder's upcoming movie adaptation of Watchmen.

As we've discussed before, one of the problems with the recent wave of successful motion picture adaptations of comic book properties is that while they've made tons of money for the producers of the movies, it hasn't worked the other way around. Comic book companies have slavered to get their properties on screen in recent years, in the hopes that audiences turned on by the big-screen adventures of Batman or the X-Men will follow those characters into their local comic book shop.  This is especially important in these days of direct sales, when comic book sales are at a historical low, and people speak in non-hysterical terms about the demise of the industry.  So it's worth noting that the millions in profit made my comic book movies hasn't generally been matched by a notable increase in comic book sales, one comic is bucking that trend:  Watchmen. 

One of the earliest comic book mini-series to take advantage of the 'graphic novel collection' format in the 1980s, Watchmen was already one of the most successful titles in DC's history, despite its indie sensibilities, adult storytelling, and complex, morally difficult story.  But with the movie adaptation getting ever closer, its sales have shot way up -- and DC plans to capitalize on the interest in spades.  They'll be promoting an aggressive three-pronged marketing attack to ensure that anyone sucked in by the movie to the degree that they absolutely must have the comic will be able to get one with not trouble.  The triple attack includes a retailer discount for any shops that wish to carry the original softcover graphic novel; a new hardbound edition for collectors; and a deluxe edition featuring making-of material, rare artwork, and other bonus materials, the comic book equivalent of a fancy Criterion Collection disc.

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First of all, Bangkok Dangerous is a hilarious name. The sixth grader who lives in my brain starts giggling every single time I look at it. It sounds like a caveman warning you to be cautious while traveling. Second of all, am I insane or is Nic Cage starting to look like the Crypt Keeper wearing a Gene Simmons wig? Casting directors, I am telling you, the man is aging. Stop trying to makehim look like he’s 30. He isn’t.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about the trailer.

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From now through the end of the week, I'll be posting some of the most memorable trailers from 2007.

Iron Man



2008 looks to be a banner year for movies geared toward fans of fantasy and comic books. But while I'm excited for movies like Hellboy 2 and The Dark Knight, no trailer of 2007 had me geeking out more than the spot for next summer's Iron Man. A lot of it has to do with Robert Downey Jr.'s presence in the lead role. It pleases me to no end that he's finally cleaned up his image in Hollywood's eyes, to the point where he can headline a summer blockbuster. But if the trailer is any indication, he's still Downey through and through, which if anything is even more exciting. So yeah, this trailer won me over even before he donned the iron suit. Everything after this was a pure geek delight, with the trailer blaring Black Sabbath right on time to accompany Iron Man doing what he does best. It takes a very special- and very cool- trailer to get me as pumped to see a big-budget action movie as I used to get when I was a kid, but the Iron Man trailer does just that.

In a desperate attempt to write about a comic book adaptation other than Watchmen, we’ve been combing the web for news about Dark Knight (which, despite the title, is merely the next Batman sequel and not an filmed version of the legendary Frank Miller mini-series). Luckily, the geeks of the nation have not let us down. The Library Journal reports that Vermont senator Patrick Leahy, a lifelong Batman fan who has a cameo in the film, will be donating all his earnings to the Montpelier public library. (Leahy is a Democrat. We’re just sayin'.) Variety reports on a new Hollywood trend to source visual effects to a handful of maverick French design companies, who are valued for their blend of technology and aesthetics; one of the companies profiled is Buf, which did the VFX for Spider-Man 3 and will also be handling Dark Knight. And Empire magazine interviews Michael Caine, who praises Heath Ledger’s Joker as "stunning" and says he's the only actor who could follow Jack Nicholson into anything but a nightclub. — Leonard Pierce