Batman celebrates 75th birthday in Hollywood style

LOS ANGELES | Ker-pow! Batman is celebrating his 75th birthday this month with a series of comic-book, video-game and other events putting Gotham’s famed Caped Crusader firmly back in the spotlight.

July 23 is officially Batman Day, and to mark the occasion in Hollywood, Warner Bros. has organized a VIP studio tour including Batmobiles, masks, capes and other souvenirs of the Dark Knight.

“The world has no heroes… Batman gives you some hope and some faith,” actor Danny DeVito, who played the caped one’s nemesis the Penguin in the 1992 movie “Batman Returns,” told AFP in an interview.

Batman was born in May 1939, the creation of artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, who were tasked by DC Comics with creating a new superhero in the wake of the success of Superman.

Unlike Superman, the new hero was given a dark side, and rapidly became a global pop culture icon, decades before the latest generation of superheroes like Captain America, Spiderman or Iron Man took to the big screen.

While Superman represents the archetypal hero with super-human powers, a brightly colored costume and appears in daylight, Bruce Wayne is a wealthy tycoon who changes into a mask and dark cape to bring justice to Gotham City.

DeVito said Batman’s success stems from the lack of faith in the political and business class. “We look around at us, our leaders and the young people we are supposed to look to.

“There’s really nobody you can have faith in,” he said.

Bruce Wayne has remained popular through the decades thanks to the varied formats, from the 1960s TV series “Batman” with Adam West and Burt Ward, the success of which re-kindled sales of the original comic books.

“The passion of fans is very, very high, it’s a way of life,” said Jim Lee, artist and co-editor of DC Entertainment, the parent company of DC Comics, at the presentation of the Warner Bros exhibition.

“People tattoo images of Batman all over the body. It’s amazing to see how Batman has become a huge part of pop culture, he has really captivated the imagination of the entire world,” he said.

BATMAN VERY MUCH ALIVE

Film versions have kept the Batman brand alive, including the “Dark Knight” trilogy by Christopher Nolan in 2005, 2008 and 2012, with Briton Christian Bale in the brooding title role.

Overall the seven Batman films (including the first four in 1989, 1992, 1995 and 1997) have made $3.7 billion around the world, according to the boxofficemojo.com website.

In terms of merchandise, apart from the usual T-shirts, baseball caps and posters, Batman video games are apparently all the rage.

At the recent E3 video games conference in Los Angeles, studio Rocksteady tempted fans with their new game “Batman: Arkham Knight,” in which the hero has an ultra-light Bat-mobile which can transform into an armored tank.

In 2016, Batman will be back on the big screen, for the first time along with Superman, in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.” Ben Affleck will play the caped crusader, although some have been skeptical about his casting.

It will be interesting to see how he plays the Dark Knight, three-quarters of a century after Batman’s birth.

source: interaksyon.com

Elijah Wood hints at big ‘Hobbit’ show at Comic-Con

LOS ANGELES – Comic-Con International rolls into San Diego this week for its annual pop culture convention, and high on the list of must-see events is film footage of what actor Elijah Wood promises is a bigger “Hobbit” than fans can imagine.

Comic-Con, which kicks off on Thursday and is expected to attract more than 125,000 people, is the biggest event of the year for many fans of comic book superheroes and science-fiction lovers. And TV networks and Hollywood’s major studios stage elaborate promotions to showcase upcoming films and programs.

Actors Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner will put on their vampire fangs and werewolf claws for the last time to discuss “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2.” Hollywood veterans Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger will be on hand to promote “The Expendables 2.”

Perhaps the greatest sense of anticipation this year is reserved for “The Hobbit,” a Warner Bros. film based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien that follows the trilogy of blockbuster films based on his “Lord of the Rings” book series.

Wood, who catapulted to fame with his role as Frodo Baggins in the “Rings” trilogy and has reprised his character for “The Hobbit,” will be back at Comic-Con this year, a decade after he accompanied director Peter Jackson to promote the first film.

“The scale of “The Hobbit” is larger, the anticipation is potentially greater, everything feels a little bit bigger,” Wood told Reuters about the movie, which hits theaters in December. “For so long, people didn’t think there would be a ‘Hobbit’ film, so the fact that there is finally, people have been anticipating this for a long time.”

So far, details about “The Hobbit” have been kept under wraps with only one trailer released last December, but the studio will finally show extended film clips and Jackson himself is expected to turn out to meet fans and answer questions.

Other films holding panels will include “Total Recall,” “Resident Evil: Retribution,” “Looper,” “Elysium,” “Django Unchained” and “Iron Man 3.”

Comic-Con is now in its 43rd year, and recent editions have become sold-out events that bring an estimated $75 million to the city, according to San Diego Convention Center. Attendees dress up as characters from movies, TV shows, science-fiction books, comics and graphic novels, and over the years, events have spilled outside the city’s convention center.

This year, TV’s Cartoon Network will be taking over The New Children’s Museum to host fun events for kids. The makers of animated film “ParaNorman,” about a boy who can converse with the dead, will show film clips and host a panel with cast members Anna Kendrick and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.

Although the film is aimed at children, directors Chris Butler and Sam Fell said they were expecting a varied audience.

“Fanboys have kids now, and the convention has become more mainstream because generations are growing up with it,” Fell said. “This movie has mainstream appeal … but it comes from the love of the fringe exploitation of pop culture, and we’re playing to the home audience.”

source: interaksyon.com