News and Rumours

Send all credible news to ajbat1@gmail.com
(For news from previous months, click on the "News archives" link on the left)

February 27, 2002

Batman Year One Rumour
source: Superheroes at the Movies

Fabio has posted a small rumour of a report someone sent in of MEGA CON 2002 where Frank Miller and Kevin Smith were guests.  Miller told the person attending the con, that he was working on a third draft of the script, the film will be noir, there will be more focus on Batman and will be smaller in scale. Fabio has said that he is looking into the rumour so we'll leave it there.

Birds of Prey casting tidbits
source: Gotham Clock Tower

Two more roles have been cast for this show. Shemar Moore will play the role of Detective Jake Reese, An ally to the BoP while Sherilyn Fenn will play Dr. Harleen Quinzel; Huntress' psychiatrist. In addition The following characters are currently being cast: Detective McNally, "Nice Guy," Larry Ketterly, and Alfred. Of the people on that list, Only Alfred and Harleen are comic book regulars. For more details on Shemar Moore and these character, follow this link 

...And Finally

Bill Ramey of Batman on Film received some information regarding the Catwoman movie. One of his regular visitors, who was also at MEGA CON 2002, ran into Carmine Infantino, Silver Age Batman artist, who said that Kinka Usher is a strong possibility for directing Catwoman along with Paul Anderson who recently directed Resident Evil.

February 17, 2002

Birds of Prey Pilot Details
Source: Aintitcool

Aint it Cool news has a review of the Pilot of Birds of Prey. It seems ok, but my interest in this project has been soured mostly due to the hacking and slashing of the characters. The review can be found Here, but there are spoilers.

Uncut Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker DVD info
source: Toonzone

The Uncut Batman Beyond movie has been given a rating of PG-13 by the MPAA for violence.

...And some more animated DVD info from ToonZone.

If that isn't enough, the folks at Toonzone have posted the artwork for the Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker Original cut DVD,  and Batman: The Animated Series - The Legend Begins DVD. The link to the Batman Beyond DVD can be found  Here (Don't forget to check out Back cover art and the Disc art. The links to those are found on the Link above) and the link for the Animated DVD can be found Here

....And yet another petition for Batman DVD's
source: Batman on Film

Comix 182, a regular on the Batman on Film website has begun a petition to get Warner Brothers to release special editions of the four live action Batman movies. If you are interested follow this Link

Greg Rucka Leaving Detective Comics
source: Newsarama

In what could be a big surprise. Detective Comics writer Greg Rucka has announced that he will departing in October after Detective Comics 775. Rucka feels the time has come for him to move on. Ed Brubaker will replace him in that title.

February 13, 2002

Birds of Prey main cast revealed
Source: Gotham ClockTower

Well it looks like the main characters for the Birds of Prey have been revealed. First off Dinah Lance will be played by Rachel Skarsten (Twice in a Lifetime, Famous Jett Jackson) . Barbara Gordon will be played by Dina Meyer (Ally McBeal, Friends) and Huntress will be Ashley Scott of Dark Angel fame. For more info plus pictures of all three women,  Go to the Gotham Clock Tower website by clicking Here.

Batman movie details?
Source: Batman on Film and Aint it Cool

Both Harry Knowles and Bill Ramey recently published reports on an Article involving WB's movie plans. Interesting is this graphic from the New York Times they posted

For the most part, The schedule seems consistent with what Bill said about Year One's release. In my opinion Catwoman will probably be released in 2003 to perhaps whet everyone's appetite for another Batman film. I doubt Superman will be released in 2003 since that project is in standstill thank you Tim Burton and Superman vs Batman will also be later on. However Year One definitely be around 2004.

Bill also included a passage that makes reference to a Batman film with "an older, more embittered crime fighter" hmmm...... what could that mean?

While it nice to see WB making a commitment to these films. My only concern is their over saturation of one property (Batman and Superman) Instead of making two three films with Batman and Superman, how about films based on Green Lantern, Green Arrow and Flash? what about Starman....Just a thought.-AJ

....And Finally

Caleb Gerard, writer of Comic World News passed on to me an Interview he conducted with Chuck Dixon. It is a good interview which talks mostly about Chuck's future and makes some references to his time on Batman. To read the Interview go Here.

February 7, 2002

Year One and Catwoman movie tidbits
Source: Batman on Film

Just some news from Bill Ramey. He has some news from the Herald Sun where Darren Aronofsky discussed Bruce's age. At the moment that hasn't been determined yet, but Aronofsky did say that Bruce won't be a Teenager. Second a source tells Bill that Kinka Usher ,of Mystery Men fame, is in talks to direct the film. Consider the last part rumour.

.....And Finally

-Comics2Film is reporting, based on info from Hollywood trade magazines, that the Birds of Prey pilot has been picked up by WB.

-Dark Knight Strikes Again # 3 was first on Diamond Distributers top ordered list.