Holy "Where the hell did this one come from" Batman! In a last ditch effort to win back fans, Warner Bros. has apparently convinced both Christian Bale and Brandon Routh to reprise the roles of Batman and Superman for their upcoming live-action Justice League of America film (currently titled Justice League Mortal). A press release just sent to Cinematical comes with this hilarious quote from a studio rep: "Brandon wasn't too hard to convince; he half-jokingly told us he's dreamt about this opportunity every night for the past several months."

Both men have signed a three-picture deal, which means Warners has plans to extend Justice League beyond the initial film, due out in 2009. Currently, there's no word on whether Armie Hammer (the actor supposed to play Batman) will still appear in some capacity, be it as a younger version of Batman or as a random extra in a background shot. On why he ultimately decided to take the role when there's a good chance it could confuse fans and screw up Nolan's franchise, Bale said, "I don't see me taking on this role getting in the way of anything, aside from someone else's paycheck. The script is awesome. Batman is awesome. Brendon and I look forward to taking this one to the next level."

Sounds like the studio is finally getting serious about this film, bringing on two actors with established fanbases -- guys they know will bolster the flick's box office. There are still a lot of unanswered questions, like what happens to Bryan Singer's The Man of Steel now and will Chris Nolan even go ahead with a third Batman film with Bale doing JLA? Well, one thing is for sure: This whole project just got a lot more interesting ...

For more, check out the entire press release over here.

With the announcement today that Paramount is attempting to lure Sam Raimi into developing and directing several films based on the popular Jack Ryan character, it would certainly appear as if the man is officially done with Spidey. Of course, there's always a chance he'd stay on as producer, but will that be enough to bring back his original cast? Probably not. Paramount is targeting the summer of 2010 for their first Ryan flick, which -- from what we hear -- is right around the same time Spider-Man 4 would hit theaters (if all things stay as planned). The next Superman flick is also supposed to touch down that same summer, so it will be interesting to see a re-vamped Spidey go head-to-head against a sequel they really can't f*ck up.

Variety claims Raimi is not out of the running to direct another Spider-Man film, but since he's in the middle of helming Drag Me to Hell, it would be near impossible for the man to deliver both a new Spidey film and a Jack Ryan film at the same time. Both franchises are in need of some serious work, and it will take time to develop. There's been no word on the current Spidey script, other than it's being worked on -- so for all we know, that could be just about ready to go. Of course, the strike probably didn't help much. What do you think?

Can such a large project as the Superman sequel unravel in a single day? Certainly seems that way, doesn't it? First there was the Anne Thompson blog post which made the rounds earlier in the day (see our post on it here), in which she speculated -- and it seems a given that she wouldn't make such a speculation unless she had some info to back it up -- that Bryan Singer was likely to throw off the long-in-doubt sequel to the mediocre-performing Superman Returns in favor of concentrating on his other upcoming projects. I personally don't see the logic in this, since Valkyrie is already in the can and the Harvey Milk film will be a small thing that need not trample on a huge payday like the Supes sequel. However, Thompson also made a sideways reference to what may be the real issue -- Warner Bros.' increasingly obvious intention of using the upcoming Justice League of America as a way of rebooting said underperfoming Superman film by tossing Brandon Routh.

Now comes Latino Review, exploding a story that they claim to have been sitting on "for weeks and weeks" out of deference to sources at DC Comics. "Kelvin knew about Brandon not being the new Superman for weeks and weeks now, but made a promise to the DC people that he wouldn't break the story. Variety has now confirmed what we've secretly known for a while and Brandon Routh will be replaced in the stand-alone sequel by whomever is cast as Superman in the upcoming Justice League of America movie." Funny, since Variety doesn't say that at all -- this is clearly LR's attempt at a 'whoops, I thought it was safe to leak that info since Variety reported.' Anyway, if LR's source is legit the move on Warner and DC's part does make sense -- Routh didn't connect with audiences, for whatever reason, and in the age of instant reboots there are no second chances.

If you've never seen the Oscar-winning documentary The Times of Harvey Milk, you should lend it your attention. Aside from being a great film, about a homosexual politician in 1970s San Francisco who was assassinated by a co-worker, it needs to be seen before Milk's image is tainted by Sean Penn. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Penn is set to play Milk in a biopic to be directed by Gus Van Sant (My Own Private Idaho). Now, I admit Penn is a great actor, but he just doesn't have that nice-guy charm that Milk had. Instead, Penn is good for serious, brooding characters. Milk was all smiles, and Penn's smile is not nearly as pleasing. Also attached to the film is Matt Damon, who will play Milk's assassin and fellow SF City Supervisor, Dan White (hopefully Damon will wear a dimple-chin prosthetic).

