Is this another scoop, and possibly large spoiler, for The Dark Knight originating from New York’s Toy Fair? It’s hard to say. A figurine for Deathstroke, a villainous mercenary, member of the Teen Titans (alongside Batgirl) and fan favorite, was recently spotted in a Mattel toy showcase for the Batman Begins sequel. Deathstroke’s figure wasn’t accidentally placed there, that’s for sure, and over at SHH, they’re told the character won’t appear in the film…but that the figurine still received “Christopher Nolan’s approval.” Hmm.
As IESB notes, a Robin figurine was included way back when with the Batman Returns line and sparked similar controversy about a cinematic appearance. Of course, in that [...]

Update: Neil Gaiman said on his personal blog yesterday that he is still co-writing the Black Hole script with Roger Avary. Seems rather stoked on Fincher’s involvement as well. Thanks to /Film reader ‘Nancy.’
“David Fincher tackling STDs, not like herpes, worse,” is the imagined, beaded brow pitch to the studio. It worked. The director of the Oscar-shunned modern masterpiece Zodiac, as well as Fight Club, is attached to direct a film based on the comics-turned-acclaimed graphic novel, Black Hole, by Charles Burns. Brad Pitt’s Plan B is producing the project, but like DiCaprio’s Akira, no official word if Pitt is involved to star. Roger Avary and Neil Gaiman were [...]

The Net knows no bounds. Dark Horizons has landed blurry images of actor Aaron Eckhart’s Two Face figurine for this summer’s The Dark Knight that were snapped inside the press-restricted section of the New York Toy Fair. These are the first shots of what the post-acid fashioned Harvey Dent villain will look like in Chris Nolan’s Batman Begins sequel. You might notice that the figurine has what appears to be a Terminator-esque red eye, but most notable is the suit. Instead of wearing a suit that is split down the middle by a terrible tailor, complete with animal prints and other colorful zaniness, Two Face’s suit here keeps it [...]

Fox Searchlight’s Juno has now grossed over $143.1 million worldwide ($125M domestic), making the film the most successful independent movie since 2002’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding (which grossed $241.4M domestically). Playing on 1,865 screens, the film continues to make over $6 million weekly. Variety also reports that “Juno also has the distinction of being the only film this year to remain on the top-10 box office chart every weekend since its debut.”
Now one could argue that Juno isn’t a independent movie because it was produced by a mini major movie studio. One could also argue that the film was made for next to nothing ($7.5 million) and was distributed [...]

Variety is reporting that the filmmakers behind Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, a new anti-Darwinism pro-Intelligent Design documentary starring Ben Stein, have stepped up their film’s marketing to coincide with its timely April release (around the same time that Bill Maher’s pro-agnostic doc Religulous opens internationally). Motive Entertainment, the marketing company that helped make The Passion of the Christ and The Chronicles of Narnia box office hits, was recently hired to “spread the [film's] gospel.” Variety’s words.
The “super trailer” below for Stein’s film makes the argument that scientists are being quietly fired and silenced if and when they express religious beliefs and that free speech issues are increasingly relevant to [...]

These photos of a promo statue for The Incredible Hulk popped up over at Cinematical and were apparently snapped at a toy fair. In what’s probably a clear indicator of the Hulk’s size in this June’s reboot starring Edward Norton, note the lady and decked-out Humvee to the statue’s right (as well as a new poster of sorts). I’ve attached a still from Ang Lee’s The Hulk after the jump for further comparisons. It would seem that TIH’s Hulk has a more youthful, chiseled appearance, with a toned down shade of green skin. To me, Eric Bana’s Hulk always looked grumpy, like he wanted to get home, plop down [...]

I’m not sure how much play this post will get in the comments, but to me this is a very cool and very important project. Director John Landis (An American Werewolf in London, Coming to America) is set to helm a feature biopic on the life of EC Comics publisher and personality Bill Gaines, nicely entitled Ghoulishly Yours, William M. Gaines.
In the early 1950s EC Comics became renown amongst adults, sneaky young people and creative-types for its rebelliously imaginative and professionally illustrated sci-fi, war and horror comics, with landmark titles that included Tales From the Crypt and Weird Science. Of course, EC also birthed Mad magazine, and the influence of [...]

