Today sees the special edition Blu-ray release of Predator, which is perhaps one of the finest science fiction/action adventure films ever made. If you’ve never seen this movie and are keen to see Robert Rodriguez’ badass looking sequel, this is certainly the place to start. Stan Winston’s creature effects have held up remarkably upon my last viewing of the film, and I’m keen to see how much more detailed the costume was in this new transfer of the film.

Next on the list today is an interesting indy film starring Paul Giamatti as a rocket scientist who is enlisted by his buddies to build a functioning jetpack like those seen in James Bond and Kick-Ass. It seems comical and Giamatti is always fun to watch. I’m definitely checking this one out.

Amazon is broken, otherwise I’d be recommending more. Anything else out today that I should know about?

*UPDATE* We just got the official press release for the movie that details who will be playing who. Yes,  Tim Daly and Kevin Conroy are back! It also shows what extras will be on the DVD/Blu Ray Releases.

THE END IS NEAR!
WORLD’S FINEST WAGE WAR WITH DARKSEID IN
ALL-NEW DC UNIVERSE ANIMATED ORIGNAL MOVIE
SUPERMAN/BATMAN: APOCALYPSE
AVAILABLE FROM WARNER HOME VIDEO
SEPTEMBER 28, 2010!

Andre Braugher, Summer Glau, Ed Asner join popular voices Kevin Conroy
& Tim Daly;
New DC Showcase GREEN ARROW on Special Edition Blu-ray & 2-Disc
Special Edition DVD

BURBANK, CA, (June 29, 2010) – To save an earthbound Kryptonian, the
Man of Steel and the Dark Knight unite once again – this time to
battle the powerful forces of Darkseid – in Superman/Batman:
Apocalypse, the ninth entry in the popular, ongoing series of DC
Universe Animated Original PG-13 Movies coming September 28, 2010 from
Warner Premiere, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation. The highly
anticipated, full-length film will be distributed by Warner Home Video
as a Special Edition Blu-Ray™ and 2-Disc Special Edition DVD as well
as single disc DVD. The film will also be available On Demand and for
Download.

Fan favorites Tim Daly (Private Practice) and Kevin Conroy (China
Beach) return to their seminal roles as Superman and Batman,
respectively. The celebrity-laden guest cast is headed by Andre
Braugher (Men of a Certain Age) as the daunting Darkseid. Sci-Fi
heroine Summer Glau (Serenity/Firefly, Terminator: The Sarah Connor
Chronicles) provides the voice of Supergirl, and seven-time Emmy Award
winner Ed Asner (Up) reprises his Superman: The Animated
Series/Justice League role as Granny Goodness.

Based on the DC Comics series/graphic novel “Superman/Batman:
Supergirl” by Jeph Loeb, Michael Turner & Peter Steigerwald,
Superman/Batman: Apocalypse is produced by animation legend Bruce Timm
and directed by Lauren Montgomery (Justice League: Crisis on Two
Earths) from a script by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Tab
Murphy (Gorillas in the Mist).

After a spaceship splashes down in Gotham City Harbor, Batman and
Superman encounter a mysterious Kryptonian with powers as great as
those of the Man of Steel. The Kryptonian is soon revealed to be Kara,
cousin of Superman, who takes her under his wing to educate her about
the ways of Earth. However, the villainous Darkseid has other plans.
Seeing an opportunity to finally defeat Superman, Darkseid abducts and
gains control of Kara, utilizing the powerful Kryptonian to do his
bidding. It’s up to Batman and Superman to save Kara, but they’ll have
to take the fight to Darkseid within his hostile world – where
unknown, deadly threats lurk around every corner, including a
brainwashed Kryptonian able to match Superman blow-for-blow.

In addition to the feature film, the Superman/Batman: Apocalypse
Special Edition Blu-Ray™ and 2-Disc Special Edition DVD include the
third DC Showcase animated short, Green Arrow.  Screenwriter Greg
Weisman’s story finds Oliver Queen at the Star City International
Airport to pick up his girlfriend, only to be forced into action as
Green Arrow to protect the 10-year-old Princess of Vlatava from his
old nemesis Merlyn the Magnificent and the League of Assassins. The
short features the voices of Neal McDonough (Desperate Housewives) and
Malcolm McDowell (Entourage). Bruce Timm is executive producer.

