Warner Bros. announces Batman/Superman movie for 2015

You guys sitting down? After months of rumors and speculation Warner Bros. made an official announcement at the San Diego Comic-Con — a Batman/Superman movie is coming in 2015! The movie will serve as a follow-up to Man of Steel and is being directed by Zack Snyder. Snyder is also co-writing the story with David Goyer, the man responsible for writing the Dark Knight trilogy with Christopher Nolan. Speaking of Nolan, he’ll be back as an executive producer for Batman/Superman. Based on the press release below it sounds like Batman is being “rebooted” here, and will not be played by Christian Bale. The movie will go into production next year and is targeting a Summer 2015 release.

Zack Snyder just took the stage at Comic-Con and brought up actor Harry Lennix to read a classic line from The Dark Knight Returns:

I want you to remember, Clark, in all the years to come, in all your most private moments. I want you to remember my hand at your throat. I want you to remember the one man who beat you.

Snyder said “we’re not adapting [The Dark Knight Returns], but it is the thing that will help us tell that story.” They then cut to a Batman/Superman logo to end the presentation.

Here’s an exclusive audio clip of the big announcement, a HUGE thank you to Adam Hlavac on Twitter for hooking Batman News up and providing great live coverage of the announcement!

And here’s the official press release from Warner Bros.

BURBANK, Calif., Jul 20, 2013 — On the heels of the worldwide success of “Man of Steel,” director Zack Snyder is bringing together the two greatest Super Heroes of all time–Batman and Superman–for the first time on the big screen. The announcement was made today by Greg Silverman, President, Creative Development and Worldwide Production, and Sue Kroll, President, Worldwide Marketing and International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.

The current hit, “Man of Steel,” has taken in more than $630 million at the worldwide box office to date, and climbing. Along with its star, Henry Cavill, the upcoming film brings back Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne and Diane Lane. The new Batman has yet to be cast.

Snyder is co-writing the story with David S. Goyer, who will then pen the screenplay. Production is expected to begin in 2014, with an anticipated release date in Summer 2015.

Silverman stated, “Zack Snyder is an incredibly talented filmmaker, but beyond that, he’s a fan first and he utterly gets this genre. We could not think of anyone better suited to the task of bringing these iconic Super Heroes to the screen in his own way.” Kroll added, “We are thrilled to be back in business with Zack and his team on this next movie. The success of ‘Man of Steel’ is a wonderful testament to the love and support that both fans and new audiences, worldwide, have for these characters. We are very excited to see what Zack has in store for all of us.”

Diane Nelson, President, DC Entertainment, noted, “Superman and Batman together on the big screen is a dream come true for DC fans everywhere. All of us at DC Entertainment could not be more excited for Zack’s continuing vision for the DC Universe.”

Zack Snyder, who made a surprise appearance at Comic-Con today, breaking the news to audiences there, later said, “I’m so excited to begin working again with Henry Cavill in the world we created, and I can’t wait to expand the DC Universe in this next chapter. Let’s face it, it’s beyond mythological to have Superman and our new Batman facing off, since they are the greatest Super Heroes in the world.”

The new film brings back Charles Roven and Deborah Snyder as producers. This time, Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas are serving as executive producers, along with Benjamin Melniker and Michael E. Uslan.

Thomas offered, “Whilst our ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy is complete, we have every confidence that Zack’s fresh interpretation will take the character in a new and exciting direction. His vision for Superman opened the door to a whole new universe and we can’t wait to see what Zack does with these characters.”


The film is based on Superman characters created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, and Batman characters created by Bob Kane, published by DC Entertainment.

Sound Thoma on Progress

As senior director Joshy is all set to shoot his new movie in Kashmir,  his one time assistant Vysakh is getting ready to can the songs of his new movie 'Sound Thoma' at beautiful locales of Kashmir. The cast and the crew will  spend four days in Kashmir after the completion of the shoots at Alappuzha.

The crew will movie on to kashmir only by the second week of this month. This is the first  time a Dileep movie is being shot at locales in Kashmir. 'Sound Thoma ' on which Dileep appear in a prosthetic makeup as a  guy with a cleft lip is scripted by Benny P Nayarambalam.

Anoop produces the movie which will be on theatres by first week of May.

Is Justice League On Cards ?

Man of Steel is without a doubt one of the most anticipated movies of the summer.
According to reports, people who have allegedly seen the movie claim it’s a winner. We won’t know for sure until it hits theaters on June 14, but the first word out on Steel is indeed very positive.






