Christopher Nolan Used Superman: The Movie To Help Him Make Batman Begins His Way

Christopher Nolan Used Superman: The Movie To Help Him Make Batman Begins His Way

While there are cases where a director is able to tackle a movie with complete creative control, when it comes to blockbusters, all too often we hear about studio executives pushing for the story to go in a different direction than what the director or the other creative minds wanted. For Batman Begins, the movie that brought the Caped Crusader back to the big screen seven years after Batman & Robin critically flopped, Christopher Nolan wanted to take a different approach with adapting Bruce Wayne’s mythology, and he turned to 1978’s Superman: The Movie to help convince the Warner Bros bigwigs that he was taking the right course of action.

Although Batman Begins opted to take a more realistic approach to Batman’s crimefighting capers in Gotham City, Christopher Nolan nonetheless used Superman: The Movie as inspiration. One of the things Nolan studied when preparing to make Batman Begins was at what point superheroes ‘put on their capes’ in movies, i.e. when they officially become defenders of justice. As anyone who’s seen Batman Begins knows, Bruce Wayne doesn’t actually become Batman until around the halfway point, and when Warner Bros executives came to Nolan concerned that Bruce wasn’t donning the cape and cowl until much later in the story, Nolan backed this move by pointing to Superman: The Movie, though he slightly fibbed in the process. As Nolan recalled:

I was able to say ‘Well, Christopher Reeve didn’t put on the suit until 53 minutes in… That statistic is not true by the way. It’s actually a little earlier.

Christoper Nolan told this story recently during a Q&A session held during an IMAX 70mm screening of the Dark Knight trilogy (via THR), which concluded seven years ago with The Dark Knight Rises. Although the superhero movie genre had started to become popular in the late ’90s and early 2000s with offerings like Blade and X-Men, when Nolan boarded Batman Begins, the landscape was definitely a lot different than how it looks now. The director wanted to give Batman Begins the weight of “event cinema” so that it wouldn’t be dismissed like many superhero movies had before, and while ultimately Bruce Wayne would have to put on the Batsuit, Nolan successfully used Superman: The Movie to back up his choice to have it happen later. If it worked for Christopher Reeve’s Man of Steel, it would work for Christian Bale’s iteration of the Dark Knight.

Batman Begins was definitely quite different from the Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher cinematic Batman era, and that paid off for Warner Bros, with the movie earning critical acclaim and making over $375 million worldwide. Its successors would both go on to gross more than $1 billion, and The Dark Knight in particular is not only considered to be one of the best superhero movies of all time, but one of the best films of the 21st century. Had the Warner Bros brass forced Nolan to have Bruce Wayne suit up earlier, perhaps Batman Begins wouldn’t have been as successful. Fortunately for Nolan, arguably the most famous on-screen version of Superman was in his corner, and while the director did have to fudge the truth a little to get his point across, it all worked out in his favor.

Christopher Nolan’s time in the superhero genre is done, but he’s now moving forward with his Dunkirk follow-up, which is currently untitled, but will be released on July 17, 2020 and star John David Washington, Robert Pattinson and Elizabeth Debicki. Don’t forget to look through our 2019 release schedule to find out what movies are being released in theaters later this year.

Shazam! 2 Has Already Taken A Big Step Forward

Shazam! 2 Has Already Taken A Big Step Forward

It’s only been four days since Shazam! opened (including Thursday preview screenings), but it’s has been doing quite well for itself in that short amount of time. Along with earning a lot of positive reviews, the latest DC Extended Universe movie has also collected nearly $160 million so far. With a performance like that, it seems like a logical assumption that Warner Bros will move forward with Shazam! 2, and sure enough, word’s come in that the project has been given the green light, with Shazam! screenwriter returning to pen the sequel.

