'Smallville' executive producer Darren Swimmer has revealed that the Legion will be made up of Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy and Lightning Lad, and they will be revealed in the 10th episode of the new season || Joel B. Michaels, an executive producer on 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,' was promoted to president of production at The Halcyon Co., the group that owns the rights to the Terminator franchise, says The Hollywood Reporter || Helena Bonham Carter had to take a break from filming 'Terminator 4' to return to Britain to grieve with her family after four relatives were killed in a minibus crash in South Africa, according to E! Online || A new trailer is out for the upcoming direct-to-DVD release of 'Dead Like Me' at deadlikemedvd.com || Jud Taylor, who directed five episodes of the original 'Star Trek' series including 'Let That Be Your Last Battlefield,' died at the age of 76 || 'Smallville' executive producer Darren Swimmer has revealed that the Legion will be made up of Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy and Lightning Lad, and they will be revealed in the 10th episode of the new season || Joel B. Michaels, an executive producer on 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,' was promoted to president of production at The Halcyon Co., the group that owns the rights to the Terminator franchise, says The Hollywood Reporter || Helena Bonham Carter had to take a break from filming 'Terminator 4' to return to Britain to grieve with her family after four relatives were killed in a minibus crash in South Africa, according to E! Online || A new trailer is out for the upcoming direct-to-DVD release of 'Dead Like Me' at deadlikemedvd.com || Jud Taylor, who directed five episodes of the original 'Star Trek' series including 'Let That Be Your Last Battlefield,' died at the age of 76 ||

'Batman' Taking Animated Route For Movie

By MICHAEL HINMAN
Aug-06-2007

It worked for "The Matrix" trilogies, why not for Batman?

Warner Bros. apparently is putting together an anime project that would help bridge the gap between "Batman Begins" and the upcoming sequel, "The Dark Knight," according to Batman-On-Film.

The anime series will carry a PG-13 equivalent rating, and include stories written by Josh Olsen of "A History of Violence" fame as well as "Batman Begins" writer David Goyer. Also onboard to write episodes is comic book scribe Brian Azzarello.

It is not clear whether these will be animated episodes available on the Web, or if Warner Bros. will take the Matrix route and release them directly to DVD instead. Online promotion of television and movies, especially through the areas of online video, have become much more popular in recent years, and Warner could choose to take the viral promotion route. At the same time, however, comic book fans have been known to buy just about anything that is released on their favorite characters, so it might be a better money-making opportunity for the studio to go directly to DVD.

Also, there are reports that work has already begun on a third Batman movie, this time with Jonah Nolan -- brother of director Christopher Nolan -- already is working on a screenplay for the "Dark Knight" followup based on an outline by both Goyer and his brother. Jonah previously wrote the screenplay for "Dark Knight," which is currently filming.

"The Dark Knight" is expected to be released next July.

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