The 1990s were a pretty weak time for movies based on both video games and superhero comics. On the video game side, there were Super Mario Bros., Street Fighter and a couple of Mortal Kombat films. And on the superhero front, Batman acted out the law of diminishing returns. And that was about it. (I'm going to pretend Steel didn't exist.)

And then in the 2000s, CG visual effects caught up to the amazing superpowered spectacles that comics and games had led us to expect. In 2000, Bryan Singer, well-regarded director of The Usual Suspects, directed X-Men, which was a huge success. And the floodgates of superhero movies opened. Meanwhile, we got movies based on Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, and a ton of others.

But superhero movies have vastly outgrossed video-game movies, according to Box Office Mojo: $7.2 billion to $900 million. (And to be fair, the site lists 77 superhero films, and only 28 video-game films.) Not only that, but directors like Singer, Christopher Nolan, Sam Raimi, Jon Favreau and Ang Lee have been willing to venture into superhero films. By contrast, the most well-known video-game directors are people like Paul W.S. Anderson, and... Uwe Boll.

Why is this? There seem to be a few reasons. For one thing, many of the most successful video games haven't yet made the leap to movies. Neill Blomkamp's Halo film could have been the X-Men of video-game movies, but it fell apart. Ditto for Gore Verbinski's BioShock movie, which seems to have stalled out due to budgetary concerns.

And it's possible that translating video games to movies requires a higher level of CG mastery than translating comic books — the CG renditions of superhero comics just have to live up to our memories of 2-D pen-and-ink drawings. A live-action CG rendition of a video game, meanwhile, has to look cooler than the already impressive computer graphics most games serve up these days.

But also, movie adaptations of video-game films have generally employed the same kinds of story logic you used to see in the Joel Schumacher Batman films. Like, really — the Doom film, which featured evil alien parasites whose tongues could tell if you were genetically evil or not. Let me just repeat that: They had tongues that could genetically scan you and figure out if you were evil. No superhero movie in the past decade has shown that level of disrespect for the audience or the material. Sure, the Tomb Raider and Resident Evil films were a lot better — but even the mediocre superhero films showed a certain commitment to telling a semi-coherent story. Most comic-book heroes have decades of stories in the bank, however contradictory and full of holes, and the films have gotten slightly better about drawing on them.

But maybe the crux of it is that superhero films learned the difference between respect for the format, and respect for the characters. In some superhero films earlier in the decade, you saw some half-assed attempts at making "comic book panels" and captions on the screen — this was especially heinous in Ang Lee's Hulk. But as the decade went on, superhero films learned that the format wasn't what made these worlds awesome. Meanwhile, even as video games became more cinematic, the movies based on them haven't been able to distinguish between paying homage to video-game action, versus translating it to the different format.

But the other thing that becomes apparent, after you look at all of the superhero and video-game films of the past decade, is that the overall level of quality of both has been pretty bad. For every X-Men 2, Spider-Man or The Dark Knight, there are plenty of films like X-Men 3, Wolverine, Catwoman, Daredevil, and so on. Uwe Boll would have to work overtime and weekends to make a film half as bad as Catwoman. Superhero movies have won, in part, due to sheer quantity — if you generate a large enough mountain of crap, some good stuff will rise out of it. But also, a movie doesn't have to be good to make ten squillion quatloos.

But one thing's for sure: The House That Bryan Singer Built won't stand forever. Something's going to come along and knock superhero movies off their perch, establishing a new Hollywood feeding frenzy. Will it be video-game films? Maybe, if the ten video game movies that are in the pipeline actually get made, and achieve Dark Knight/Iron Man levels of success. It really only takes one movie to make half a billion dollars to turn on the firehose of copycats and sequels.

And even though Avatar isn't based on a video game, it's enough like a video game that if it has a strong enough second and third weekend, you could see the gears (of war) turning in the studio execs' heads. Avatar could turn out to be the movie that supercharged the video-game movie genre, since its strengths can so easily translate to recreating Dead Space or Bioshock. And of course if Tron Legacy does gangbusters next year, it could also provide a shot in the arm.

But right now, the up-and-coming genre seems to be toy movies instead. The two Transformers movies did superhero numbers, and appealed to a similar sense of nostalgia and escapism to superheroes. And there are tons and tons of toys out there waiting for their moment on the big screen — and unlike video-game companies, toy companies don't have any concerns about making sure the movies do justice to their existing stories. A toy movie doesn't have to tie in with existing continuity or jibe with the stories that have already told. A toy movie has one purpose only: To sell toys.