Henry Gayden, whose writing credits also include Earth to Echo and the upcoming Last Human, will reportedly be back to write Shazam! 2, which makes sense given Shazam!’s critical and commercial reception. As the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The Wrap’s report also notes that director David F. Sandberg and producer Peter Safran are also expected to return, although their involvement isn’t quite nailed down yet. If as much of the Shazam! creative minds can band together again for Shazam! 2, then the better chance this next movie has at succeeding, if not being outright better than its predecessor.

If you pay attention to DC movie news, you know that this franchise has a lot of projects in development, some of which were announced years ago and have barely made any progress. For Shazam! 2 to already have secured a writer when the first movie has only just come out is a big deal, although as Peter Safran recently acknowledged, this sequel requires a quicker turnaround. Because most of the movie’s main cast are adolescents, the filmmakers need to get Shazam! 2 out sooner rather than later to ensure that the kids don’t look too much older.

Even with that in mind, it’s hard to say when Shazam! 2 will come out. Even if Henry Gayden churns out his Shazam! 2 script rather quickly, it’s unlikely that the movie could be ready in time for late next year, following Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman 1984. The Batman and The Suicide Squad already have summer 2021 covered, so maybe Shazam! 2 could be ready to go by fall or winter of that year, thus finally giving fans three DCEU movies in a year. We’ll have to wait and see, but Warner Bros is clearly on board for keeping the Shazam! corner of this franchise going.

I won’t include any spoilers here, but Shazam! definitely lays the groundwork for what we can expect in Shazam! 2, so it’ll be interesting to see what kind of specific story Henry Gayden crafts. One can also imagine that Shazam!’s success means that the Black Adam movie stands a better chance of finally happening, especially with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson having been set to play Kahndaqian anti-hero for years. But when will we actually see Shazam and Black Adam thrown down in fisticuffs? That’s likely an event years down the line, but keep checking back for updates.

You can see Shazam! in theaters now, and be sure to read CinemaBlend’s review of the movie. Don’t forget to also look through our DC movies guide to learn what else the DCEU has coming down the pipeline.

How Star Wars’ Creature Team Ended Up With Chewbacca’s New Movie Look

How Star Wars’ Creature Team Ended Up With Chewbacca’s New Movie Look

Bringing any Star Wars creature to life on the big screen is a bit of a challenge, but you might think that bringing back legacy characters such as Chewbacca might be a little bit easier thanks to their already being previous work to work off of.

You’d be wrong.

Speaking at Star Wars Celebration, creature designer Neal Scanlan discussed the myriad challenges to bringing Chewbacca back for Disney and Lucasfilm’s new series of Star Wars movies. The way the team ended up with Chewbacca’s new movie look took ideas, plenty of perseverance, and honestly, a whole lot of luck. But don’t take it from me. Here’s what Neal Scanlan revealed.

Finding The Actor

First and foremost, finding an actor who could play Chewbacca was incredibly difficult. You need someone who can embody the character, but also someone who is 7 feet tall to take on the role. There are definitely more 7-foot basketball players out there than working actors. Or, as Scanlan put it, perhaps George Lucas got really lucky when he found Peter Mayhew:

So the first thing about Chewie that we realized was that if you were George Lucas and you created this character called Chewbacca, what you really want is for someone to walk through your door who’s 7 foot plus, has incredibly wideset, beautiful eyes and a very strong jawline. How lucky was that for George when Peter Mayhew walked through the door?

Obviously, Joonas Suotamo (who is allegedly 6’ 11”) was signed on for the role and that particular problem was worked out for the design team. However, there was a bigger issue at the heart of creating Chewbacca—they didn’t have any of the original plans or molds for the character.

Designing Chewbacca’s Look

Neal Scanlan said at Star Wars Celebration 2019 that he and his team were confident they could get Chewbacca’s look close to that of the original trilogy movies, which came out between 1977 and 1983. However, he and his team quickly found out the process was “hopeless” and they were never going to get a fully accurate look for the character.

