'The Dark Knight Returns' Animated DVD In The Works

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Comic-Con: DC Universe Tackles Dark Knight Returns
An adaptation of Frank Miller's seminal graphic novel was just one of the titles announced at tonight's Batman: Year One screening.
July 22, 2011

by Cindy White
EVENT COVERAGE
Comic-Con 2011
During the panel following tonight's premiere screening of DC Universe's animated original feature Batman: Year One, there was some exciting news to share in the world of DC animation.

Just after the movie ended, executive producer Bruce Timm announced the lineup of upcoming animated titles. Next up will be the previously announced Justice League: Doom, followed by an adaptation of the one-shot Superman story Superman vs. The Elite. After that, the studio will return to the work of Frank Miller with its first ever two-part movie based on Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. "It's going to be very, very faithful to the comic," Timm reassured the audience.

No casting has been announced yet, but in answer to a question from the audience, voice director Andrea Romano said that they would consider using fan favorites Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill for the voices of Batman and the Joker.

There were more questions during the panel about future projects, including Alan Moore's The Killing Joke and Alex Ross' Kingdom Come. According to Timm, The Killing Joke has been discussed. It's not currently on the production schedule, but it hasn't been ruled out. The same couldn't be said for Kingdom Come, which Timm doesn't think will ever be produced as an animated feature. "It's just not made for 2D animation," he said. "It's not a good fit."

Look for the three announced titles to come out sometime in 2012.

Action Comics #775 is amazing, and DYING to be animated. So this is great news.

Will be some cool ones to see

First official pic from 'The Dark Knight Returns':

Spoiler:

There was also a bonus for those watching a advanced screening of Superman vs The Elite at the end of the panel. The next animated film to be released is The Dark Knight Returns from Frank Mille’s 1985 graphic novel!

Voice cast revealed for the film:
http://m.superherohype.com/news/articles/170713-voice-cast-announced-for-batman-the-dark-knight-returns

Voice Cast Announced for Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by SuperHeroHype May 23, 2012 Share this story

The adaptation of Frank Miller's classic

Heat Vision reports that Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Home Video have set the voice cast for its upcoming animation adaptation of Frank Miller's classic 1986 tale The Dark Knight Returns.

They say the story is being split up into two animated features titled Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 and Part 2, with Part 1 hitting stores in the fall and Part 2 coming in early 2013.

Peter Weller (Robocop) will star as Batman/Bruce Wayne and Modern Family’s middle child Ariel Winter will play Robin.

Also in the cast are David Selby, the veteran actor who starred in the original Dark Shadows soap opera as well as the classic 1980s soap Falcon Crest; Wade Williams (Prison Break) as Harvey Dent/Two-Face; and Michael McKean as Dr. Wolper, the psychiatrist who releases the Joker from the insane asylum.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns is being directed by Jay Oliva, who storyboarded Zack Snyder's upcoming Superman movie Man of Steel, from a script by Bob Goodman. They site adds the following synopsis for the title:

The Dark Knight Returns is set in a near future where Batman is retired and Gotham City has slid into a dystopian state ruled by a gang of hooligans called The Mutants. The 55-year old Bruce Wayne is forced to don the cape once more, this time partnering with a female Robin to not only stop the Joker but keep the peace when the city falls into chaos after being hit by an electromagnetic pulse.

I think weller is a great choice for older bruce. Can't wait to see how this turns out.

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/BatFreak/news/?a=60250

...

Damn!

Who knows how the movie will turn out but at least it'll look awesome!

Who is David Selby playing? On the original DARK SHADOWS TV series he played Quentin Collins who quickly became one of their most popular characters, nearly as popular as Barnabas. And depending on what time period they were in, he was either a ghost, a werewolf, or just a normal man. I had watched FALCON CREST back in the 80's but wasn't aware he was on it but that was also before I became as knowledgeable on DS as I am now so I guess I missed that. I assume he's playing a villain? He's older now but I guess that matters less for voice actors which I can definitely see him pulling off.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/06/02/images-from-the-dark-knight-returns-preview-are-more-interesting-than-what-came-before/

What is it with WB/DC? They're churning out some of the best animated film adaptations ever made but don't seem to have a clue on how to handle their live action features. They get everything right with these animated films, what's stopping them from putting the same effort onto live action?

Stockslivevan wrote:What is it with WB/DC? They're churning out some of the best animated film adaptations ever made but don't seem to have a clue on how to handle their live action features. They get everything right with these animated films, what's stopping them from putting the same effort onto live action?