And that means toy movies can be dumber, and yet also more spectacular, than superhero films and video-game films combined. Just look at the Transformers films — they're so overstuffed and bloated with nonsense, they can barely move, but they have the power to spew crap for miles in all directions. And now there are films based on Monopoly, Battleship, Viewmaster, Stretch Armstrong, Battle Bots, and countless others on the way. Actual directors, like Ridley Scott (Monopoly) and Peter Berg (Battleship), are signing on to these projects.

Toy movies could well win out in the next decade, because the key to success will be casting the widest net for nostalgia among adults aged 18-49. Everybody feels vaguely nostalgic for Monopoly or Battleship — and it's just a matter of time before we get Steven Spielberg's Sorry! or David Lynch's Yahtzee. It's like the perfect combination: Everybody feels nostalgic, but nobody will complain that they got it wrong. How on Earth do you get a Yahtzee movie wrong?

It already seems like we're maxed out on superhero films, when Warner Bros. puts the kibosh on Superman and Wonder Woman movies and a Green Lantern film starring "it" boy Ryan Reynolds struggles to get made. If Marvel follows through on its plans to put out four movies a year, we could discover just how many superheroic origins the movie-going audience can stand. So maybe we'll see more of a blend of action/nostalgia pics, with films based on comics, toys, video games and other sources. Or maybe toy movies will just crush every other film genre, until there's nothing but massive CG recreations of your old plastic playthings, as far as the eye can see.

Bay, Kurtzman and Orci's Batman
Pros: You'd get a new Batman movie every two years, even if Michael Bay would complain and tell people that he didn't want to make it but the studio offered him so much money he couldn't say no. Plus, with Bay attached, you know that they'd get to Catwoman as soon as humanly possible instead of this whole "I am a nihilist Joker" crap from The Dark Knight.
Cons: Kurtzman and Orci would probably take their Daddy issues (Fringe's Walter/Peter complicated relationship, Star Trek's Kirk trying to live up to his dead father's memory by self-destructing but then coming through as the hero he was destined to be, even Transformers' Optimus as Tough-But-Fair Robot Daddy to Shia's Sam Whitwicky) to pop culture's most parent-obsessed character, leading to the risk of a third act emotional breakthrough where Batman cries. There are enough Batman characters to make Revenge Of The Fallen seem understaffed, and the various personality tics of said Batman characters could lead to more unfunny schtick like the Twins and/or Jazz from the Transformers movies. Michael Bay possibly already sees himself as Bruce Wayne. Also, there's every possibility that the movie would make no sense whatsoever (See: Transformers, Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen).

JJ Abrams' Terminator
Pros: Abrams' sense of kinetic, fun filmmaking is just what the franchise needs after Terminator Salvation - He's a sci-fi nerd who knows how to make successful popcorn movies full of tech that are really all about people; in other words, he's a younger James Cameron, before Cameron fell more in love with the tech involved in making movies. A Terminator-ized "Bad Robot" logo would be awesome. There'd probably be a Simon Pegg cameo.
Cons: Abrams' inability to not have a happy ending would mean that Skynet would be completely defeated by the time he was done, whether it was a movie or trilogy. The time travel core concept would allow him to reboot the series whenever he wanted, with Zachary Quinto as Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator. There'd probably be a Keri Russell cameo. Actually, fuck the cons. I really want to see Abrams do Terminator, the more I think about it.

Christopher Nolan's GI Joe
Pros: If anyone could give GI Joe some critical credibility, it's Christopher Nolan.
Cons: Nolan's attempt would probably be called A Real American Hero and would likely be three hours long, most of which would be spent filled with actors who should know better (Yes, Gary Oldman, we're looking at you) telling the audience how difficult it is to be a real American hero in a morally ambiguous world. There would be at least one subplot about abuse of military power to underscore the moral ambiguity until we move into the third act when the audience needs to get pumped and then Duke would abuse military power to stop the bad guy and then walk away in disgust in order to make a point that will be lost on the majority of an audience who were excited to see shit blow up finally. Cobra Commander would be so compelling that you'll start to wonder if he's wandered on set from a different, better, movie. Purists would complain about Snake Eyes' closing monologue about how difficult it is to be a ninja in the US military. No child would ever want to buy a GI Joe toy ever again.

Bryan Singer's Transformers
Pros: Singer's mix of geek cred and understanding of human drama/cheap angst is exactly what the Robots in Disguise need. His X-Men movies show that he can deal with large casts, and also keep the core of the original concepts and characters without getting weighed down by nostalgia. His Superman Returns shows that he, uh... knows Kevin Spacey, who could probably do a good Megatron voice? Okay, maybe not that last one.
Cons: Tom Cruise would end up playing Optimus Prime, and Ian McKellen would cameo as the Matrix of Leadership/Allspark/Creation Matrix/whatever the hell it's called these days. Singer would leave before the last film in the trilogy to go and make a Go-Bots movie about Leader-1 really being Jesus and stalking his ex-girlfriend.