Then, the team got really lucky. Per Neal Scanlan:

Then almost at the point where we just tried to give up, I had a sculptures working. We were trying to reverse engineer: What does Chewie look like underneath? A colleague of mine walked in, he said, ‘I have something for you.’ I thought he’d probably brought me a can of beer or something. He said, ‘I have an original cast of Chewbacca’s head.’ I was like, ‘You’re kidding me!’ He was like, ‘No, I did a little bit of work experience with Stuart Freeborn and he gave me a cast of Chewie’s head.

So, they went from having a lot of trouble trying to figuring out exactly how to nod to the past to having Chewbacca’s full facial look in the blink of an eye. Scanlan also noted about that particular bit of luck that it was one a great day for himself and his team.

That day was an amazing day for us because it literally allowed us to then go ahead and make Chewie with a likeness knowing that likeness was exactly like what Stuart Freeborn created.

Getting Chewbacca To Look As Furry As Possible

If you are a big fan of Star Wars, you may already know the original costume was knitted for Chewbacca with a combination of yak and rabbit hair for the original trilogy. However, when Neal Scanlan’s team was designing the look they at first felt as if that would be damned near impossible to replicate. Again, it took a little tinkering, but Scanlan and co. finally realized knitting was the only way to go. He said at Star Wars Celebration:

The second thing was the original Chewie suit was knitted by Stuart Freeborn’s wife. She actually knitted it! I said to [my team], ‘This is insane. We can’t knit the suit.’ But actually what we realized was she didn’t knit it because that was the only way they could do it, she knitted it because that was the perfect way to do it. Because [there’s] something about the way a wooly jumper moves and a wooly jumper stretches.

It isn’t easy to get a Chewbacca suit that looks and moves like the original. Neal Scanlan also told audiences that each hair is “placed in and knotted” one at a time. Ultimately, six or seven people were tasked with working on one Chewbacca suit, and even then a suit takes six months to complete. Six! The end result looks stellar, but it is very furry, and actor Joonas Suotamo has previously revealed some days on set it resulted in an unavoidable and uncomfortable temperature rise. Per Suotamo:

On interior sets there might not be any real airflow and the hairs would just trap all the heat to the fur and cause a slow temperature rise. While filming I would perform my bit and we would go again many times – usually this would take from an hour to 2 hours. On scenes requiring 3 hours I would sometimes need to start conserving my energy.

There are always tough puzzles doing creature work. We learned during the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi that there were over 180 creatures created for that movie -- a number of large magnitude. In general, Star Wars movies are large scale productions. The flicks not only create actual, fully formed creatures but often construct sets rather than relying on CGI to make the films come across as realistically as possible.

It's not just Chewbacca that has been fully formed for the new movies. Neal Scanlan also talked more about the sea cows which had to be transported by helicopter to come to life this weekend, so the attention to detail given to this franchise is really unparalleled.

With that in mind, it's not shocking to now know each Chewbacca suit took six months to come together.

Still, if you’re wanting to get into some legit Chewbacca cosplay, you have quite the challenge ahead of you. But if you’re happy to admire Chewie from afar, you can catch the creature designed character back in action when Star Wars Episode IX hits theaters this December. To take a look at what else we know about Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, check out CinemaBlend's full guide.

Is Star Wars’ New Character Jannah Lando Calrissian’s Daughter? Here’s What Naomi Ackie Says

Is Star Wars’ New Character Jannah Lando Calrissian’s Daughter? Here’s What Naomi Ackie Says

While the number of questions regarding how things will end for our heroes in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker are nearly infinite, Rey, Finn and Poe aren't the only characters we wonder about. Naomi Ackie has been added to the cast as an all new character, and we know essentially nothing about her, except her character's name, Jannah.

Naomi Ackie and Jannah were introduced to the crowd at the recent Star Wars Celebration in Chicago and panel moderator Stephen Colbert asked Ackie about rumors that Jannah might actually be the daughter of Lando Calrissian. As one might expect, Ackie didn't really answer the question, but she also didn't not answer the question. It's certainly possible that Jannah could be Lando's daughter, because Lando probably has a lot of daughters, and sons too. According to the actress...

