Title: Batman Continues..
eStragand - August 1, 2006 08:00 PM (GMT)
From Now Playing MagSounds like the Joker is officially the villain of the next Batman movie, "The Dark Knight".
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Confirming the rumors that have been floating around for the past couple of weeks, Warner Bros. has announced that a Batman Begins sequel has been greenlit and that Brokeback Mountain Oscar-nominee Heath Ledger has been cast in the film as… the Joker.
Variety is conveying the news, which also reveals that the film will have the best superhero movie sequel title in recent memory: The Dark Knight. Production on the film will start in early 2007, which isn’t all that far from now, and while a release date has not been announced yet, it seems that summer 2008 might be likely.
Christian Bale returns for another round as Batman, while his Begins director Christopher Nolan is back again too. Nolan’s brother Jonah is writing the script based on a story by Christopher and David Goyer.
On a side note, it seemed to take forever for Warner Bros. to go ahead on this sequel, so much so that it seemed as though it might disappear into the ether. One can’t help but wonder if Superman Returns’ underperformance at the box office somehow had an effect on the studio’s disposition towards its Batman franchise. It’ll be interesting to see how the project develops from here.
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SamoaRowe - August 1, 2006 10:07 PM (GMT)
Heath Ledger as Joker sounds like a complete miscast, but I'll wait to see if I'm proven wrong.
Big F'N Swigg - August 1, 2006 10:30 PM (GMT)
It'll be either a genius move, or a disaster.
But I'm willing to give it a shot. Anything will be better than Nicholson
eStragand - August 1, 2006 10:42 PM (GMT)
Nicholson was awesome at the time. He absolutely made that movie. But he was definitely more "Jack" than "Joker". Really, fans were absolutely creaming their shorts-- both before and after the movie---over Nicholson. I remember Denny O'Neil announced the cast in a Batman letters page and called it "the casting coup of the decade: Jack Nicholson as the Joker". Fans agreed.
(dumb trivia: but I remember that same announcement listed Sean Young as Vicki Vale)
Ledger has some acting talent. I saw him in "Lordz of Dogtown" and he was so into his character, that I didn't even know it was him.
SamoaRowe - August 1, 2006 11:57 PM (GMT)
Ledger really caught people off guard when he decided to do some real acting and show how talented he really is. That gives me confidence that he will succeed as the Joker. However, I just can't visualize it, but it has me intrigued.
Big F'N Swigg - August 8, 2006 02:43 PM (GMT)
Supposedly the Penguin will be in the movie, and the role has been offered to Philip Seymour Hoffman
eStragand - August 8, 2006 03:45 PM (GMT)
That sucks...not because of the casting choice, though. I just think the Penguin is the stupidest villain this side of Kite-Man.