For a long time, this has been the image that’s accompanied ideas of Nicolas Cage as the Man of Steel in Superman Lives, the aborted Tim Burton version of the classic comic book hero. But what if there was a better look at Cage in costume? There is.

From CBM, comes these compelling photos of Cage in the super-suit. You’ll notice the similarities between this costume and the Dark Knight’s threads from Burton’s Batman, and you’ll also notice the oddly traditional S-shield on the suit as well. The problem with seeing Cage as Superman though is that widow’s peak on top of his head which makes him look more like Superman’s dad than Superman, but other than that… Hey, it could have been worse. (See the top of this article.)

Also, one might notice that of all the concept art and prototypes to come out of the fog surround Superman Lives – Including Brainiac’s head in a jar with mechanical spider legs – this might be the most normal. Maybe there are some color shots of how the costume looks too, just waiting on someone’s computer somewhere. That would be sweet.

Anyway, what do you Bastards think of the pics?

Source: Geek Tyrant

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The Christopher Nolan-produced Superman reboot Man of Steel comes out later this year, coincidentally in time for Superman’s 75th birthday. But this time 15 years it might have been a very different kind of Superman movie that was released to commemorate the diamond anniversary of Last Son of Krypton’s first appearance in Action Comics #1, that is if it hadn’t, you know, imploded like a 5 cent balloon.

Well Tim Burton’s Superman Lives is now the subject of a proposed documentary from filmmaker John Schnepp (Metalocalypse and Venture Bros.). In the video intro for the project, Schnepp says that he’s long been a collector of any and all tidbits of information and production art about Superman Lives, and recently had the inspiration to make a film about the weirdest Superman film that never happened.

Schnepp seems very ambitious about his prospects for the project, and while I can see him securing interviews with guys like the storyboard artists, or even Kevin Smith because he’ll talk about anything, does he really have the juice to net Nicolas Cage, or even Burton himself? I’m not sure. As for his plan to produce actually scenes if he raises more than his set budgetary amount, I don’t know. If I remember correctly, being too expensive to make was the reason Superman Lives was killed in the first place.

Still, Schnepp’s enthusiasm is infectious, but I have to wonder, if Superman Lives was made and currently sat on his DVD shelf, would he be so eager to venerate it, or would he be joining a chorus of fanboys deriding it as the worst thing ever made? I guess we’ll never know.

You can check out the Kickstarter page here, and donate if you wish. As of this writing, there’s early $16,000 down, on its way to a goal of $98,000.

Source: Bleeding Cool

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Word is that the whispered rumors about Tim Burton’s Pinocchio movie might be bearing fruit. Jane Goldman (Stardust, Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class), is in talks to tackle the rewrite of Bryan Fuller‘s first draft of Pinocchio, and she will be incorporating RDJ‘s script notes. Although not signed to contract, Robert Downey Jr. has been attached to the project in early stages to star as Geppetto, and has submitted script notes of his desired changes.

The Hollywood Reporter broke the news of Goldman’s joining the Warner Bros. project. THR says that no deals are in place, but many believe that the addition of Goldman to the team and the inclusion of RDJ‘s script requests will help lock in contracts for Burton as director and Downy as the lead character.

The story is described:

Downey would play Geppetto, the woodcarver who creates the puppet who dreams of becoming a real boy and whose nose grows when he tells a lie. When Pinocchio goes missing, Geppetto embarks on a quest to reunite with his marionette.

Of course the focus will be more on Geppetto with an actor of RDJ’s stature in the role. There are sure to be adventures for the puppet maker as he tracks down his wayward creation.

Does this mean that Johnny Depp might take on the Pinocchio role? When is the last movie Burton has directed without Depp? What do you think about the project?

Via: THR

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Each and every week we scour the Internet for nothing but the best in nerdy art. We leave no digital stone unturned, we poke and prod every nook and cranny of the Interwebz. Why? Because we love you, and we love to bring you weekly Nerd Art Dumps.

The Shining is one of Stephen King‘s greatest spine chilling thrillers, which was later adapted into a spine chilling motion picture by  Stanley Kubrick.  Now, if you let Marco D’alfonso throw Deadpool in the mix, you’ll have the greatest comedy of the 1980s. No matter how dark and scary Kubrick would have tried to make the movie, Deadpool would have wasted the $19 million budget on rubber chickens and kool-aid. [Comics Alliance]

Hit the jump for Poison Ivy trapping Batman, Community paintball and MOAR!
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Each and every week we scour the Internet for nothing but the best in nerd based art. We leave no digital stone unturned, we poke and prod every net based nook and cranny. Why? Because we love you, and we love to bring you weekly Nerd Art Dumps.

Na na na na na na na na, Batgirls! – Well, one Batgirl and a Robin anyways, but a single Stephanie Brown. We here at Nerd Bastards HQ love the work of Lynne Yoshii, having featured her here several times before, but featuring the former Spoiler turned third Batgirl with her past self is pretty damn cool. When your originally a three-issue deal and you become one of the biggest female characters in comics you know your doing something right. [Comics Alliance]

Hit the jump for Spider-Man, Ginny Weasley and MOAR! (more…)

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Christopher Nolan has made money hand over butt for Warner Bros thanks to his vision for his Batman trilogy, but has his Batman movies made the most money it terms of bang for Warner’s buck? That’s a question that blogger and professional movie geek Brian Collins explored recently.