McG's Dollhouse
Pros: Revamping Joss Whedon's television series into a stand-alone movie, McG would give interviews about really getting to the heart of the darkness at the center of the concept but then present a movie that's a series of comedic vignettes wherein Eliza Dushku, Lucy Liu and Ellen Page are sassy, independent girls who have to roleplay different personalities and lives while working undercover for D.O.L.L.house, a secret spy organization that pretends to brainwash people and rent them out to clients - with hilarious consequences!
Cons: Revamping Joss Whedon's television series into a stand-alone movie, McG would give interviews about really getting to the heart of the darkness at the center of the concept but then present a movie that's a series of comedic vignettes wherein Eliza Dushku, Lucy Liu and Ellen Page are sassy, independent girls who have to roleplay different personalities and lives while working undercover for D.O.L.L.house, a secret spy organization that pretends to brainwash people and rent them out to clients - with hilarious consequences!

The thing that makes this sequence from Dreamscape especially ridiculous is the loopy music and the weird red lighting — and then there are the kids watching their mom have sex with all of Mr. Burnett's golfing buddies. If you're going to confront this kind of disturbing, surreal sex dream, who would you want at your side but Dennis Quaid?

Probably Christopher Nolan's new movie set in the "architecture of the mind," Inception, won't feature any scenes remotely like this. We think.

And Quaid doesn't even need a machine to enter your dreams, as he proves later in the film by venturing into Kate Capshaw's erotic train dream...

Aren't you glad it's Dennis Quaid week?

MTV sat down with Michael Caine and asked him what happened to the Philip Seymour Hoffman and Johnny Depp rumors that he'd helped start a while back. Sadly, Caine filled us all in that not only did he get in trouble but there's "nobody, there's no script there's nothing." And we most likely have a long wait ahead of us with Inception being Nolan's number one priority right now. But most importantly,

"Johnny Depp is great in anything, but there is no Johnny Depp in this Batman," he smiled. "They tell me in no uncertain terms."

Here's the full video interview...

[ MTV and Picture via Joy Hog}

This is, of course, just a teaser, but it does its job - We're curious to see what's behind the seemingly random images (One of which is repeated on the movie's just-launched official site), and wondering whether or not we're feeling underwhelmed by being reminded of The Matrix so much.

[Via] (Thanks, MissMercyStreet!)

As Cameron announced at Comic Con, you'll be able to go see around 15 minutes of Avatar footage for free, at select 3-D and Imax theaters, on the 21st. But that's also the day that the movie's first official trailer premieres, in theaters as well as online.

But meanwhile, Warner Bros. is saying that Christopher Nolan's next movie, Inception, will have its first "teaser trailer" premiering on that same day, in front of Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. Even if the teaser trailer consists only of a few images or a mysterious voiceover, it'll still be 100 percent more imagery than we've seen so far from this movie set within the "architecture of the mind." All we know so far is that Ken Watanabe is blackmailing Leonardo DiCaprio, and Ellen Page is DiCaprio's sidekick. [JoBlo and Slashfilm]

No word just yet on the price, but I'm estimating it will cost one adult human's dignity. While the armor is ridiculous and looked hot on Bale (strange stomach-muscle ridges aside) I'm pretty sure nobody else could pull off this look, let alone on a motorcycle. But if you can afford it — and I'm sure it's coming with a hefty price tag — more power to you.

An Officially Licensed Replica Like No Other is Coming.

- Strong Cordura Mesh Base with Heavy-duty 4 way stretch Spandex
inserts.
- Removable CE Approved Body Armor in both Jacket and Pants
- Highly detailed, removable lightweight interior lining.
- Form Molded Leather and Kevlar Armor Sectons.
- Made from Quality Tanned Cow Hides

- COMING SOON

[Universal Designs via Geekologie]

Last week rumors leaked that Nolan couldn't find a story for the third Batman movie, since Heath Ledger's Joker was supposed to continue on as the villain in the third feature. In an interview with MTV, Bale seemed to confirm that rumor, stating:

"I truly don't know that we're going to see another Batman movie."

When asked if that saddened him, because Chris doesn't feel like doing it, Bale answered somberly:

I wouldn't see Chris as being so whimsical as that. It would be purely that he would need to find a story that is good enough. And if he can't find one then it might not happen.