To my understanding, the animated stuff is produced by DC Entertainment. They have a stable of go-to guys for a lot of their material. And a lot (not all but a lot) involves directors, producers, writers, etc who get what the characters are all about (generally). From there, they tend to adapt storylines from comics. Finally, the original creator often has some level of input into the material.

If you use that method, sooner or later the ingredients in the cake will come together right.

WB hires ego-driven directors bent on making their version of [insert character here], whether their approach is appropriate to the material or not. It's no more complicated than that. Obviously it paid off (financially, at least) for Batman but it's quite telling to me that WB hasn't been able to marshal the same level of success for other properties.

Would be nice for DC Entertainment to take charge. Maybe if they make enough out of these animated films they'll soon get enough clout to get control over the live action vehicles. It took awhile for MARVEL to form their own studio, hopefully DC will prevail somehow. Or else WB should just realize their mistakes and look to DC for a direction.

Stockslivevan wrote:Would be nice for DC Entertainment to take charge. Maybe if they make enough out of these animated films they'll soon get enough clout to get control over the live action vehicles. It took awhile for MARVEL to form their own studio, hopefully DC will prevail somehow. Or else WB should just realize their mistakes and look to DC for a direction.

More and more, I'm coming to believe it won't happen because ego drives everything in Hollywood. Let's cut the shit, there's just no way the DCE people could do any worse a job than what WB has done. Period. But I seriously doubt they'll ever get a chance to strut their stuff in a big budget, live action, theatrical releases simply because WB wouldn't want to take the chance of looking like a bunch of chumps for mismanaging their own properties all these years. For that reason alone, I don't think it's likely to happen.

My dreams dashed upon the rocks.

Stock i made the same comment. The folks who do all the cartoons, and animated films so get the characters so well. They can turn out solid products out of that. But no wb comes into the mix and somewhere in the whole line of things they screw things up. That to me is so disapointing they cant use those forces from the animated side to live action side. And then if they did that could probably turn out better films like marvel studios is churning out last few yrs.

I too would love it if DC entertainment had more control in the film side of things too. Just like marvel did with marvel studios. If they could ever become there own wing in the whole wb family. Then WB leave the DC folks in charge of films and all the wb folks have to do is maybe have one one or two overseeing producers on board each film and then wb just releases the film. But will that ever happen probably not.

Stockslivevan wrote:My dreams dashed upon the rocks.

Yep. Sad, really. People love to say that Hollywood cares only about money. Ha! If that were true, they'd make much different kinds of films. No, egos and political ideology determine everything; even sacred profits take a backseat to those two things.

Sneak-peek from the 'Superman Vs. The Elite' DVD:

You know, the more I think about it, the more GENIUS I think it is that they have Peter Weller voicing Batman in 'The Dark Knight Returns'.

The guy was in the middle of filming his iconic role as 'Robocop' when TDKR came out. And what was one of the most memorable things about him as Robocop? His voice, of course. Now, 26 years later, he's voicing Batman in the DKR animated film?

Yes please.

Apologist Puncher wrote:You know, the more I think about it, the more GENIUS I think it is that they have Peter Weller voicing Batman in 'The Dark Knight Returns'.

The guy was in the middle of filming his iconic role as 'Robocop' when TDKR came out. And what was one of the most memorable things about him as Robocop? His voice, of course. Now, 26 years later, he's voicing Batman in the DKR animated film?

Yes please.

Mmm, I agree in principle. I mean, if you don't like Robocop, wtf is your problem? So Weller as Batman? Seems obvious enough. Hell, I'm for anything high profile that gets Weller's name out there a bit more. But at least based on what we hear in that video... I don't question his ability to do the job but I do question his direction. He sounds a bit overconfident in that "but he'll stay scared" bit. Maybe I'm too close to the comic. It's a big part of what helped shape my view of Batman. But I read that particular scene as a double conversation.

Batman to the cops- "He's young. He'll walk again. But he'll stay scared..." Deep voice but clear enough.
Batman to the punk he just crippled- "...WON'T you, PUNK?" Cue Clint Eastwood. And not in a parody/Dirty Harry kind of way.

But that chick who plays Carrie Kelly? Yeah, that's pretty much how she's sounded in my head over the years. A brash, kinda know-it-all teenager but with there's a brain in there. She's not a skull full of mush. So she kind of talks a little like a Valley girl but she's not a ditz.