Of course we realize that adjusting for inflation, the real box office champ of all time isn’t Avatar, but Gone With the Wind. In 2012 dollars, the romantic epic has made $1.620 billion at the domestic box office, while Avatar, by comparison, is in 14th place overall with its $779 million haul adjusted for inflation. The Dark Knight, the most profitable Batman movie of all time, currently sits at #29, while the latest film The Dark Knight Rises, sits at #92 with its $412 million take so far. Tim Burton’s 1989 hit Batman, currently sits somewhere in between at #50, which, adjusted for inflation, made $504.8 million. But there is another factor to take into account: the price of a ticket.

Using Box Office Mojo, Collins calculated that Batman sold something to the effect of 62,954,600 tickets at an average ticket price of $3.97 (those were the days). The Dark Knight Rises, by comparison,  has so far sold 50,635,700 tickets at an average price of $8.02. So while Rises has made almost twice the money that Batman has, Burton’s Caped Crusader sold 12 million more tickets. On a similar note, Rises predecessor The Dark Knight sold 74 million tickets; by comparison The Avengers, which sold nearly $100 million more in ticket sales, only sold about 2 million more seats than The Dark Knight.

So there you have it Bastards. Yet another lesson in how numbers lie. Unintentionally, of course.

Source: Blastr

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There’s been a new trailer released for Tim Burton‘s Frankenweenie and it provides a bit more insight to the plot. In particular it shows us Victor isn’t the only one bringing pets back to life. I’m hoping this film will herald a return to form for Burton. I don’t think I’m the only one who’s been underwhelmed with his last few efforts.

Frankenweenie sure looks great, and it definitely oozes the Burton style. I really like all the little homages to the classic Universal Monster movies. I’m a little worried the story’s becoming too complicated, but that’s hard to judge from only a trailer.

Frankenweenie release October 5th. Is this a movie you’re excited to see?

From creative genius Tim Burton (“Alice in Wonderland,” The Nightmare Before Christmas”) comes “Frankenweenie,” a heartwarming tale about a boy and his dog. After unexpectedly losing his beloved dog Sparky, young Victor harnesses the power of science to bring his best friend back to life–with just a few minor adjustments. He tries to hide his home-sewn creation, but when Sparky gets out, Victor’s fellow students, teachers and the entire town all learn that getting a new “leash on life” can be monstrous.

Source: Geek Tyrant

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With Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter finished and floundering at the box office (reviewed here), writer/creator Seth Grahame-Smith is off to his next project, the much rumored and still up in the air sequel to 1988′s Beetlejuice. Bleeding Cool had a chance to needle the writer for some details, and he delivered. While it is in development right now,  Grahame-Smith stressed that the movie is ‘just theoretical right now,’ so here’s whats happening, theoretically.

If we come up with nothing but shit then we’re not going to do it. Beetlejuice, I think, is too important to too many people, myself included, and Tim (Burton), and Michael Keaton, to do a sequel just for the sake of it, because we’d think it would be commercial. It’s one of my favourite movies of all time. I still have the original 1988 poster in my office, framed, above my desk. It was an important and seminal movie for me. I want to find a way, so badly, to get it right, but I am so absolutely horrified at the thought of getting it wrong that we’re taking our time and being really careful about it. Though I have talked to Tim quite a bit about it, and I have talked to Michael quite a bit.

I’m liking where this is going already, he sounds like he loves the property and will treat it right. A needles sequel for nostalgia will do no one any good.

More revealing details after the jump.

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Reading some of the reviews of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, you get the sneaking suspicion that a lot of my fellow critics believed they were walking into some camp ground of historical meta-fiction where the 16^th President of the United States would dispatch bloodsuckers with some Schwarzeneggerian one-liners. But that’s not the case, and this is where being of the nerdy persuasion has advantages over other critics.

I’m only about 100 pages into Seth Grahame-Smith’s original novel and can say easily that there isn’t an ounce of camp between the pages. It’s no sketch either, as it’s also been compared to a Saturday Night Live skit. The book is a surprisingly thoughtful, well-researched alterna-biography of Lincoln. As if there really was a vampire named Henry carrying around “Honest” Abe’s secret diaries all this time and showed them to Grahame-Smith.

As for the movie, it carries none of the book’s subtlety, but being from the director of Wanted, Timur Bekmambetov, I didn’t expect there to be much. Although clearly more horror flavoured than recent vampire films like Twilight or Priest, the potential for straight-up horror is replaced with absurdest, nearly over the top action sequences complete with CG blood spurts. I think we wanted something closer to Bram Stoker’s Dracula rather than something that feels cut from the cloth of Van Helsing.

MORE AFTER THE JUMP

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We have to wait a little longer to see Christopher Nolan‘s The Dark Knight Rises, and NerdBastards’ Matthew Jackson is dealing with the wait by filling his head with as many other Batman tales as possible. In the six weeks leading up to the flick’s release, he’ll be revisiting all six Batman franchise films so far (yes, even the crap ones) and writing retrospective essays on what worked, what didn’t, and what each film means to the franchise at large.

After my essay on Batman last week, a reader theorized that the biggest problem with the Tim Burton-era Batman films is in fact Tim Burton. After all, he’s been rather publicly dismissive of comic books overall, and he’s always more interested in the visual aspect of his films than the characters that populate them. While it might be the most powerfully distilled version of a Tim Burton superhero movie, and that may be a big problem for some viewers, Batman Returns is a fascinating, darkly gorgeous entry in the franchise with far fewer and (mostly) shallower flaws than its predecessor.

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