The regular Blu-ray edition of The Dark Knight is selling for $25 while the LE is fetching a hefty $65, but it does get you that badass Bat Pod.

TheHDRoom via Giz

Variety is reporting that Dick Grayson aka Robin will soon land on the CW in the same vein as “Smallville” with most of the producers from the Superman show and McG on board. A pilot has been ordered says insiders at the CW. The show dubbed “The Graysons” will take place in modern times following young Dick “DJ” Grayson through the trials and tribulations of being a teen before he becomes Batman’s sidekick. It’ll be interesting to see if this can ride the coattails of the recent success of the Dark Knight films.

Warner Bros. have their eyes set on swooping up some Oscars this year with the “Dark Knight”, so they’ve announced that Christopher Nolan’s epic sequel in the Dark Knight series will return to IMAX theaters in January to remind voters of how awesome the movie was. There was no mention of re-releasing the film in regular theaters, though.

Of course, WB just wants to ’strike while the iron is hot’ and make some loot. It’s also safe to say that they’re gunning for “Titanic” as the highest grossing film of all time, which made $1.84 billion in its reign of tyranny. Thus far the “Dark Knight” has raked in $512 million domestically, $440 million internationally, and over $55 million from IMAX screenings.

Who’s going back to see it in IMAX? I’ve seen it twice in IMAX (three times total) and will definitely go back in January.

via Get the Big Picture

That’s not to say he won’t be cast in the role, but here’s to hoping they haven’t locked him down, which means David Tennant still has a chance and Guy Pearce as the Riddler seems interesting.

Host: Hey Johnny, a listener called in earlier said you have to ask about the rumors on the internet of you doing the Riddler.
Depp: Oh yeah I heard about that. Not that I know of.
Host: You’d be a good choice.
Depp: It seems like it’d be a fun gig for a while, yeah.

Hit the jump to see Pearce’s interview.
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We have been following LEGO Batman closely and Warner just revealed to us the latest character. Alfred Pennyworth is joining Batman as a skilled sidekick. Kind of looks like Oddjob though…

Screenshots after the break

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That’s right. Christopher Nolan wants 62-year-old Cher to play Catwoman in “The Caped Crusader”, which begins filming in Vancouver next year. I really wish they would recast for the Riddler. I like Johnny Depp, but I think David Tennant would be so much better. Also worth noting is this blurb from a studio exec.

“Cher is Nolan’s first choice to play Catwoman. He wants to her to portray her like a vamp in her twilight years.

“The new Catwoman will be the absolute opposite of Michelle Pfeiffer and Halle Berry’s purring creations.”

[Update]: Praise the lord. WB says Cher will not be the new Catwoman.
Thanks for the awesome image, Shanee!

Psych! These are just renderings from Aussie artist Josh McMahon, but wouldn’t it be awesome if they were real? Not a big fan of seeing another Catwoman anytime soon, but I’m down with Harley Quinn aka Dr. Harleen Quinzel. And like io9, I’d much rather see David Tennant aka Dr. Who as the Riddler than Johnny Depp. What say ye, dear reader?

Batgirl (!!!) is going to be around to help Batman and Robin catch all the baddies in Batman LEGO. 

Powers and Abilities:

In LEGO Batman: The Videogame, Batgirl has the ability to utilize Batman’s technology suits including the Glide suit, Heat Protection Suit, Sonic Suit and Demolition suit in her efforts to fight crime alongside the DYNAMIC DUO.

Click through for the latest screenshots and some of the box art. Oh, and we don’t know why the pics are greenish. That’s how Warner sent ‘em to us.

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Would you like to see the first screenshots of that there Batman game that made Peter all wide-eyed and excited like the cartoon character he is? Yes, yes you would.

Considering the last decent Batman game was Batman Returns for the SNES, it’s pretty much guaranteed that this will sell well.

via ComputerAndVideoGames.com

Sweeeeeeeeeeeet. Today, WB and Eidos announced Batman: Arkham Asylum for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. We sort of already knew there was one coming thanks to Gary Oldman, but now it’s official. Based on the “Dark Knight” storyline, based on conjecture, you will assume the role of Batman and you’re task is to deliver the Joker into the Narrows where the imprisoned swine have set a trap for you. The game will be developed by Rocksteady Studios (official launch in two days) and an original script will be written by Batman writer Paul Dini. It’s going to be awesome.
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A man by the name of Bob Dullam has created a complete replica of the Tumbler from The Dark Knight. The guy built the entire thing in his garage for the cool sum of $50-70,000. So, a handy guy with money. Rare as hen’s teeth.

