Dark Knight Babies
In news that isn’t really news, but still needs to be shared; this video popped up on College Humor. Be forewarned: it involves children not acting their age…
Author: Matt Raub
Watchmen: The Real Owlship??
In news that can only be classified as weird and off-putting while still bordering on cool, there is a new blog entry on the Watchmen official site. In the latest entry, titled "A Mysterious Discovery in New York," production designer Alex McDowell recounts a story where he and director Zack Snyder received a call from a location scout in New York about a house that they "just needed to see." They then rush to a brownstone in Chelsea, to an abandoned building that was days away from destruction. Here’s part of the post:
“The scout tells us that the tunnel and chamber was once a spur of a forgotten subway, an underground maintenance area for the cars, built in the 1920’s. In 1955, the tunnel suffered a collapse that flooded this section of the system, and the lower portions of the track were abandoned. 100 yards from the repair yard the tunnel now opens up directly to the East River.”
“Clearly someone had broken into the chamber from above, probably in the sixties, and build the steel stair that connected directly the basement we’d stumbled into.”
I suppose McDowell and/or Snyder’s plan here is to allude that the two really went on this "trip" and really found Dan Drieberg’s Owlcave. Viral marketing for this film is completely expected, given Snyder’s fanaticism of the source material and the success DC and Warner Bros. had with the bombardment of Dark Knight virals. With this in mind, one has to wonder how dumb they think the fans are.
Are we supposed to believe that this place exists? Or that these perfectly lit, professionally shot pictures were done on a whim? Come on guys, show me hundreds of twenty-somethings with Comedian buttons on, or billboards for Nostalgia, but keep the faux Blair Witchery out of this. Check out more pics of the "real" Owlship below, and you can check out the full blog entry here.
George Lucas Hangs Up The iPhone
Those who own or know people who own an iPhone have probably come in contact with an application that has been on the iTunes top 25 applications since the birth of the App Store, and easily one of the most entertaining. The PhoneSaber app is a very simple yet enjoyable application which uses the accelerometer of the iPhone, turning the phone into a makeshift Lightsaber, sounds and all – minus the ability to cut off your bastard son’s hand.
Well, it looks as if Star Wars creator and ultimate ruiner of all things good George Lucas has expressed that he is not pleased with the fact that there is a Lightsaber application, seeing as how his video game developer, LucasArts, along with sister company THQ, have all the rights for handheld Star Wars video games. This coming on the heels of the I Am Rich App scandal, Apple has pulled the popular PhoneSaber from the App Store.
There are currently talks about LucasArts retooling the application under thier name to coincide with the "Unleashing the Force" iPhone game later this year, with better functionality (and a price). Either way, if you own the application, and don’t feel like spending $4.99 in six months to buy the exact same thing, make sure you don’t delete it in a fit of rebellion.
Hey! Where is our ‘Dark Knight’ Video Game?
Since the birth of Tim Burton’s movie Batman in 1989, there has been a video game tie-in with every incarnation of the Batman film franchise. So why is it that we haven’t seen one for one of the most popular (and profitable) films for the character, if not for comic book films in general? It’s not as if there wasn’t a plan for a digitized Batman during the film’s production. Game publisher Electronic Arts had the rights to make a game for the Dark Knight film, according to an unnamed developer for the EA-owned Pandemic Studios. Speculation says that the lack of a game caused up to $100 million in missing sales, and would be the first time that the caped crusader didn’t have a game.
Speculation ranges from missing deadlines to Heath Ledger’s death, and even to the fear of success due to the poor quality of the last tie-in game with Batman Begins. Sales of movie-based games often parallel their box-office brethren. Last year’s Transformers games sold 2.6 million copies while the Spider-Man III games sold 2.1 million, according to sales data from NPD Group market research analyst Anita Frazier. Even the Iron Man games have sold 697,000 units following their release at the same time as the film in May.
If a Dark Knight game is still in the works, Batman could take a cue from Superman. Because of delays, the EA console games based on 2006’s Superman Returns didn’t take flight until the DVD release — and only then sold 705,000 copies. However, a Dark Knight game isn’t on EA’s release slate through March 2009, according an EA press release.
This is all not to say that there will be a shortage of Batman and his foes in the world of video games. You can catch them all on your console in September for Warner’s Lego Batman: The Video Game, then in November for Midway’s Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, and finally later this year for Sony’s DC Universe Online.
The Iron Man Ultimate DVD Commeth!
If you’ve grown tired of watching that bootleg copy of Iron Man that you’ve crammed onto your iPod/iPhone, then you will be happy to know that details of the Iron Man DVD release are now available for you to drool over.
First off, you can get your hands on the movie on DVD and Blu Ray September 30th, and rather than aim for the wallet and release seven versions over a period of two years, Paramount is putting out the two-disc "Ultimate Edition" first. This doesn’t mean that there won’t be a Super Deluxe Buy Me Now Edition with a piece of Robert Downy Jr.’s hair.
One of the coolest features announced is that the Blu-ray disc will include an exclusive "Iron Man IQ", which will allow you to create quizzes based on clips from the film and share them with your friends. This probably won’t enhance your movie-watching experience, but will allow you to educate your friends on "how many buttons Tony Stark’s suit has." Here are the rest of the details.
