DC Heroes In The Media

Aquaman: The little series that wasn't
The merger of WB and UPN into CW has resulted in more than a few casualties. One of those was Aquaman. The pilot was made, everyone was onboard, then the networks merged and they only took the 'best' shows from each network to make up the new lineup. Most of the new concepts, of which Aquaman was one, ended up on the chopping block. There were rumors of it being a mid-season replacement, but realistically it probably won't be. I was one of several hundred thousand people that got to see the trailer for the pilot up on YouTube about a month or so ago before the copyright lawyers brought the smack down and had it removed (this was after it became the number one viewed video on YouTube after only being there for a day). It looked interesting, but I couldn't tell if it was any good from the trailer. They did spend some money on the pilot since in the trailer there are several money shots (not surprising since that's what people would have seen to entice them to watch the show). Well, give props to some network marketing executive. Due to some legal loophole, iTunes has access to all the former WB's shows, which apparently includes the Aquaman pilot. Yes, I probably could have downloaded it for free somewhere in the nebulous internet, but I decided to shell out the $1.99 and download (okay, I had Ginger do it, since she's the one with the iPod and the iTunes account). According to reports it's doing quite well on iTunes and been the number one download for a couple days. In fact, there's even talk of now really doing a movie based on the fake Aquaman movie in Entourage and the strength of the downloads of the pilot (it's weird how these things feed on themselves). The pilot wasn't great. The guy playing A.C (Arthur Curry) was okay, most of the other actors weren't that great. And even thought they had a couple of big names in the show, ultimately the performances by Lou Diamond Phillips and Ving Rhames feel lacking any real emotion like they were phoning it in. That and they definitely didn't follow the pattern they started with Smallville, where bits and pieces of mythology are spaced through various shows. Seems like on Aquaman they laid all their plot cards on the table right there in the pilot. Also, there was a ton of cheesy crap. There's a scene where Arthur swims and keeps up with a military fighter jet. Also near the end there a scene where Aquaman was captured and tied up, and once he breaks free, even though he's on a boat in the middle of the ocean in a torrential downpour, he has to splash some water on his face from a sink to rejuvenate himself. Please, didn't I see that on the Superfriends every week back in the 70s? Seriously, are you telling me this guy supposedly grew up and never realized "Hey, if I'm away from the water for about an hour, I shrivel up and waste away."

Superman Returns: The Lacklustor Boxoffice Performance
Word on the street has been that this movie needed to make 200 million domestically before it would get green lighted for a sequel. At this point, I have my doubts it's going to make it to 200. It's currently at 185 according to Box Office Mojo, and last weekend it brought in under 4 million. Since it's been losing about 40-50% each weekend, you can do the math and see it has a long way to go to make 200. Although it appears to be playing well overseas, and it's already recouped it's astronomical production budget. My guess is a sequel gets done if for no other reason than all the props and equipment they created for the first one can then get reused and become NRE costs. I would be surprised though if the budget for sequel is larger than the budget for Returns (260 million). My guess is it may get 150 million for the budget.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
They're using "The Dark Knight" as the title for the second film. I like it. They've also announced some of the casting. Rumor also apparently has Katie Holmes returning. And no, I don't know why either. Was anyone clamoring for more of her after the first one? Tabloid rumors claim though that she won't be back, so there's hope. The new bit of news that I found interesting though is that Heath Ledger has been tapped to play the Joker. That's right, expect all kinds of Brokeback Batman jokes. "Joker, why can't I quit you."

Wonder Woman: Joss Whedon is the man
Lastly there's been a rumor on who will be wearing the bracelets and flying the invisible jet in the new Wonder Woman movie. Latest scuttlebutt says Natasha Henstridge has been reading the first 30-50 pages of the script. To be honest, I didn't recognize the name and went to IMDB to see what she's been in. If you're feeling adventurous, then I suppose you could type her name into Google's image search and gaze in wonder at the results, but I shall not be linking those results here. The other rumor (that I like more) has Morena Baccarin from Firefly / Serenity playing the lead role. That makes more sense to me since it's Whedon and he's worked with her in the past.