Now comes the news that the Man of Steel team, mainly director Zack Snyder and producer Christopher Nolan, may also be in charge of Justice League at Warner Brothers. As you may recall, Nolan has famously declared he will not direct Justice League, in fact he’s currently preparing a sci-fi film about black holes, called Interstellar. 

But as Collider and Cinema Blend tell us, Nolan may come onboard Justice as a producer. This could be a good sign that Man of Steel could indeed be a winner, because they could be making plans for Justice League. Warners has a lot riding on Steel. Now that the Nolan Batman films are done, the studio needs a new franchise. And whether Justice League gets the green light or not depends on the success of Steel. If it flops, Justice League could plummet back into development hell. 

This new rumor about League was first reported by Latino Review, and another interesting twist is that the powers that be want Christian Bale to come back as Batman. If this story is true, Henry Cavill, who is the new Superman in Man of Steel, would also be alongside Bale in League.

Now again, these are all rumors and speculation at the moment, and most importantly, if there’s any truth to any of this, it all depends on how Man of Steel fares in June. Even if Steel is terrible, it will make a ton of money opening weekend, but if the movie delivers, the sky could be the limit for future movies.

As Cinema Blend reminds us, this is indeed a rumor, "albeit one from a site with a strong track record for getting it right." It’s doubtful there will be any official word anytime soon, and whoever knows the truth won’t tell anytime soon. Maybe the picture will become clearer after Man of Steel goes live this summer.

 

Dracula goes on Collecting

Though the Mollywood trade analysts are not giving much interest in Vinayan's latest 'Dracula 3D', the movie seems to have emerged a safe one at least in the cities. "Dracula 2012, 3D'  has earned better than many of the  films released in the last few weeks. The movie currently in its fourth week is continuing in 25 of its release centres and has suddenly found some unexpected viewers among the children folk, which seems to be the reason for its long run.

 



 Anyhow,much impressed with the commercial fate of the movie which feature no big stars, Vinayan has already announced his next 3D movie in the title 'Little Super man'. This will be another film that will be centred around women and children viewers.

Emraan Hashmi : Challenging Myself

Emraan Hashmi has been recently featured on the cover of Man's World Magazine. The actor, who is dressed in a suave and dapper suit, talks about not treating life as a cakewalk and opposing the stereotypical Hollywood hero.

In an exclusive interview with Indo-French writer Olivier Lafont, who uncovers the mind behind the successful "Hitman Hashmi" brand - part of the elusive and exclusive 100-crore club, Emraan spills the beans on his favorite stars of all time and what it feels like to create a unique space for himself.

Fans were treated to an uninhibited side of Emraan Hashmi as he talks about his mentors, choice of films, journey to stardom and everything in between.

In the excerpts Emraan said, "I've tried time and again to challenge myself, to go off the beaten path. For example, I like to do a typical Emraan Hashmi film, but I also like to do something different.

I like niche and art-house films and I've tried to make them work commercially, even though people have told me I should only do commercial films. I break the rules of what people feel I should be doing". Emraan will be next seen in Ekta Kapoor and Vishal Bhardwaj's co-production 'Ek Thi Daayan'.

PowerStar's Comedy Track

After the grand success of 'Kanna Laddu Thinna Aasaiya', there has never been a dry moment in Dr Srinivasan's life. Powerstar is flooded with projects and currently his hands are full. Of the many others, the project titled 'Naalu Ponnu Naalu Pasanga' started shooting yesterday.

 

In this movie, Powerstar has a separate comedy track with MS Baskar. Power plays the role of a hair salon owner, while Baskar plays the role of an insane lover. With reference to the story line, it is said that Power seeks Baskar's help and ideas to succeed in love. Is Powerstar one among the four boys? We will have to wait to get entertained.

Ameer : Vishwaroopam unjust to Taliban

Just when every thing seemed to have settled down in place after the undue turmoil, director Ameer has raked up the issue once again. Kamal Hassan's 'Vishwaroopam' created enough headlines stating that the film portrayed Muslims and Islam in the wrong light. But Ameer seems to have a different complaint altogether. He argues that the film's portrayal of the Taliban is erroneous. In a recent interview, he said "Taliban are helpless citizens fighting for the right of their own country. But 'Vishwaroopam' has the loyalist flag-wavers as being cruel and inhumane. This is condemnable. The associations and parties here did not debate the issue, despite the dire need for one."


 



 Ameer drew a comparison of Taliban to the Eelam. "Just like how Prabhakaran and his associates fought for their Eelam rights, the Taliban fight for their country. And similar to how it is injustice to the Eelam if we were to portray them as raw terrorists, it is equally absurd of 'Vishwaroopam' to have portrayed Taliban as mad destroyers" said, an enraged Ameer.