In Film - The JLA

Comic book super-heroes are big business in Hollywood these days, and have been for the past decade or more. The X-Men, Spawn, Spider-man, Superman, and even the Punisher are among the characters that have made the jump from the printed page to the celuid screen. But over the years there have been two fanchise's that were being woefully ignored, the Avengers and the Justice League. Well I can't speak to the Avengers, but from what I hear over at Variety, the Justice League is coming. Not that soon, but soon enough I think. 2009 or early 2010 probably.

Warner Bros. announced last week that George Miller is on board to direct the live action adaptation. No real word yet as to what type of story we can expect, only that Kieran & Michele Muroney have turned in a script that turned up more then a few smiles. One rumor I read has it following the OMAC storyline and featuring Max Lord. Another is that may be a reworking of JLA: New World Order. As a matter of fact, pretty much the only things that have been confirmed are that there will be a JLA movie, and that Miller is on board to direct. The character line up has not been confirmed, but will probably include Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Aquaman. As far as a cast, no announcements have been made yet, Warner Bros. say that they want to announce the cast as a whole. However, there are rumors circulating that Jessica Biel is "in talks" to play Wonder Woman. Eh, whatever, it's not like I have a better suggestion. Unless they know this girl Liz I used to work with.

Also, Brandon Ruth and Christian Bale will most likely not be reprising their respective roles as Superman and Batman. Christopher Nolan, director of "Batman Begins" and the upcoming "Dark Knight" would rather that WB wait to make JLA until after he has completed his Batman trilogy, most likely so there won't be two different actors playing Batman at the same time. But expect to see more info coming quickly. Warner Bros. is fast tracking the film because of a series of strikes likely to happen next summer. The Screen Actors Guild, and the Directors Guild of America both have contracts that expire June 30th, 2008. This means that they would have to start filming by the beginning of March at the latest. Which is really not the best news, I mean really, who wants to see a Justice League movie that was just thrown together?

-Dan