But finally, and we think maybe the reason for Bale's sour disposition, is the question, "Would you work with another director?" To which Bale skirted and said:

I don't even know if there will be a third so I'm a step away from even having to have to consider that.

Oh silly Bale. The Dark Knight printed a small South American country's annual money supply for Warner Brothers, you'll be in this film even if they decide to let Brett Ratner direct it. But that's what you're really scared of, isn't it? Hey maybe you could rewrite the next Bat too, if it comes down to it.

Speaking of bad rewrites, at the press junket, Bale also revealed that no-one has been talking to him about a Terminator 5. I wonder why?

Batman-on-Film is quoting its Batman film source — who is often spot-on about these things — claiming Nolan is ready to part with the WB on the next Batman movie, and there isn't much we can do about it, other than maybe threaten to blow up some hospitals.

"The death of Heath Ledger in January of 2008 rocked Mr. Nolan hard. So hard that Chris was convinced that TDK was going to be it for him and Batman on film."

They're also saying that the loss not only impacted the director emotionally, but it also completely changed the story for the third film, which was set to feature the Joker heavily. The film now stands devoid of a main villain, and the writers [Goyer and Jonathan Nolan] are at "square one."

I hope they can get it together. Nolan did so much for the bat, I want to see him finish it out strong and as he always envisioned. He hasn't steered us wrong yet.

Inception is filling up with some seriously exciting actors. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy, Leonardo DiCaprio, and now Ken Watanabe? I'm thinking this flick is going to have a lot of highly emotional stare downs.

But bigger than that is Watanabe's character description

Watanabe will play the film's villain, a man who is blackmailing DiCaprio.

So now we know that there will be a physical bad guy, not just an evil robot or computer, since there are literally limitless possibilities to a film about, "the architecture of the mind." Plus, blackmail is always fun. Will there be naked pictures of Leo? I'm assuming there will be naked pictures.

Also joining the film is Tom Hardy, (the villain from Star Trek: Nemesis) who is no slouch on the creepy stare downs as well. Hardy will be acting as a member of DiCaprio's team.

[The Hollywood Reporter]

JGL is stepping in for James Franco, according to the trades, who couldn't fill the the role due to scheduling conflicts. The role is rumored to be an associate of Leonardo DiCaprio's character Jake, the CEO of an unknown corporation. Also in the project are actors Ellen Page, Michael Caine and Cillian Murphy.

[The Hollywood Reporter]

The only plot known for Nolan's Inception is that it's set "within the architecture of the mind," which could be anything. But we now know that Page will be playing a grad student who is a kind of "sidekick" to Leonardo DiCaprio, who is apparently a CEO.

Cotillard will play Leo's wife, Page, and I have no clue what the Scarecrow will be doing there - but you can bet it will be creepy. The film will be released in 2010 but hopefully we'll learn more about it before then.

[The Hollywood Reporter]

All we know about Nolan's next work is that it's a "contemporary sci-fi actioner set within the architecture of the mind." So that could mean a vast number of things from tinkering with one character's cerebral cortex to mind-wiping an entire planet. (Or it could be another Matrix-style virtual world adventure.)

Either way, I'm happy to see Leo take such an interest in science fiction. Let's not forget, he's paired up with Ridley Scott for their Brave New World film, if Scott can ever find the time to make before or after his Forever War adaption.

Inception, described by Warners as "a contemporary sci-fi actioner set within the architecture of the mind," and is based on a script written by Nolan himself, his first all-original movie since 2000's Momento. Outwardly, Warners are happy about the announcement - the Hollywood Reporter quotes president Jeff Robinov as saying, "Chris Nolan is a visionary filmmaker who continually raises the bar with each movie he makes. We are thrilled to be collaborating again with him and Emma [Thomas, Nolan's producer partner] on this exciting new motion picture" - although you have to wonder how the mood is inside the studio, knowing that this announcement pushes out any potential Dark Knight follow-up at least for a couple of years.

Christopher Nolan inks 'Inception' [Hollywood Reporter]

We admit it; while we worried that The Dark Knight was overhyped, but that was before the movie made more money than Star Wars. In our defense, such skepticism didn't stop us from giving you the 10 Batman Books You Must Read, or reviewing the movie twice (I still say I was right). While the comic book Batman may have ended up in some uncertain death-state thanks to the much-hyped Batman RIP storyline - complete with equally teased replacements (even if they're not telling you just who said replacement is), there's no way of getting around it: This was the year of The Dark Knight. Here are the ten most popular Batman stories of 2008 - and look at how many of them are related to Christopher Nolan's blockbuster.