Disc 1:
– Feature film
– Deleted and Extended Scenes
Disc 2:
– I Am Iron Man Documentary Series
o The Journey Begins
o The Suit that makes the Iron Man
o The Walk of Destruction
o Grounded In Reality
o Beneath the Armor
o It’s All in the Details
o A Good Story, Well Told
– The Invincible Iron Man
o Origins
o Friends & Foes
o The Definitive Iron Man
o Demon in a Bottle
o Extremis and Beyond
o Ultimate Iron Man
– Wired: The Visual Effects of Iron Man
– Robert Downey Jr. Screen Test
– The Actor’s Process (scene rehearsal with cast)
– The Onion “Wildly Popular Iron Man Trailer to be Adapted into Full Length Film”
– Image Galleries
Watchmen: Inside the Owlship and Owl Weapons
On the heels of the latest trailer, a new Watchmen production journal was released with an inside look at Nite Owl II’s ship. You can check out the video here, but don’t ask me why nobody ever refers to it as "Archie."
And over at prop master Rick Gamez’s (Iron Man, Indiana Jones 4) personal site, he has posted pictures of the new Nite Owl weapons that he had a hand in designing for the new film, which may not be from the book, but are still pretty cool.
UPDATE: Looks like the powers that be at WB didn’t like that Gamez had posted pics of the props, so you can check out the pics for yourself here. Enjoy!
Warcraft meets Star Trek?
Ever want to zip around different M-Class planets causing havoc, flirting with green ladies and punching out some Gorn? Well now that the Star Trek Universe is joining the world of MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) with Star Trek Online, you can! In a press release from developer Cryptic Studios:
Become part of Star Trek®: The Star Trek universe will appear for the first time in a massively multiplayer online game. Everything from the elegant domes of Starfleet Academy to the ancient temples of Vulcan, from the towers of Qo’noS to the Fire Caves of Bajor, from the mysterious Mutara Nebula to the unexplored voids of deep space, all will be represented in stunning 3-D graphics. Immerse yourself in the future of the Trek universe as it moves into the 25th century: a time of shifting alliances and new discoveries.
Adventure in the Final Frontier: Explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations in an expanding vast universe. Make contact with alien races, discover resources and uncover mysteries that will change the future of the Star Trek universe.
You Are the Captain: Command your own starship as a Federation Captain or a Klingon Warrior. Outfit it with the systems that you need to make your mark in the galaxy. Customize your ship as you see fit. Recruit, train and mold your crew into an elite force for exploration and combat.
Surface, Shipboard and Deep Space Adventures: Command your vessel in thrilling space battles, or beam down to planets with your away team for face-to-face confrontations. Missions will take you and your friends into space, planetside and even inside starships! Powered by the Cryptic Engine, Star Trek® Online will be developed for both console and PC formats. With customizable ships and characters from the Klingon Empire and United Federation of Planets, ground, space and shipboard gameplay and unique options for player-generated content set in the Star Trek universe, Star Trek Online is the MMOG that allows you to boldly go where no one has gone before!
Gameplay footage and a release date are both set to be revealed at the annual Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas’s Gene Roddenberry Theater on August 10.
(Thanks to Easy Strider for the tip)
SDCC: Leaked Comic-Con Movie Trailer Round-Up
As many know, Comic Con International has become more about showing off secret footage of upcoming TV and Film projects than about actual comic books, and for those unable to attend this year, or the attendees who weren’t fortunate enough (or patient enough) to make it into the major halls for the presentations, we’ve put together a small round-up of the leaked footage from this year’s show.
NOTE: This footage was not taken by anyone on the ComicMix staff, and we are only linking to previously published video files, so don’t sue us.
Starting it off is the biggest of the projects: the trailer (in two parts) for X-Men Origins: Wolverine:
- Part 1
- Part 2
- The trailer for Disney’s Tron sequel
- Saw V Teaser Trailer
- Friday the 13th Trailer
- Smallville Season 8 Trailer
- A sneak peek at season 5 of Lost
- Finally, an extended scene from the film Twilight
I’d apologize about the unsteady handicam work, but it beats flying across the country and waiting in line for four hours to get a seat, trust me. This seems to be all the footage that has made its way onto the web so far, keep checking back for updates, plus our exclusive Comic Con ’08 video coverage!
Review: The Dark Knight
Considering the amount of massive blockbusters that have disappointed the fans this year, it is safe to say that all of your expectations will be met going into this movie. [[[The Dark Knight]]] delivers on so many levels that it becomes hard to critique it, and all that’s left is pure childlike enjoyment for approximately two hours.
Those of you who are unaware of the plot for the sequel to 2005’s Batman Begins
[SPOILER WARNING: READ ON AT YOUR OWN RISK]
ComicMix TV: The ‘Hellboy II’ Ron Perlman Interview
No Hellboy interviews are complete without talking to the titular character himself. Ron Perlman’s name has been on the lips of just about any comic book or television fan since the mid ’80s. In a fun interview with Perlman, we got to ask him about his evolution as Hellboy, his interest in comic books, and his thoughts on returning to the 1980s TV show Beauty and the Beast (at this interviewer’s expense).
Hellboy II: The Golden Army opens today, July 11.
Missed one of our Hellboy II: The Golden Army interviews this week? Here are links to all of the recent ComicMix TV interviews with the Hellboy II cast and crew:
- Selma Blair and the ‘Hellboy II’ Interview
- Luke Goss Talks ‘Hellboy II’
- Doug Jones and the ‘Hellboy II’ Interview
- ‘Hellboy II’ and the Guillermo Del Toro Interview