Superman/Batman: Apocalypse 2-Disc Special Edition DVD features more
than 1 1/2 hours of exciting extra content, including:
•       Feature film (est. 75 min)
•       DC Showcase: Green Arrow (10 min)
•       Sneak Peak at the Next DC Universe Animated Original Movie (10 min)
•       Featurette: Supergirl: The Last Daughter of Krypton – A
comprehensive look at The Maiden of Might from her introduction in the
classic age of comics to her death in the “Crisis on Infinite Earths”
crossover event to her appearance on Smallville and beyond.
•       2 bonus episodes from animated television series handpicked by Bruce Timm
Superman/Batman: Apocalypse Special Edition Blu-Ray™ will include more
than 2 1/2 hours of intriguing bonus features, starting with all of
the content available on the 2-Disc Special Edition DVD and adding:
•       All-New Featurette: The New Gods – This documentary covers
Darkseid’s story, particularly in reference to the adaptation of
Superman/Batman: Apocalypse. A primer on the wealth of material and
stories contained in the New Gods series, along with a deeper
understanding of why these characters – and especially Darkseid – are
so memorable and important to the DC pantheon.
•       All-New Featurette Pods
•       Orion – The mightiest warrior on either New Genesis or Apokolips,
Orion follows an almost Shakespearean arc culminating in the slaying
of his father, Darkseid. This mini-featurette shines a light on this
classically tragic character.
Mister Miracle – This mini-featurette focuses on the greatest escape
artist the universe has ever known and how he was traded in a peace
effort to be raised by Darkseid, the enemy of all New Genesis.
•       2 additional bonus TV series episodes handpicked by Bruce Timm
•       Digital copy on disc of the feature film
“Great things happen when powerful entities come together, and the
partnership of Warner Premiere, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation
is proud to continue this popular film series by once again uniting
the two most popular characters in the DC Universe in a story that
truly tests their strength, trust, loyalty, ingenuity and heroism,”
said Matt Bierman, Senior Vice President Production, Warner Premiere.

“It is a testament to the larger-than-life nature of Jeph Loeb’s
blockbuster storylines that two of the first nine DC Universe movies
are based on his work,” said Geoff Johns, Chief Creative Officer of DC
Entertainment. “Superman/Batman: Apocalypse lets us see Superman and
Batman in action side-by-side again, but this time along with
Supergirl and one of DC’s greatest villains, Darkseid.”

“Just as Superman and Batman stand atop the DC canon of characters, so
do the respective seminal voices of Tim Daly and Kevin Conroy in the
hearts and minds of fans. Superman/Batman: Apocalypse will no doubt
please comic-centric and mainstream audiences alike – particularly in
the performances of Daly and Conroy opposite dynamic actors like Andre
Braugher and Ed Asner, and fanboy favorite Summer Glau,” said Amit
Desai, WHV Vice President of Family, Animation & Partner Brands.

We have just found out that the next DC direct to dvd animated movie after “Batman: Under the Red Hood”  will be “Superman/Batman: Apocalypse.” This story will be based on the 2nd Jeph Loeb arc on Superman/Batman that introduced the new Supergirl.

Although they are listed on the IMDB page it is not known weather Tim Daly and/or Kevin Conroy will reprise their roles as Superman and Batman. However tvguide.com is reporting that Summer Glau (Firefly,Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles) will be voicing Supergirl.

The movie is scheduled to release on September 28th and will also include a Green Arrow short.

Warner Brothers released the trailer for the final (sort of) installment of the Harry Potter series and I have to say that it certainly gave me the chills.  I’ll definitely see this one opening weekend.

I’ve had a bit of a checkered past with the Harry Potter series and I finally watched the 6th movie last night and was pretty pleasantly surprised.  It might even be my second favorite after the 3rd installment, The Prisoner of Azkaban, which was directed by Alfonso Cuaron and was easily the best of the bunch.

I love the books, but the first two movies were cringe-inducing, the 4th movie was pretty okay and the the fifth movie was yawn inducing and didn’t really handle anything even close to what should have been an incredibly emotional climax.  The sixth movie came quite a bit closer to that climax than any of the other installments (excepting the brilliant Azkaban picture.)

In any case, you can watch it in glorious quicktime.

MTV is reporting that Jonah Nolan (Christopher’s brother) has been working on a draft of the screenplay for Batman 3, based on a story by himself, his brother and David Goyer.