So, there’s a new documentary in the works set for a 2009 release entitled The People vs. George Lucas and the filmmakers are currently looking for Star Wars fans to submit interviews confessing their feelings on the man and his ever expanding universe. And judging by the rather ballsy title, it will focus on burn victims, of the lightsaber variety. Let’s all shake a fist at the prequels, shall we? If you’re interested in participating, look here.
With the recent announcement that the computer-animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars is going theatrical on August 15th, and the recent Indy trailer, this is a good time to open up the comments [...]

We at /Film haven’t mentioned Alexandre Aja’s 2009 remake of Piranha until now, but something about this project feels incredibly spot-on to me. As Mickey Knox would say with a deranged grin and a smack of his chewing gum: “It’s fate.” STYD has received word that the film will now be shown theatrically in 3D. Are we really going to be privy to reaching out and swatting away thousands of fresh water Jaws imitators chewing viciously at the knees of nubile, arrogant life guards? Even if you think the yo-yo scene in Friday the 13th Part III was a complete jip, and passed on Beowulf, how can you not want [...]

The word over at Superhero Hype is the Lionsgate has already negotiated with Frank Miller to direct two sequels to his Sin City-style green screen comic book caper The Spirit. If true, this would indicate tremendously sweet buzz on the project, as the main character, a detective who fakes his death to more vigilantly pursue the criminal element, and the property, created in 1940 by Will Eisner, have less name value than a Dick Tracy or Green Hornet. Comparisons to The Shadow are apt and we all know how that turned out for Alec Baldwin. And title star Gabriel Macht (The Good Shepherd, The Recruit) is less known and box-off [...]

“Man-Thing No. 2, got it.”
Some of you are no doubt slumming it in the gutter of your manse’s bowling alley this weekend nursing a fifth of vodka and eternal questions, but right now the Monkees’ “Now I’m a Believer” is ringing in my ears like percussive cheese because: Corey Haim is filming his scenes for The Lost Boys 2! He’s in it to win it. Break out the peach trench coat and bring back the Giant Bedroom Swatch Watch! The photo above is happening again, and right now some dude is getting the image tattooed across his shoulders as a M.U.S.C.L.E. Man squeals on the sax on the beach. [...]

Moviefone snagged the official teaser poster for Quantum of Solace, and I say mehhh. This poster takes advantage of the minimalism that’s so trendy right now, and so exquisitely exercised by Funny Games (this poster is mine, whether the remake sucks or not, do not care) and milks it until its literally dust. Playing it far too safe for a film that has more to prove, to me at least, than its predecessor, Casino Royale, I know what the defenders will say: Character is now iconic, yadda yadda, revenge, yadda, you must want a bikini yadda wadda. Of course, there’s a Scarface angle to the teaser that will earn [...]

An image for Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus has appeared online; actually, only half of the image, as the other half will apparently be conjoined on the film’s official site this weekend. A source close to the film purportedly told Quick Stop that the massive influx of web traffic caused its site to crash earlier today. I experienced this firsthand, though several friends on both coasts and outside America did not. The image, as is, is worth a look after the jump.
I remember the first images I came across early on for Gilliam’s The Brothers Grimm, and they gave me a flop-type vibe. In contrast, this image and [...]

Eric Bana says his villainy role as Nero in J.J. Abrams’s Star Trek is nothing more than a “cameo.” News to me. You? Here’s another quote from the Aussie actor about his role: “It’s just a great character, it’s J.J. Abrams. It’s a really well-written script, great part. Couldn’t say no. I don’t actually look at the size of parts ever.” [The Herald Sun]
In what marks our second weird-beard item of the day (my quota is filled, yipps!), /Film staple Sam Rockwell is growing out his face’s wilderness for a role in which he’ll play…[water bubbles]…a man who is stranded on the moon for three years. Wow, I’ve had people [...]

When the eldest Beastie Boy grows a serious gray beard, you know the film business is calling, and today brings news that Adam Yauch aka the rapper known as MCA has started an indie film distribution and international sales company called Oscilloscope Pictures. Anyone who’s grabbed the nachos and grape soda and plopped down to the visual wonders of Criterion’s Beastie Boys: Video Anthology or watched the seminal rappers’ delirious concert film Awesome: I F***in’ Shot That! knows this news is cooler than “Fred Kelly as Bunny.” And Oscilloscope’s picture is big: Yauch wants to distribute two to 10 films (what an estimate, eh) in the company’s first year.
His partner [...]