5 Villains Batman Should - But Won't - Face In The Next Movie:
When it comes to discussion about what should happen in the follow-up to The Dark Knight, all of the (so far entirely baseless) rumors seem to be centering around all the old familiar characters: Catwoman? The Penguin? The Riddler? Come on, people. Batman's been around for almost 70 years, can't he deal with some other bad guys on-screen for once?

Batman Sues Christopher Nolan Over Success Of The Dark Knight:
It's not a dream or an imaginary story - The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan really is being sued by Batman over unauthorized use of the "Batman" name. But before we all start celebrating the first proof that, as we all suspected all along, let's face it, Bruce Wayne's troubled crimefighter is actually real, I should explain: the "Batman" in question is actually a little-known a city in Turkey. And they're pissed.

Dark Knight Inspires Copycat Crimes, Over-reactions:
It's taken four weeks, but it's finally happened - Fans of The Dark Knight have started to take some of the Joker's methods into the real world, and are paying the price. But, considering what was actually done in the Joker's name, the price being paid may be far too high.

Will The Dark Knight Return?:
With The Dark Knight continuing to rule at the box office, passing the $400 million mark and still going (relatively) strong, it's not surprising that everyone is talking about the next movie even before director Christopher Nolan has agreed to do one. But what's slightly more surprising is the new speculation that a third movie from Nolan would be his first straight adaptation... and that it would be adapting Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns.

Dark Knight DVD Psychoanalyzes Itself for You:
Virals, bat-suit extras and behind-the-scenes snippets are packed onto the 2-disc Dark Knight DVD. Spanish site PlanetaHD is reporting on all the DVD goodies that you'll find when Dark Knight comes out, including a documentary that psychoanalyzes the man behind the mask himself.

Catwoman In Batman 3? Depends Who You Listen To:
Will we see Maggie Gyllenhaal's Rachel Dawes in any potential sequel to The Dark Knight? Certain rumors are saying that we will, although she may be going under a much more familiar guise than we've seen her so far.

A Video Peek Into Batman Gone Anime:
The animated Batman DVD will look amazing, judging from the clips you can see in this promo reel. Batman: Gotham Knight will come out when Batman: The Dark Knight hits the big screen.

You Could Become Batman, Says Scientist:
Sure, Batman is cool and all, but he's a work of pure fiction, right? Well, a Canadian scientist and lifelong Batman aficionado has examined the Dark Knight's skills and figured out how regular people could transform themselves into real-life Batmen and Batwomen. There are only six not-so-easy steps to a Bat-enhanced you. Better start training now, because it's going to take about 20 years before you're ready to mete out justice on the mean streets of Gotham City... or Boise.

Meet The Stars Of The Next Knight?:
The Dark Knight's sequel will feature Catwoman, the Riddler and Harley Quinn, as played by Marion Cotillard, David Tennant and Kristen Bell - or, at least, that's the dream of one particular artist who's come up with posters for his version of Chris Nolan's third Batman movie.

Bruce Wayne's Backstory, Dateline-Style:
Gotham Cable News brings us the full tabloid report on playboy Bruce Wayne. Taking a note from flashy entertainment news shows, this detailed report on the scion of the Wayne family catches us all the way up to the new penthouse digs of the billionaire.

Not on the list, sadly, is my personal favorite Batman post of the year - but then, I could always slip this in at the end of the post, and then remind you that it's NSFW. Considering that he's "dead" and all, here's hoping that Batman's 2009 is a little quieter... The other superheroes need some time to shine, after all.

The one movie that hasn't been outsold by Chris Nolan's behemoth this year is Marvel's Iron Man - and that may even have changed by the time that you read these words. In its first week of release, Dark Knight sold an amazing 13.5 million copies worldwide, including a record 1.7 million Blu-Ray discs.

In related news, all movie studios have announced that they will only be making really long, dark movies about superheroes from now on.

'Knight' tops annual sales in 1 week [Variety], 'Dark Knight's' DVD bow is heroic [Hollywood Reporter]

Michele Buck, who's producing AMC's mini-series remake of the classic 1960s British spy drama, is unfazed at the idea of her series competing with a big budget movie version from Nolan, mostly because she knows that her version will be seen first:

I don't even know if they have a script... We knew of [Nolan's version], and what it was rumoured to be like was totally nothing like ours at all. We'll be finished, edited, transmitted, out before they even shoot - if they shoot. As with everything, these things come up, go down. We will be ahead of him for sure.

Wait, "totally nothing like ours at all"? Does this mean that one or both of the remakes is nothing like the original series? You mean I won't get to see a modernized version of Number Six shoot people to some bad cover version of "All You Need Is Love"? I demand a recount!

'Prisoner' boss unfazed by Nolan remake [Digital Spy]