From their article:

At a press junket promoting Nolan’s latest project, “Inception,” the upcoming psychological thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio, the filmmaker told MTV News that he’s already thinking about “Batman 3” — well, sort of. “Yes and no I suppose would be the answer,” he said. “We know we’re aiming for 2012 [as a release date]. That’s been talked about. We’re just working on the script, really. My brother [Jonah Nolan] has been hard at work on it for quite some time. It’s based on a story that myself and David Goyer have written.”

So, for all you Bat-Junkies like myself out there, this is good news that it’s moving forward.  And we still have almost two years before it’s supposed to hit the screen, so it doesn’t feel like they’re rushing it too hard.

This also means that credible casting rumours will probably start late this year or early next.

Marvel officially announced the casting of Tommy Lee Jones in the upcoming “Captain America: The First Avenger” earlier today. Does this news pretty much mean nothing to you because you aren’t familiar with Cap’s history? Well, Marvel spells it out nice and brief:

Marvel Studios announced today that Oscar® winning actor Tommy Lee Jones has been cast to star as US Army Colonel Chester Phillips in the studio’s highly anticipated movie “Captain America: The First Avenger” opposite Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan and Stanley Tucci. In the early comics, Phillips recruited Steve Rogers to join Project Rebirth, the secret experiment that created the Super Soldier known as Captain America. The character will be updated for the film. Joe Johnston will direct the film penned by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely.

So there you have it! Marvel adds another strong actor to the already pretty impressive cast for Captain America: The First Avenger! The film is set to hit theaters on July 22, 2011!

Deadline New York reported yesterday that Marvel has brought on the Thomas Donnelly and Joshua Openheimer, the writers behind the forthcoming Conan relaunch and Favreau’s Cowboys and Aliens, to write a script for Dr. Strange.

Marvel Studios has hired Conanscribes Thomas Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer to write Dr. Strange, marking forward progress on a long-gestating superhero property which will likely be among the first Marvel films generated under the Disney banner.  Aside from Conan–the Marcus Nispel-directed Lionsgate film that stars Jason Momoa–Donnelly and Oppenheimer also scripted a live action adaptation of the vidgameUncharted: Drake’s Fortune for Sony and producer Chuck Roven, and they wrote a draft of the Jon Favreau-directed Cowboys and Aliens for DreamWorks/Universal.

With writers being hired, some speculate that this could be the first Marvel film that could fly under the Disney banner, since Dr. Strange has been a free agent for a long time.  Which is not surprising, since The Sorcerer Supreme might sound more like a pizza than a kickass comic property to the uninitiated.

I, for one, would be quite happy to see Dr. Stephen Strange on the silver screen facing off against Dormammu.

It also makes me wonder if this might be one of those Marvel/Disney shorts that were talked about yesterday.

As far as casting, who do you guys think would make a good Sorcerer Supreme?  I’m thinking Timothy Dalton, but he might be a bit old.  Michael Sheen, maybe?

To say that I don’t know shit about The Green Hornet is an understatement. But that doesn’t change the fact that the trailer for the new film has hit the interwebs! I think this film actually looks like it could be a lot of fun, despite my lack of background on the source material. Starring Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, and Cameron Diaz The Green Hornet hits theaters January 14, 2011

Britt Reid (Seth Rogen) is the son of LA’s most prominent and respected media magnate and perfectly happy to maintain a directionless existence on the party scene – until his father (Tom Wilkinson) mysteriously dies, leaving Britt his vast media empire. Striking an unlikely friendship with one of his father’s more industrious and inventive employees, Kato (Jay Chou), they see their chance to do something meaningful for the first time in their lives: fight crime. But in order to do this, they decide to become criminals themselves – protecting the law by breaking it, Britt becomes the vigilante The Green Hornet as he and Kato hit the streets.

Using all his ingenuity and skill, Kato builds the ultimate in advanced retro weaponry, The Black Beauty, an indestructible car equal parts firepower and horsepower. Rolling in a mobile fortress on wheels and striking the bad guys with Kato’s clever gadgets, The Green Hornet and Kato quickly start making a name for themselves, and with the help of Britt’s new secretary, Lenore Case (Cameron Diaz), they begin hunting down the man who controls LA’s gritty underworld: Benjamin Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz). But Chudnofsky has plans of his own: to swat down The Green Hornet once and for all.

