This is an operating table

The two graphic novels most associated with the maturation of the comics industry are Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns. Watchmen is finally becoming a movie, and I caught this little tribute to DKR in Batman: The Animated Series last night.

9 days to go

Just a week and a half until the release of one of the most anticipated movies of all time, a movie I predicted months ago would place in the top five of all time grossers. The early reviews of The Dark Knight have been gushing. From Variety:

An ambitious, full-bodied crime epic of gratifying scope and moral complexity, this is seriously brainy pop entertainment that satisfies every expectation raised by its hit predecessor and then some.

From The Rolling Stone:

The haunting and visionary Dark Knight soars on the wings of untamed imagination.

The cast is absolutely stacked. Heath Ledger (1 Academy Awards nomination), Michael Caine (six nominations, two wins), Morgan Freeman (four nominations, one win), and Eric Roberts (one nomination) bring the hardware, and it's shocking that Gary Oldman isn't on this list. Katie Holmes has been thankfully replaced by the less culty Maggie Gyllenhaal. And I truly expect Christian Bale to emerge as one of the biggest stars in Hollywood over the next calender year.

The Dark Knight that got away

Spill's got Michael Bay's rejected script for The Dark Knight, and it's outstanding. My two favorite excerpts:

We pan to a beautiful woman: platinum blonde with a huge rack. She is the hottest woman in the world, but she wears glasses because she is also the smartest woman in the world.

and

JOKER unleashes an all-out barrage of missiles, like the biggest fucking missiles you will ever see. BATMAN shoots his own back, and they collide into each other in the middle of the highway releasing a violent explosion, and then, an explosion within that explosion. Afterward: one last explosion, this time in slow motion, with tanks flying out of it.

Why so serious?

Great homemade Lego video from Youtube. I just hope Warner doesn't make them take it down.

The most hyped movie ever?

It's very sad that Heath Ledger, a talented 28 year old actor and father of a two year old girl, passed away yesterday. It's foolish and pointless to provide conjecture over what caused his death, but I'm going to focus on his final project, and the unimaginable buildup that is sure to come. The Dark Knight was already being on it's way to becoming one of the most hyped movies ever, and now there will be this macabre pall over the release, bringing out the curious along with the fanboys.

The Crow would be a forgettable movie, were it not for the accidental gunshot death of it's lead actor, Brandon Lee, son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee. It would have to be considered a box office success, though, as well as in terms of rentals. Other movies associated with tragedy on set are Twilight Zone: The Movie and Apocalypse Now. Apocalypse Now managed to be of enough quality for the production issues to be a footnote, but Twilight Zone is primarily known for the three actors who died during production.

Apocalypse Now is a great movie, despite the difficulties encountered during filming. The Dark Knight hasn't really run into any apparent problems during filming, so Ledger's death shouldn't have an effect on the quality of the film. It will certainly have an effect on the way it is marketed, however. Although Warner would never come out and say it, but it's possible that there will be overtones of "the role that killed Heath Ledger" in advertising, no matter the autopsy findings. Or they could deemphasize Ledger in trailers and print, much like Miramax did in promoting Bad Santa with John Ritter. Ritter played a sizable role in the black comedy, although certainly not a lead like Ledger, but wasn't featured in trailers.

But the billion dollar question is whether or not this movie will gross a billion dollars. This movie was receiving the best promotion money can buy, and just received promotion you can't buy. When the Super Bowl ads roll, and you see however much of an unhinged Ledger that Warner decides to show, there is going to be an atmosphere around this movie that no one has ever seen. It isn't unreasonable to think The Dark Knight beats out Titanic ($600 million domestic). I'll guarantee it beats out Spider-Man for the all time comic book box office haul ($404 million). I will go so far as set the over/under for where it ranks all time in the all time box office at third.

A Dead Ringer

Watch this now!

The opening scene of The Dark Knight is still up at Gizmodo.

The Dark Knight will be awesome

A New York audience was treated to a preview of the most anticipated movie in the history of me, The Dark Knight. If you want to read an encapsulation, click here. I tried not to, to wait until I see the movie or at least the footage, but I'm just a man. It really sounds like Christopher Nolan walks the line of violence and humor that defines the Joker.

At least, I hope he's giving him the finger

Enterprising Batman fans tracked down all the locations from WhySoSerious.com, to reveal a ransom note style message saying "The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules." If you click on that message, the note burns up to show this picture of the Joker apparently giving his driver the finger. And if you click on the picture, it takes you to RorysDeathKiss.com, where the Joker asks for fans to send in pictures of themselves in Joker makeup around famous landmarks. "Do this for me... and I'll do something for you." The website's name is a reference to Rory's First Kiss, the fake title of The Dark Knight script. One of these days we're getting a legitimate trailer.

G.I. Joe gets the green light, Akira in the works, Joker gets viral, and one scary trailer

Paramount will begin filming G.I. Joe early next year, largely to avoid losing out on the rights like they did with Transformers (whoops).

In other movie news, apparently Warner has tabbed a director for a live action version of the seminal anime Akira: Ruairi Robinson. It seems like a huge project to hand a unknown director, but he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film.

The Dark Knight kicked off a viral campaign today at WhySoSerious.com. The gist is people around the countries will take pictures of minor landmarks that are laid out by the Joker, and when all the requested pictures are uploaded to the website something will happen or be revealed. Probably an actual trailer, as opposed to voiceover teaser we've seen. Maybe it's just this leaked teaser.

Finally, I've finally seen the trailer for The Mist and it looks incredible. Frank Darabont directing Stephen King? Could be great.

Official Dark Knight Trailer

It doesn't show anything, but it's the first we've heard of Heath Ledger as the Joker. It was first shown this past weekend at Comic-Con and a bootleg copy made the rounds, but this is the official version.

This video has the teaser's audio, but with images from the Batman bible, The Dark Knight Returns.