For those wondering, no, this isn't the Milk biopic that we've been hearing about for awhile being made at Warner Bros. That long-planned project, being scripted by Christopher McQuarrie and to be directed by Bryan Singer, is waiting on the production of the duo's Valkyrie -- and maybe even on The Man of Steel. But we did learn of this rival production back in April. Now, if Van Sant can fast track his version, it will take the lead and the advantage. Plans are to begin filming in December with a script penned by Dustin Lance Black (TV's Big Love), though apparently if the untitled film doesn't finalize a shoot date soon, Damon may not stay on board (too bad; he's perfectly cast). The project is being produced by American Beauty's Oscar-winners Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks with financing coming from producer Michael London (Sideways) and his Groundswell Productions. They are currently in talks with one of the major specialty divisions about distribution.

Here's a funny story, from Superman fansite, Bluetights.net. A police officer at the Capitol building in Washington recently spotted Mike Dougherty, scripter of Superman Returns and its in-limbo sequel, The Man of Steel, and decided to quiz him on the spot about what exactly is going on with that film. Dougherty claimed to be "shocked" that anyone would actually recognize him on the street, which I kind of understand, but he stood there and took his grilling. Obviously Dougherty wasn't going to tell a cop to buzz off, so he ended up actually spilling some details on the project. First, he seemingly disputes the recent buzz that The Man of Steel is being put on the back burner in favor of a 'Justice League with Superman' film. "He said that they were on track and the goal is still to have the movie out in the summer of 2009. He seemed a little hesitant about it but did his best to try and reassure that it will get done by then," the cop reported.

More specifically, he confirmed to the cop that there were, in fact, two villains for the film. One of those will, of course, be Lex Luthor, so this isn't really news. And I'm in the camp that really wonders if this project will come together at all. I mean, really, who is clamoring for it? The first film was such a lackluster affair that I can't imagine Warner Bros. would want to use the same team to deliver the same thing all over again. Even if there is a deliberate upping of the ante, hasn't the audience sort of given their verdict on this? Let's just move on to something else.

"I can guarantee you that there is some work being done with Superman right now." These are the beautiful words spoken by one of Bryan Singer's people to IESB.net last week. Now, after all the rumors and speculation that the sequel was delayed, canned or unlikely, we can finally rest, knowing that Singer is still planning on returning to Metropolis next summer to shoot The Man of Steel. IESB contacted Singer's camp in order to question them about a Harvey Milk movie titled The Mayor of Castro Street, which Singer had reportedly been linked to. Actually, IESB was specifically referencing the producers of Castro Street, Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, who had flat out said Singer would be working on their film once he's done with Valkyrie. In addition to the statement above, the Singer source said Meron's and Zadan's statement is "total horse s#*%". They also pointed out that Man of Steel producers Gil Adler and Chris Lee are currently in Germany with Singer and the Valkyrie production. Apparently everyone is lax enough with the WWII drama to take meetings about Superman.

Even if you had a few problems with Superman Returns -- as I had -- you should be anticipating its sequel, The Man of Steel. Because there's always room for improvement, right? Sure, it will be fun to see Supes (played by Brandon Routh) in the Justice League movie, but it will be a lot better if we can get at least one more solo movie before then. I guess Warner Bros. could have gotten another director (as many of our readers would prefer), but since I was disappointed with the first X-Men and then totally loved X2, I personally think Singer needs to stay on. Maybe after being slightly disappointed with Superman Returns I will totally love The Man of Steel, too.

I'll tell you one thing -- don't ask Variety. Ever since Superman Returns failed to absolutely crush the box office (as some expected it would), talk of a follow-up has gone back and forth. At first, Variety claimed a sequel was not "a sure thing" considering the lukewarm box office for Superman Returns. But once rumors began to circulate suggesting a Justice League movie may replace any and all further Superman sequels, Variety was quick to shoot it down, claiming the "assertion would be on par with saying Sony or Paramount would put their respective Spider-Man and Indiana Jones properties into turnaround." Well talk about not being able to make up your mind, because now Variety is once again questioning the sequel -- except, they're just a few months late to the party.

In a recent article, which talks about how a Justice League script (penned by partners Kieran Mulroney and Michele Mulroney) has been handed in to Warner Bros., Variety asks: "Will a souped-up Justice League prove to be Kryptonite to Superman?" When we first visited this topic, the JLA movie wasn't much more than a rumor at the time; Warners was interested in it, and they were looking for writers. But now that a JLA script has been completed (with Warners now searching for directors) before Bryan Singer and Co. have had time to finish their Superman sequel script, does that mean there's a possibility we'll see JLA before (or in replace of) the further adventures of the Man of Steel? Right now, Singer's Superman sequel is slated to be released in 2009. However, there's currently no script and the dude is filming another film, Valkyrie, for United Artists in the meantime.

So, I ask you: With a script done, will Warners bypass a Superman sequel and attempt to snag Singer to direct a Justice League movie instead?

[via IGN]