If many of you were like me this weekend and rushed to the theaters to get a huge dose of nostalgia via Toy Story 3, you were once again treated to an animated short prior to the feature film. Pixar/Disney have put together some fantastic shorts to precede their equally fantastic feature films (my favorite thus far being Presto) and now it looks like Disney may be looking to apply that same idea to their newest property, Marvel.

Latino Review is reporting a rumor that Disney and Marvel may be looking to introduce additional characters from the Marvel universe in 10-minute shorts preceding upcoming Marvel films:

Got a scoop from a well trusted source that Marvel/Disney are looking at doing 10 minute short films in front of their feature length movies that will introduce secondary characters like Black Panther, Luke Cage, Dr. Strange, etc.

There is no information on which upcoming Marvel movie they may debut these shorts with or who the first character to get the “shorts-treatment” would be – and, as stated before, this is just a rumor at this point, but an exciting concept none-the-less.

I for one think this could be a fun way to give 2nd and 3rd tier characters from the Marvel universe some solid screen time without the risk of shoveling tens of millions of dollars behind a lesser-known character and risk having it flop.

So, what do you all think about this potential “news”? What Marvel characters do you think would work best in the 10-minute short format? Sound off in the comments below!

Editor’s Note: The following report is the first article from Moxiebot, whom we hope will become a staple to readers of Big Shiny Robot!  She’s one of the most knowledgeable people I’ve ever met when it comes to the DCU and comics in general and is probably nerdier than I am, though undoubtedly much, much more attractive.

So, without further ado, we are proud to present her first report:

Between the hype surrounding the inevitable return of Bruce Wayne and the new Aqualad, a beacon of hope for the dedicated fans of DC’s greatest underdog has emerged — and it looks like their dedication might be paying off in the biggest way since Infinite Crisis.

Images from a recent live-action test of Jaime Reyes AKA Blue Beetle III’s super-powered symbiont have been posted by DC, and reception has been surprisingly enthusiastic. Reyes was introduced to the public in February of 2006 as the recently deceased Blue Beetle II/Ted Kord’s teenaged predecessor. While initial reactions were wary due to Ted Kord’s nearly fifty years as Blue Beetle, artist Cully Hamner paired with writers Keith Giffen and John Rogers proved that the unwilling, awkward, bumbling Reyes was a strong fit for the name. Blue Beetle’s monthly series ran out of steam early last year, but Jaime hasn’t wanted for work — his recent appearances include issues of Teen Titans and Booster Gold.

We’ve been told straight from the source that the full clip will be showing at the San Diego Comic-Con this year as often as they can manage to squeeze it in. While this doesn’t mean anything conclusive or solid — they’ve been very careful to emphasize that it’s not green-lit, or even a final design — the fact that DC is pouring resources in to Blue Beetle can only mean more action on the horizon for those of us with perpetual Beetle Mania.

Ted Kord is probably somewhere in heaven thinking that this is more than enough payoff for his work in Watchmen.

Have a look at a few choice captures below, and then head over the DCUblog for the rest:

According to Pajiba.com, Universal Pictures is looking to make another Van Helsing film. And by “another” I don’t mean a sequel to their previous Van Helsing film starring Hugh Jackson, or a “reboot” of any kind. According to their sources, this film will be an original treatment by del Toro himself and produced by del Toro Productions:

Here’s the good news: The movie, which is being developed at del Toro productions, will be based on a forthcoming treatment written by Guillermo del Toro himself, which is being described as an “action horror story.”

Now, when I first came across this bit of rumor/news/gossip, my first thought was “I bet this make’s Swank’s panties wet.” So, I shot him the link in an e-mail titled “Thought this might make your panties wet” – to which he replied: “It did.  If I weren’t moving today, I would write it up” So, instead, here I am posting this news for all of you del Toro fans out there on behalf of Swank-mo-tron!

Update: This news also makes Clang! Boom! Steam! wet in the panties.

Don’t get me wrong, I think del Toro is a fine Director, Producer, and writer – but I don’t have the amount of love for him Swank does. In fact, my only exposure to him is with both Hellboy films and of course, Pan’s Labyrinth – all of which I loved. So, to hear he may be doing his own take on Van Helsing peaks my interest, but this is just one of many projects he’s supposedly attaching himself to upon his departure from The Hobbit including his own treatments of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein, and Pinocchio. So, until Mr. del Toro officially announces which project will be next for him, I would take all of these “announcements” with a grain of salt!

How would all you del Toro fans feel about him taking on Van Helsing?!