Listen, Lando is a charming man, so he could have children all over the universe.

The Star Wars Celebration panel was very focused on making sure that no details about The Rise of Skywalker were revealed beyond those details that were planned to be released. We got a single still shot of the character of Jannah, but nothing beyond that, meaning that we have no idea how she fits into the story. About all we can guess is that since she was on the SWC stage in the first place, she's important.

The idea that Jannah could be Lando Calrissian's daughter is given some strength simply due to the fact that Lando himself is returning for the final episode of the new trilogy. We don't know anything as far as that character goes either. Where he's been or why he's back now is a mystery.

Based on the simple still image of Jannah, if she is Lando's daughter, she hasn't really taken after her father, one wonders if he actually raised her. Lando is always looking quite suave and that's not the vibe we're getting from Jannah here. Whatever she's up to, she's getting her hands dirty.

In the same way that Rey being a Skywalker or a Kenobi seemed a little too on the nose, I doubt Jannah is a Calrissian. It's simply unlikely that there's a need for such a connection to exist and Jannah being somebody else, anybody else, helps to expand the galaxy in a new way, which has clearly been part of the goal for this trilogy.

Odds are that if we knew who Jannah really was it would just create more questions. The big answer we were all waiting for, the film's title, certainly does that. Nobody knows what The Rise of Skywalker really means, though we all have our theories, which is the point. Jannah's history can be another topic of conversation that should keep fans busy until the new trilogy comes to a close this December.

Final Avengers: Endgame Trailer Is Here To Blow You Away

Final Avengers: Endgame Trailer Is Here To Blow You Away

Most of us assumed that after a Super Bowl spot and a short teaser, Marvel Studios would be done showing off footage from the upcoming Avengers: Endgame. Well, we've never been happier to be wrong. Here's the final full trailer for Avengers: Endgame. It's better than you could have hoped:

OK, so, am I the only one that screamed “YES!” at the top of my lungs for so long that my throat has gone scratchy? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Even though this trailer recycles some of the footage that we already have seen before, it peppers in (no pun intended) more than enough new reveals to get us super pumped for the retaliation the surviving members of The Avengers plan to bring to Thanos’ doorstep.

The trailer for Avengers: Endgame also leans heavily on two pillars of the MCU, and that’s Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Steve Rogers (Chris Evans). There’s a lot of time dedicated in this clip to their history, with Tony literally talking about how much has happened since he clawed himself out of that cave in his initial, prototype Iron Man armor.

And then there’s an equal amount of time spent on Cap’s journey, from rail-thin cadet in the armed services to dedicated hero, willing to risk his life again and again in service of his pure ideals. There are enough hints to the lost love of his life, Peggy Carter, to suggest that Avengers: Endgame will have closure for that plot line. But that could just be me being super hopeful.

Here are the survivors, all adorning the movie’s official poster.

I screamed “YES!” at the screen because the trailer confirms something seriously important, and that’s the fact that Tony Stark will return from space and reunite with his team… to basically head back into space and, we assume, take the fight to Thanos (Josh Brolin). We get that awesome sequence of the reassembled Avengers walking in their new suits, and Tony is with them, where he belongs. We also get a glimpse of Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) in the post-title tag, where she shows off her bravery by barely batting an eye as Thor (Chris Hemsworth) summons his weapon.

That’s all we need. No more footage. We’re in. We see the team preparing a counterstrike. There are still plenty of secrets for Joe and Anthony Russo to reveal in the full cut of Avengers: Endgame. And the movie’s almost here, so let’s hope the marketing stops. The movie opens on April 26. You’re going, right?

A Pirated Copy Of Avengers: Endgame Aired On Cable In The Philippines

A Pirated Copy Of Avengers: Endgame Aired On Cable In The Philippines

As much as people would like to think the contrary, piracy is still more than a slight problem in the world of entertainment. Even more so when a film like Avengers: Endgame makes its way to fans all over, who are waiting to see the end of the Infinity Saga that started eleven years ago to this very day.

