ShareThisOnce again, the news about comics on film threatens to overwhelm any other kind of comics news:-- Batmanimania: "Batman: Gotham Knight," an original anthology containing six Bat-episodes in anime style, will be released on DVD, Blu-ray disc, Pay Per View, Video On Demand and the Web on July 8.In a press release, DC Comics Publisher Paul Levitz said the movie "explores an exciting moment between 'Batman Begins' and 'The Dark Knight.' " That's not quite accurate: It's really six moments, and the trip takes us through the Land of the Rising Sun.While the project was headed by Bruce Timm ("Batman: The Animated Series"), the six episodes were under the direction of six different Japanese directors and were made at three different Japanese animation studios. It's "what if Japanese animators did Batman?" Timm told fanboyplanet.com. "For the most part, we really tried to stay out of the directors' way and let them do their thing."The writers include several names familiar to comics fans, such as David Goyer, Alan Burnett, Greg Rucka and Brian Azzarello. Villains include Scarecrow, Killer Croc and Deadshot, and supposedly we'll experience "six interlocking stories that reveal Bruce Wayne's journey to Dark Knight." The movie "Dark Knight," conveniently, premieres 10 days later on July 18.-- Dreaded Deadline Doom: While the writers' strike is over, it may have already damaged Marvel's movie prospects for 2009, according to Internal Correspondence (icv2.com).There's no problem with Marvel's first two self-produced films, "Iron Man" and "Incredible Hulk," making their premieres on May 2 and June 13, respectively. And "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," produced by Twentieth Century Fox, is safely on track for a May 1, 2009, debut.But according to icv2.com, Marvel's plans to self-produce two summer blockbusters per year is already off the rails. "In a conference call with stock analysts, Marvel Studio's David Maisel indicated that, because of the strike, the company was scrambling to get one film debut in 2009," the Web site said, and probably not until the end of the year. Properties in the works include Ant-Man, Thor, Captain America and the Avengers.Ant-Man? ANT-MAN?-- "Watchmen" is already in post-production, with a year to go before the adaptation of Alan Moore's classic graphic novel hits theaters. But director Zack Snyder ("300") is so proud of the work that he's posted photos of Rorschach, Nite Owl, Ozymandias, Silk Spectre and The Comedian on the official blog (rss.warnerbros.com/watchmen). They're also available, with a bit of commentary, on Time.com's "Nerd World" blog.I'm not usually a fan of defined abs on a rubber muscle suit, like the old Batman franchise, but I have to admit these look pretty good. I assume Dr. Manhattan will have to be handled by CGI.I should also mention that New York magazine reports that Snyder has figured out how to work in "Tales of the Black Freighter" -- a comic book within the comic book, with a pirate story wherein the main character deteriorates physically and psychologically, mirroring events in "Watchmen" proper. It will likely take the form of an anime extra on the DVD, according to nymag.com, information that may or may not have originated at empireonline.com, or Heidi MacDonald's "The Beat" blog at publishersweekly.com. Ah, incest, thy name is Internet.-- Speaking of anime, The Hollywood Reporter says Leonardo DiCaprio is joining with Warner Bros. for a two-part, live-action adaptation of Katsuhior Otomo's classic "Akira," the 1988 animated movie adapted from Otomo's own graphic novel. Like with all announcements of this nature, believe it when you can buy the ticket. But it's more evidence how popular comics have become in Hollywood as source material.-- Variety reports that "Steven Spielberg and George Lucas' 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' will debut at the Cannes Film Festival May 18, four days before the film opens worldwide." The movie won't be in competition, but I imagine it will be popular just the same.-- Speaking of Lucas, "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" hits theaters Aug. 15, a new computer-animated movie that anticipates a television series of the same name. LucasFilm has already produced more than 30 half-hour animated episodes of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" the series, which will debut this fall on Cartoon Network, with repeats on TNT. See the official Web site, www.starwars.com, for more.(Contact Andrew A. Smith of the Memphis Commercial Appeal at capncomics(at)aol.com or visit www.captaincomics.us.)
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