The Dark Knight Trailer

the dark knight trailer news

By Borys Kit

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Iron Man," which opens across North America on Thursday night, not only kicks off Hollywood's extended summer movie season, it supercharges what is shaping up as the biggest season ever for comic book-to-film transfers.

"It's not a fad," Marvel Studios president of production Kevin Feige said of the onslaught of movies built around comic book avengers. "It's the new archetype for the summer blockbuster. Everybody loves special effects, everybody loves epic entertainment, and that's what comics have been delivering for decades and decades."

"Iron Man" will be followed by "The Incredible Hulk" and "Wanted" on June 13 and 27, respectively, both from Universal. "Hellboy 2: The Golden Army" unleashes July 11, again from Universal, while "The Dark Knight," Warner Bros.' Batman sequel, alights July 18. Lionsgate releases "Punisher: War Zone" September 12.

On July 2, Sony opens its Will Smith-starrer "Hancock," which is not actually based on an actual comic but does promise to turn superhero conventions on their head with its tale of a depressed, alcoholic, bumbling hero.

It speaks to the vitality of the genre that Hollywood can schedule all these movies in the same time period without fear that they will cannibalize each another. "Iron Man" is a Marvel action movie featuring a man in a super-powered armor, while "Wanted" is an R-rated action movie about a society of super-assassins. "Hulk" is a Marvel monster movie set amid a realistic backdrop, while "Hellboy" aims to take audiences to underground worlds fertilized by Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro's imagination. "Dark Knight" is expected to offer another dark, psychological exploration from director Christopher Nolan.

"If they were all about a guy who runs into an alley and changed into a costume or into a phone booth to put on a mask, they would have come and gone in a year or two," Feige said.

Maintaining a heroic diversity is important to Marvel as it gets ready to greenlight its next films from a slate that ranges from "Ant-Man" (directed by Edgar Wright) to "Thor" (a Norse God adventure from Matthew Vaughn) to the patriotic, flag-waving "Captain America."

"Because they can be so varied in genre, in rating, in execution, there is a lot of room for them (in the marketplace)," said Donna Langley, president of production at Universal Studios. "But you should be mindful about the competitive landscape. You obviously don't want to release 'Superman' and 'Spider-Man' the same day."