McKean? I wouldn't necessarily have considered him as Wolper... but after those little nuggets in the video, he sort of brings Adam West's delivery without Adam West's baggage. Of all the casting moves, I see absolutely positively NOTHING wrong there. I seriously dig how he sounds as Wolper.

All of this brings to mind the age old DC/Marvel pissing contest. In the 80's, DC pretty much owned all in terms of relevance and redefinition. Between Whatever Happened To The Man of Tomorrow, Watchmen, TDKR (this story is what deserves that abbreviation), Crisis, Legion of Super-Heroes/Five Years Later, A Death In The Family... I mean, what does Marvel in the 80's (or, hell, even the 70's and the 90's) to even touch that stuff? DC took huge chances on a lot of their properties and it paid the hell off. When it comes to 80's comics, I'd put DC up against anybody from any era in terms of transcending the comic buying audience and really hitting the mainstream and the civilians.

That was a nice beind the scenes video on making of the film.

thecolorsblend wrote:Mmm, I agree in principle. I mean, if you don't like Robocop, wtf is your problem? So Weller as Batman? Seems obvious enough. Hell, I'm for anything high profile that gets Weller's name out there a bit more.

If you don't like 'Robocop', I don't like YOU.

But at least based on what we hear in that video... I don't question his ability to do the job but I do question his direction. He sounds a bit overconfident in that "but he'll stay scared" bit. Maybe I'm too close to the comic. It's a big part of what helped shape my view of Batman. But I read that particular scene as a double conversation.

Batman to the cops- "He's young. He'll walk again. But he'll stay scared..." Deep voice but clear enough.
Batman to the punk he just crippled- "...WON'T you, PUNK?" Cue Clint Eastwood. And not in a parody/Dirty Harry kind of way.

It definitely comes down to direction. Something tells me he tried it a few different ways, and THAT is how the director wanted it to sound.

For good or ill...

But that chick who plays Carrie Kelly? Yeah, that's pretty much how she's sounded in my head over the years. A brash, kinda know-it-all teenager but with there's a brain in there. She's not a skull full of mush. So she kind of talks a little like a Valley girl but she's not a ditz.

I'm kind of iffy on her voice, to be honest. It could work, it could not.

Time will tell.

McKean? I wouldn't necessarily have considered him as Wolper... but after those little nuggets in the video, he sort of brings Adam West's delivery without Adam West's baggage. Of all the casting moves, I see absolutely positively NOTHING wrong there. I seriously dig how he sounds as Wolper.

Agreed.

All of this brings to mind the age old DC/Marvel pissing contest. In the 80's, DC pretty much owned all in terms of relevance and redefinition. Between Whatever Happened To The Man of Tomorrow, Watchmen, TDKR (this story is what deserves that abbreviation), Crisis, Legion of Super-Heroes/Five Years Later, A Death In The Family... I mean, what does Marvel in the 80's (or, hell, even the 70's and the 90's) to even touch that stuff? DC took huge chances on a lot of their properties and it paid the hell off. When it comes to 80's comics, I'd put DC up against anybody from any era in terms of transcending the comic buying audience and really hitting the mainstream and the civilians.

They had the X-Men?

That's all I got....

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/news/?a=61968

This is one reason why I'm kind of leery about TDKR as an animated movie. Seems this line has already been modified. "Hope he goes after my landlord next". Ah yes, the wicked 1%...

Meanwhile, I feel confident speculating that all the anti-Reagan shit in TDKR is going to be preserved. Because, y'know, Miller was unafraid to tackle political subjects in his work. But, hey, if it's a subject we stridently disagree with, we'll make it about landlords. You must soften some of these things though. But the Reagan-bashing? "As relevant now as it was back in 1986."

I don't even agree with the sentiments in that comic panel. What I'm saying is that if we're adapting an intentionally controversial work... why are we trying so hard to selectively avoid controversy?

EDIT- Oh, and to lend this thing a bit more context, Miller would frequently put man-on-the-street interviews side by side with each other. This panel is "the intolerant rightwinger". The panel next to it is "the bleeding heart liberal". There's satire underneath it. In juxtaposing these two different attitudes (and not just on this page but all through out the comic), I'd speculate that Miller's goal was to comment on the media and the governmental powers that were in those days and how both would somewhat exploit America and Americans. Now, maybe you disagree with his conclusions or maybe you don't but can we all at least acknowledge that it's self-defeating to defang his intentionally controversial commentary just to avoid offending one side of the aisle but not the other? It's fucking retarded!

New trailer online:

Shaping up nicely. Looking forward to it.

I definately want to check it out too once its out.