But because everyone can’t get to the theater at the same time, if at all, pirates make a market of selling these experiences to those who can’t wait. In one particular case involving Marvel Studios’ gigantic record breaker, a pirated copy ended up somewhere rather unexpected. That place being on cable TV in the Philippines.

Cable network Orient Cable was caught by an unsuspecting fan to be running a pirated copy of Avengers: Endgame just a day after the film opened in theaters throughout the Philippines, around the same time that the film’s pirated copies hit the internet. And before you start to think if maybe this surprised viewer was about to experience a pristine copy of the film, without the fuss of a crowd, that is the total opposite of what happened.

The truth is, the copy that was being shown on cable was such a poor version that not only was the sound subpar, with audience reactions being included in the soundtrack, but fans could also be seen walking through the field of vision the camera had in the theater. So take the worst parts of the theater experience, and transplant them to your very home, and that's watching this copy of Endgame was like.

In an interesting twist to this whole story’s course, this channel on Orient Cable has been known to show pirated films previously, with Avengers: Endgame being their most recent victim. And as Coconuts Manila also pointed out, another bootleg was apparently shown in that film’s place.

It’s not surprising that Avengers: Endgame was pirated, but the big shock is that someone would even think it was a smart idea to put it on broadcast TV. Thinking back to how Marvel Studios handled an internal leak over something as small as an Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer, it’s surprising that whomever the culprit behind this act of piracy is, they wouldn’t stop to think that they just might be in for a greater world of trouble than expected.

Of course, legal proceedings according to the legal codes of the Philippines are underway, so there will probably be more developments in this case’s story as those efforts proceed. But this example of pirated material going widespread is, without a question, scary for people who try to avoid spoilers in order to enjoy a movie like Avengers: Endgame, properly blind to the adventure they’re about to take.

Fans around the world, beware, because you might just get caught in the crossfire of unintentional spoilers. And those who are intentionally trying to spoil this film for others, you should be worried too. There are some unintended consequences going around out there for your lot as well.

Avengers: Endgame is in theaters now, for anyone who’s still keen on experiencing films with clear picture and sound. Though if you’ve already gotten your fill and are looking for some new excitement, the 2019 release schedule will help you find that next Long Shot of entertainment you’ve been looking for.

Star Wars: Episode IX Is Really Aiming To Please Fans Of The Original Trilogy, And It's Working

Star Wars: Episode IX Is Really Aiming To Please Fans Of The Original Trilogy, And It's Working

Say what you will about most other entries in the Star Wars saga, but that original trilogy of films is still the strongest bedrock that the franchise has ever had to call its base. While the series needs to appeal to the fans it’s won in the more recent years, there’s always going to be that fanbase that came to the dance starting with 1977’s initial offering.

I became a Star Wars fan while growing up through the Original Trilogy and a smattering of now de-canonized Expanded Universe material. But I’d always heard that story of that fabled first and third trilogy to round off the saga, and longed for the day they’d exist.

Now, we see the close of the third trilogy coming with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and it looks like director J.J. Abrams and all involved are looking to please those dyed-in-the-wool fans. Here some reasons why that not only feels like the approach that’s being executed, but also why I think it’s working out rather well.

It Promises The End Of The Skywalker Saga

As I mentioned before, one of the biggest sticking points in Star Wars lore was the fact that George Lucas has allegedly planned out three trilogies in the Skywalker Saga. The prequel trilogy scratched the itch fans had for seeing Anakin Skywalker’s origins as Darth Vader, and for a little while, it felt like the last three episodes of the entire nine-part saga would never come.

Even with Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ big reveal, it wasn’t certain that we’d see the end of the line, as George Lucas was out of the process altogether, and episode numbers were eventually dropped.

Why It Works: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker being the definitive end of the Skywalker clan's story frees the series for new ideas to take root. But more importantly, it brings that storied end to the legacy of the very family that started the Star Wars franchise, fulfilling a promise from long ago.

