The Playlist

The Best & Worst At Comic-Con: Which Films & Studios Had Good, Bad Or Middling Reactions

By Oliver Lyttelton
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July 16, 2012 3:34 PM
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5 Comments

Features

Well, Comic-Con is done for another year. The San Diego Conference Center is currently getting a thorough hosing down, hungover cos-players have done their awkward walks of shame, and film press are returning to their various corners of the world longing, like ourselves, to watch and write about something difficult, European and subtitled.

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Nice Dodge? Peter Jackson Is Keeping 48 fps & 3D Out Of 'The Hobbit' Comic-Con Presentation

By Edward Davis
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July 12, 2012 4:38 PM
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3 Comments

News

An odd, and potentially disappointing move on the surface, but a keen and cagey one from a political perspective. In an L.A. Times article with director Peter Jackson about what to expect from his "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" presentation at Comic-Con this weekend, the Kiwi director revealed he would not be showing the film in 3D and or in its 48 frames per second state.

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Christopher Nolan Says He's Done With Batman, Won't Be Producing Any Reboots Or 'Justice League' Film

By Kevin Jagernauth
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July 9, 2012 11:53 AM
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28 Comments

News

So just how valuable is the Batman brand to Warner Bros.? As early as last spring, with the studio seeing the the current iteration of the series coming to an end with "The Dark Knight Rises," they were already beginning to talk reboot. “We have the third Batman, but then we’ll have to reinvent Batman,” Warner Bros. chief Jeff Robinov said in March 2011. Asked if he meant a reboot, he said: “I do. Chris Nolan and [producing partner and wife] Emma Thomas will be producing it, so it will be a conversation with them about what the next phase is.” But, not so fast on Nolan's participation...

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The Bane Of WB's Existence: 'Dark Knight Rises' Media Screening Shut Down After IMAX Complications

By Edward Davis
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July 7, 2012 11:02 AM
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23 Comments

News

Be slightly less jealous you weren't there. Last night's "The Dark Knight Rises" screening, one of the first major screenings for movie junkateers attending today's press junket went awry in what many are already calling one of the biggest film snafu's of the year.

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Warner Bros. Still Trying To Figure Out Their DC Comics Plan; Considering Rebooting 'Green Lantern' Without Ryan Reynolds

By Edward Davis
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June 7, 2012 10:22 PM
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16 Comments

News

As we were just mentioning this afternoon, "Green Lantern" is a huge blemish and disappointment for Warner Bros. Launched just as WB were putting the finishing touches on their super lucrative "Harry Potter" series ($7.7 billion worldwide), the studio was hoping "Green Lantern" would be the beginning of a chapter in leveraging DC Comics super hero properties in the manner their competition (Marvel Studios) had already been successfullly doing and beyond the likes of flagship characters like Batman and Superman. In fact, "Green Lantern" was very much akin to "Iron Man." A B-level character far from a household name, Marvel did the unthinkable, remade the character into their A-list star property. Utilizing a similar, humor-filled approach not so dark and brooding as Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises," "Green Lantern" seemed to take some of its basic cues from "Iron Man," only missing all marks by miles.

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Will Warner Bros. 'Justice League' Be "Dark & Mature"? Pathological Exaggerator Mark Millar Says Yes

By Edward Davis
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June 7, 2012 4:50 PM
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5 Comments

News

If J.J Abrams, Christopher Nolan, Damon Lindelof and Ridley Scott are viewed as being on the secretive side about revealing plot details and information regarding their unreleased, often still-in-development movies, one then must consider comic book writer Mark Millar to be on the exact opposite end of the spectrum. While not exactly in the movie business like the four aforementioned artists, several of Millar's comics (such as "Supercrooks" and "Nemesis") are in development at various studios and production companies. Seemingly very enthusiastic to be a part of the Hollywood process, Millar is very amenable to telling you pretty much whatever you want to know about any of his projects in development, going as far as to make wild casting announcements (like when we said Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt were being approached for "Nemesis") and generally claiming unrealistic start dates to any project under the sun (all of them).

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'Gangster Squad' Writer Will Beall Penning 'Justice League' Movie For Warner Bros.

By Kevin Jagernauth
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June 5, 2012 10:06 PM
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9 Comments

News

With "Green Lantern" tanking and disappointing last summer, "The Dark Knight Rises" putting Batman to bed (for now), and the verdict still out on "Man Of Steel" next year, Warner Bros. is looking pretty short on comic book heroes to exploit. But they've got an ace up their sleeve in "Justice League." A movie they've been trying to get off the ground for years (more on that in a moment), the studio is undoubtedly looking at Marvel's $1.3 billion worldwide haul for "The Avengers" and drooling. You call that a team up movie? How about one with Superman and Batman in the same damn movie? So no surprise they are giving it another go.

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Warner Bros. Lines Up Top Secret Sci-Fi Movie 'The Wind' From Screenwriter David Koepp & Director Nic Mathieu

By Ryan Gowland
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May 25, 2012 8:59 AM
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4 Comments

News

Warner Bros. has a healthy amount of sci-fi projects brewing, with the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer's "Cloud Atlas" opening December 6th and Guillermo del Toro's "Pacific Rim" and Alfonso Cuaron's "Gravity" opening in 2013. Not much has been revealed about any of the films so far -- "Cloud Atlas" will somehow condense David Mitchell's multi-storyline, epic novel into three hours, "Pacific Rim" will see humans fight monsters and "Gravity" will see Sandra Bullock trapped in space (literally) -- but there's even less known about Warners' latest sci-fi endeavor.

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'Men In Black' Director Barry Sonnenfeld May Direct Warner Bros Movie Based On Secret '60s Comic Book Property

By Cain Rodriguez
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May 23, 2012 10:40 AM
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2 Comments

News

Since starting as his career as the cinematographer for the Coen Brothers, Barry Sonnenfeld has led a successful career as a director, a few rough patches notwithstanding (“Wild Wild West”) and this Friday sees his first new film in six years, the “surprisingly decent” “Men In Black 3,” hit theaters. And it looks like he’s already looking for his next project.

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Warner Bros. Wants To Make A 'Contagion' Sequel

By Kevin Jagernauth
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May 11, 2012 9:00 AM
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3 Comments

News

"Building the brand" is a phrase you'll hear tossed around marketing and PR offices, and also on Hollywood lots. Franchising is the name of the game and it seems everything these days gets a sequel or is set up for a sequel. Even if a movie wasn't originally envisioned to be a brand builder, if it's successful, executives want to figure out a way to keep that money train rolling.

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