I am still very much looking forward to The Dark Knight, next summer’s sequel to 2005′s Batman Begins.
To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of Batman Begins. While I definitely feel it was step in the right direction (I enjoyed it for the most part), Batman Begins had its fair share of problems, and I sincerely hope that the sequel corrects some of the missteps made in the first.
Regardless, there’s another related project coming out later this year that should be equally exciting to Bat-fans everywhere – Batman: Gotham Knight, a direct-to-home-video animated anthology of six short films done in the Japanese anime-style.
Here are a few pics to give you an idea of the look of the project:
Pretty cool, right?
Three different Japanese animation studios were used. I won’t name them here since the average moviegoer/casual anime fan isn’t really all that familiar with the names of the various anime production companies, however, I will say this: the three studios’ previous works include well-known films like Ghost In The Shell, Vampire Hunter D, and Tekkon Kinkreet.
Similar to 2003′s The Animatrix, all six short films take place in the same universe as Batman Begins, chronicling events that take place between the first film and the second.
Here’s a preview with a behind-the-scenes look at the project along with interviews and, of course, footage of Batman in action, anime-style:
Batman: Gotham Knight comes out this summer, July 8, ten days before the premiere of The Dark Knight.
Somebody recently posted a copy of the original, unused ending for last year’s I Am Legend starring Will Smith, and I have to say, the mostly unseen footage (part of the original ending was used in trailers leading up to the film’s release) is far superior to the version shown in theaters.
See for yourself. The entire clip runs a little under 7 minutes.
Here’s a fun little animated short featuring Super Mario and a fed-up Koopa Troopa.
Gabe Swarr put it together for the Nintendo Short Cuts Contest.
Mark Chun, a good friend of mine, sent me the link. (Check out his sketch blog here!)
Enjoy!
For those of you who are animation-buffs like my friend Mark or who are interested in the creative process like me, here’s the same short before all the finishing touches were put in:
