A few weeks ago DC Comics and Warner Brothers got together and realized that they need to fix their broken comic book to movie formula. Except for 5 movies in 30 years, they have had tons of problems with the rest. Superman: The Movie (1978), Superman II (1983)Batman (1989), Batman Begins (2005), and The Dark Knight (2008) are the only movies to really make money in the box office and do well. Superman III and IV were garbage. Batman Returns, Batman Forever, and Batman & Robin were not nearly as well received as the first. Add to the fact that the last two featuring Robin didn’t have any chemistry between Batman and Robin. Catwoman bombed during the trailer process of the movie. And Steele had a decent plot but with the likes of Big Daddy Shaquile O’Neil as the leading man, you knew this wasn’t going to be a big box office draw.

So over the Summer Marvel Comics made this movie called Iron Man and followed that up with a new take on the Incredible Hulk. Both were leading down the path toward an Avengers movie in the not to distant future.  DC Comics and Warner both realized that this was the coures they wanted to take and the first thing they did was scrap the poorly received Justice League of America film that George Miller was working on.

Why is it that today it comes out that unknown actor Armie Hammer is still saying that he is going to be Batman in the JLA movie?  Dude, get a clue…the movie is dead, done, finished before it started. I know you’re upset that you won’t get to be Batman but move on already. The project is FINISHED! Is that so hard for you to understand?

Here is a quote from Armie to E! Online regarding his future as the next Caped Crusaider.

I would spend hours training with actual guns to prepare me for this stuff. It was very intense. Our workout regimens were so rigorous that most of us would vomit. We weren’t trying to get ourselves aesthetically good looking. We were trying to get ready for the demands of shooting.

The story even goes on to mention that the Batman suit was a workable costume ready for him to step into.

He’s already been fitted for the superhero costume, which he says features functioning equipment, including trademark Batman weapons like spring-loaded titanium Bat-erangs. “I was looking down, and I was thinking, This is the best,” Hammer said of the first time he put on the entire ensemble. “Then I stood up, and they turned me around, and I faced a mirror—there was Batman. But then it hit me like a ton of bricks—it’s not just Batman, it’s me!”

The bottom line is this…the project is dead. Stop trying to drag up a role that won’t get filled till after the Christian Bale movies are finished. The first things fan said when the project was announced last year is the same thing being said now…you can’t make a movie starring a Superman and a Batman while other Superman and Batman movies are in production. Having two actors playing different takes on the same character will make it harder for the average fans to connect to AND will confuse a lot of people as to which version of said character is the one they should follow on the big screen.

Let’s focus on getting a Green Lantern, Flash, and Green Arrow movie out there before we start to build a team movie. Let the audience get to see how the characters came to be before you group them into one big “blockbuster” battle.

Why cook the goose that is laying the golden eggs?

This just in from the Wall Street Journal…Warner Bros to reboot Superman for the big screen. Look for Brian Singer to not be involved with this new take on the Man of Steel as the bad taste that was 2006′s “Superman Returns” is still lingering in the water.

Realizing that Marvel Comics has been hitting home run after home run with film adaptations of their comic book characters, DC and Warner Bros are going to get aggressive with Super Hero movies based off of the DC Comics properties. They will also follow the blueprint setup in Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk from this past summer and build upon the characters that will make up the Justice League.

There has been a rumor floating around for months that comic book scribe Mark Millar has a script and business plan ready to present to the WB and DC in hopes of making Superman the be-all-end-all movie that we were expecting in 2006.  Here is to hoping that this announcement will be made prior to the end of 2008.

“Superheroes are more global than ever in today’s commercial world, existing in 30 languages and in more than 60 countries,” says Paul Levitz, president and publisher of DC Comics. The characters are “a world-wide export,” he says.

With the major box-office sucess that is “Batman Begins” and the follow-up “The Dark Knight” it was only a matter of time that WB would realize they needed to do something to jump start the failing movies based on DC Characters.

The studio is set to announce its plans for future DC movies in the next month. For now, though, it is focused on releasing four comic-book films in the next three years, including a third Batman film, a new film reintroducing Superman, and two movies focusing on other DC Comics characters. Movies featuring Green Lantern, Flash, Green Arrow, and Wonder Woman are all in active development.

As a comic book fan and a movie junkie, I hope they can keep the tidal wave that is the recent comic book adaptation hits going and compliment the work Marvel is doing. We don’t want to have to sit through another “Batman & Robin” or “Superman 4: The Quest for Peace” any time soon.