Just one week till the movie comes out here in Barcelona. There better not be lines.

Oh, as long as we’re gushing over Batman again, you might enjoy this video that makes fun of Batman’s gravely voice.

This Dark Knight edition Xbox 360 was spotted in Taiwan. Microsoft is said to have produced only a handful of these, so don’t expect to be able to walk into your local Best Buy any time soon.

This better not suck.

The San Diego Comic Book Convention is going on right now, and one of the bigger games that’s debuting there is DC Universe Online, an action MMO developed by Sony Online Entertainment, the same group that brought us the ultimately underwhelming Star Wars Galaxies. I read a rather lengthy preview of the game in this month’s Edge magazine, and SOE hired some comic book expert to make sure, bluntly, that the game doesn’t stink on ice.

In the game, you make your own superhero, then lollygag about Metropolis interacting with the proper superheroes and villains from the DC universe. Batman, Joker, Superman, all the guys.

The game doesn’t have a release date yet, but it’s coming out for the PS3 and PC.

DarkKnightGear continues with a deep, almost philosophical look at the tech behind the new Batsuit that has Batfans-a-talking. (God, could I sound anymore like Variety?) Christopher Nolan, the film’s director, told the Los Angeles Times that it doesn’t make any sense for a superhero to be running around in a heavy, non-breathing latex that restricts one’s movements. This time around Christian Bale is wearing a suit that’s not unlike something you’d find at a motocross rally. (That was the design’s inspiration.)

The new design was intended to make it easier for Bale to jump around and so forth without breaking a hip. In Batman Begins, Bale said that old style suit made it hard to so much as turn his neck, and that getting into his brooding character wasn’t too hard when you consider what a pain in the ass it was to move about in it.

And yes, I’m still waiting for a decent CAM to be released. The TRADINGSTANDARDS one looks horrendous.

Popular Mechanics has about 20 seconds of non-trailer footage of The Dark Knight wherein the director, Christopher Nolan, explains his decision to film certain parts of the movie using IMAX cameras. Of course, the video itself isn’t embedable, but a quick trip to YouTube fixed that problem. Thanks, Popular Mechanics!

Possibly even better, the second, most recent trailer in Lego form.

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Here’s some footage from the LEGO Batman game that’s set to hit various platforms in September. You can play as the good guys or the bad guys. Speaking of bad guys, Killer Moth and Mad Hatter were recently revealed to be part of the game. Never heard of them, but I did have a killer moth destroy a pair of my corduroy pants a few years ago, so I’m guessing the Batman version is at least equally disruptive.

Because we failed to hold on our moratorium I’m offering one Verizon Nokia 6205 BATMANG! phone to the lucky commenter who can really curse out the iPhone in comment. Please use as much vitriol as possible and include your email address. We’ll pick one winner at random at noon on Saturday.

UPDATE – The winner is Greatslack. You guys got really mean. Wow.

Nokia sent me this clever package with a BATMANG! themed 6205 flip phone on Verizon. Not much to say except BATMANG!

Extra credit – Figure out which comedian did the original “BATMANG!” bit back in 1990 or whenever the first Batman came out. I remember seeing it on Comedy Central way back when and can’t for the life of me remember it.

Flickr’d

So this is sorta surprising. Despite how seemingly popular the Batman movies have been, that awful one starring George Clooney notwithstanding, they don’t seem to make all that much money. Adjusted for inflation, the first movie is still box office king with $436.4 million at the box office. Batman Begins pulled in $226.3 million.

The worst, of course, was that Clooney stinker, Batman and Robin, which did only $143.7 million at the box office. Worse, it actually cost the studio money! Yup, nothing like a -14 percent return on investment to nearly kill a franchise.

I’d complain that the Dark Knight comes out in Spain, where I’ll be, on August 13, a full month after it comes out in the U.S., but who’d listen? (Was that even a sentence?)