Last we checked in on the cinematic punchline that has been Warner Bros.’ dream for a Justice League film, it seemed as if the joke was on us. Not only is the incredibly ambitious Justice League moving forward, but a lot of people believe that Joseph Gordon-Levitt will soon make his Caped Crusader debut, as the ending of The Dark Knight Rises seemingly foretold. Indeed, it is predicted with some mild speculation that JGL could show up in an upcoming DC film like next year’s Man of Steel, a lá Marvel’s Nick Fury traipsing through all of the films related to The Avengers.

Alas, Levitt’s people have tossed Kryptonite on that rumor for now, but we do finally have some actual, honest-to-Zod Justice League news on the hot burner today – the producers have picked a villain, and his name is Darkseid.

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(UPDATE: Sorry, no more pictures, we’ve been lawyer-f*cked. But you can still click-through and imagine what was there).

Following their semi-disastrous Hobbit presentation yesterday, Warner Bros released these new promo stills (via the SuperHeroHype forums) from The Dark Knight Rises, which opens July 20th (and which I have in our Fantasy Summer Box Office Game – HA!). In case Bane didn’t already look enough like a mumbly date rapist, now you can see that his pits are shaved. Also, I realize they probably wanted to fill the frame, but no one fights like that, at least no one outside of a stage production of Peter Pan. It looks like they’re playing crotch tag.

(couple more pictures on the following pages)

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For years, James Cameron has been telling everyone who would listen (mostly his army of high-priced whores) that a lot of the early problems people had with 3D – that it required slower cuts and camera movements because of strobing and blurring – could be solved with higher frame rates, which is relatively easy to accomplish (your TV is already capable of doing much higher than film’s 24 frames per second, for instance). Peter Jackson explained last year:

Looking at 24 frames every second may seem ok–and we’ve all seen thousands of films like this over the last 90 years–but there is often quite a lot of blur in each frame, during fast movements, and if the camera is moving around quickly, the image can judder or “strobe.”

Shooting and projecting at 48 fps does a lot to get rid of these issues.  It looks much more lifelike, and it is much easier to watch, especially in 3-D.

Jackson put his money where his beardy mouth is, shooting The Hobbit at 48 fps, and today Warner Bros debuted some of the footage at CinemaCon.

Peter Jackson said in a videotaped message that he hopes his movie can be played in 48fps in “as many cinemas as possible” when it opens on Dec. 14.
In his message, Jackson stated that higher frame rates could make cinema “more attractive,” especially in 3D as it is “more gentle on the eyes.” He added that 2D at 48fps also looks “fantastic.”
The clarity Jackson described was visible in the presentation, but since the clips were described as “a work in progress” Warner did not screen footage that was fully color-corrected, or featuring completed VFX work.

And if I could sum up the collective reaction, I’d say it’s something along the lines of “OH MY GOD A WITCH, BURN IT!”

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My decision not to go to WonderCon seems to have been validated as the four minutes of Green Lantern footage WB screened there has now been released online (you can watch it below).  The Martin Campbell-directed DC Comics property starring Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively opens June 17th. The footage shows mostly what happens when the alien Abin-Sur (I don’t trust him, he sounds Moslem) comes to Earth and gives Ryan Reynolds his promise ring.  Ryan Reynolds is confused at first, but then he starts spontaneously saying the magical Green Lantern slam poem, which seems like it’s supposed to get us really excited, but how many people were actually into Green Lantern? Unless I’ve got a serious case of false consensus, I’d venture to say not a lot. Then he flies into space and meets some CGI people.  My favorite part is where his mask disappears and the alien guy says, “Your mask will appear when protection of your identity is required.”

Yes, because that inch and a half of green plastic around the cheekbones would make a person unrecognizable, even to his own mother.

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(*sigh*)  I’m too old for this sh_t.

That’s right, Warner Brothers has hired a writer to reboot the Lethal Weapon franchise.  THE DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY, IT DOES NOTHING!  Because when I think of premises Hollywood hasn’t already done to death, I think interracial buddy cop movie.  Apartheid schmaschmartheid, maybe in this version, Riggs can stop the oven-dodgers from causing all the world’s wars.

DEADLINE MAKES ME WANNA SMOOOOOOOKE…

Warner Bros and producer Joel Silver have set Will Beall to write Lethal Weapon, with a take that will relaunch the buddy cop series with a new cast. Beall, a former LA police officer who patrolled South Central and wrote the novel L.A. Rex, has seen his stock rise at the studio because of his script Gangster Squad, the period crime drama about an elite crime squad that fought against organized crime kingpins like Mickey Cohen. Zombieland helmer Ruben Fleischer has come aboard to direct that film.

Warner Bros has been messing around for some time with Lethal Weapon 5, with a treatment written by original scribe Shane Black. The plan was to bring the original team back, but schedules didn’t match up and Mel Gibson’s image has taken a self-inflicted beating [much like my wang -ed].  Beall pitched a take that maintains the tone of the original–a hard R-rated edgy street cop movie.

But will it be as good as Takers??? The only real question now is whether to do a sort of girl power take on it with Katherine Heigl and Queen Latifah, or go traditional and cast Channing Tatum and Nick Cannon.  Decisions, decisions.

AFTER THE JUMP: Some other interracial buddy cop flicks, just off the top of my head…