Leia Will Finish Out Her Role In The Star Wars Universe

Due to the untimely passing of Carrie Fisher, another big question was whether or not General Leia Organa would be brought back in some shape or form to close out her own story. After a period of long thought and deliberation, it was confirmed that Fisher’s General Leia would return in previously filmed outtakes from the last two Star Wars films, The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi.

The context of her place in the story, and how much shooting around the footage that was available will affect that is yet to be seen, but this decision is just as important as the one that allowed Luke Skywalker to return.

Why It Works: Seeing our first look at Leia’s return in this final film is pretty convincing stuff. While how the pre-existing story will work with what specific footage they have of Carrie Fisher’s previous performance is definitely a bit of a challenge, it’s good to see the General back for one last adventure. And if the Skywalker Saga is about to end, both of Anakin and Padme’s twins deserve proper closure.

It Looks Like We’re Going Back To A Familiar Desert

The trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker shows a lot of one particular element that’s always been important to the saga’s storytelling environment: sand. With Rey’s big lightsaber flip and some action between Finn and Poe being showcased in the recent teaser, there’s a lot of the rough stuff primed and ready for action.

Which means we’re probably going back to one of two places. Either Jakku or Tatooine are in the mix for the ninth episode of the Skywalker Saga, but either way, this is a pretty big deal when it comes to wrapping up the story started in the Original Trilogy.

Why It Works: Much like the Original Trilogy’s story, bringing our heroes back to where the action started is a classic move of resolution. Anakin and Luke had to return to Tatooine before becoming the men they set off to be, and Rey will more than likely be heading back to Jakku in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. More powerful than when she left, this new Force user will more than likely learn some important knowledge about her origins, before setting off on whatever big battle she’s marching towards.

Lando Calrissian Is Back And Flying The Millennium Falcon Again

One of the most criminally underused characters in the Star Wars galaxy has to be Lando Calrissian. A dashing charmer with a criminal past, Billy Dee Williams’ iconic supporting player is one of those figures that has always been brought up when questioning what moves the next Star Wars films would take to connect the future of the franchise to its historical past.

With so much room for his character to be expanded and enhanced upon in the brand new canon, especially after the discarding of the now-reclassified Legends line of Expanded Universe material, it was a pleasant given that the decision to reinstate Lando would be made.

Why It Works: If there’s a character whose legacy has positively loomed larger than his actual screen time in the Star Wars saga, it’s Mr. Calrissian. While the return of some characters seems more like an exercise in fan service than in storytelling (C-3PO, we’re looking in your direction), having Lando return is a smart way to close the story in the absence of Han Solo. Not to mention, there’s always a spot reserved for a roguish smuggler in the Star Wars universe.

The Series Is About To Go On Hiatus After The Rise Of Skywalker

Some Original Trilogy fans have been worried that the Star Wars franchise of films has overextended its reach a little bit. While Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was a hit and seemed to do pretty well overall, the reaction to Solo was way more tepid than usual. Even Disney CEO Bob Iger realized that the pace of the series was unsustainable, which lead him to announce that the series would go into hibernation after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Why It Works: Fans are always going to show up for the Skywalker Saga entries in Star Wars’ cinematic universe. That said, it’s going to take some time and tweaking to realize just what the fans will want out of the series outside of that now-ending run. It’s nice to see the studio management to realize that, and learn the lesson if you want to keep your fanbase happy, sometimes absence makes the Force grow stronger.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will define the legacy and its storytelling approach for some, while proving whether it adheres to the rules that the Original Trilogy played by for so long. As long as the rest of the decisions made in telling this story match up to the quality of those listed above, there should be a good chance that fans of the Original Trilogy will be very pleased with the finished product.

That’s an investment that should pay off long after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters on December 20. Though, that doesn’t mean the Star Wars fun has to end, as Disney+ will undoubtedly keep the fires stoked as The Mandalorian debuts on the platform’s launch date of November 12.