A rumor surfaced late last month that Joseph Gordon-Levitt was in serious negotiations with Warner Bros. to take on the role of Batman starting with Justice League—maybe even earlier, with the hint of a Batman cameo in Man of Steel this summer.  Gordon-Levitt’s representation was quick to deny the rumor, and “no” will be the official word for the near future regardless of the truth behind the rumor.  Movieline decided to ask Christopher Nolan—caretaker of the Batman franchise and producer on Man of Steel—directly if Gordon-Levitt or any actor might appear as Batman in Man of Steel.  Nolan smiled and responded:

“I can’t talk about that.  You know that.”

Nolan didn’t flat out say no like Gordon-Levitt’s reps.  Make of that what you will.

In the meantime, if you’re in the mood for something more tangible from the greater Batman universe, watch a fan recreation of the Dark Knight Risestrailer in Lego after the jump.

The voice cast for Warner Bros.’ Lego: Piece of Resistance is growing.  Written and directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, 21 Jump Street), the 3D film takes place in a world made of Legos and centers on Emmet (voiced by Chris Pratt), an “instruction worker” who is mistaken for the Master Builder.  The Lego crew then embarks on a quest to prevent an evil tyrant from gluing the universe together.  Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, and Morgan Freeman are all onboard, and now Deadline reports that Will Ferrell, Liam Neeson, Nick Offerman, and Alison Brie are joining the top-notch voice cast.

Ferrell will play the film’s antagonist, President Business (brilliant), with Neeson onboard as his henchman, Bad Cop (also brilliant).  Offerman will play “a craggy, swaggering pirate obsessed with revenge on President Business” while Brie is set as a member of Emmet’s team who harbors a powerful secret.  Lego: Piece of Resistance opens on February 7th, 2014.

Warner Bros. has moved up the mostly-animated film LEGO: The Piece of Resistance up a few weeks to February 7, 2014.  The 3D movie, written and directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs), centers on Emmet (voiced by Chris Pratt), an “instruction worker” who is mistaken for the Master Builder.  The Lego crew them embarks on a quest to prevent an evil tyrant from gluing the universe together.  The film also features the voices of Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, and Morgan Freeman, and will reportedly include cameos from LEGO Batman and Superman.

Originally set for February 28, 2014, LEGO now has competition from the action films RoboCop and Need for Speed.  However, since LEGO is one of the most popular toys ever created, it will probably dominate the box office no matter when it’s released.

The first trailer has been released for Warner Bros.’ LEGO Batman: The Movie – DC Superheroes Unite.  Based off of the game, LEGO Batman 2: DC Superheroes, the plot follows the team up of DC superheroes, such as Batman and Superman, to combat the unified front of arch-villains Lex Luthor, the Joker and more.  Matt got to see the trailer alongside the cut for Batman: The Dark Knight Returns – Part 2 at the recent New York Comic-Con panel.  Now you can check it out for yourself before the movie is made available through Warner Bros. Home Entertainment early next year.  Hit the jump to check out the trailer. 

If you’re not able to attend New York Comic-Con this weekend, I’ve got the next best thing: over 100 images from the convention floor.  While NYCC is smaller than San Diego Comic-Con, it’s filled with many of the same dealers selling 90% of the same merchandise.  However, unlike San Diego, the other 10% are smaller merchants selling some unique and interesting wares.  If you’re in the area and can land a badge, it’s definitely worth checking out.

Hit the jump for a ton of pictures and look for a number of exclusive interviews and panel recaps over the next three days.

The hilarious new comedy Pitch Perfect, from director Jason Moore (Broadway’s Avenue Q) and screenwriter Kay Cannon (New Girl, 30 Rock), tells the story of Beca (Anna Kendrick), a young woman who dreams of being a music producer, but who instead finds herself at Barden University in an all-female a cappella singing group. With both new takes on old favorites and hits of right now, The Bellas fight to climb their way to the top of the cutthroat world of college music competitions. The film also stars Rebel Wilson, Skylar Astin, Adam Devine, Anna Camp, Brittany Snow, John Michael Higgins and Elizabeth Banks.

At the film’s press junket, actress/producer Elizabeth Banks spoke to Collider for this exclusive interview about how much fun she had playing one of the a cappella competition commentators, how much improvisation she did with co-star John Michael Higgins, just how many outtakes they have, what made her see a movie in the book the film is based on, what she’s most proud of with the finished product, and the guidelines she and her husband use, when it comes to finding projects for their company, Brownstone Productions. She also talked about getting ready to return to the role of Effie Trinket for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the possibility of taking on the role of Tinkerbell for the feature film Tink, and recording a voice for the animated feature Lego: The Piece of Resistance. Check out what she had to say after the jump.

When last we reported on Lego: The Piece of Resistance, it was to tell you that Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation) would be voicing the protagonist.  Now, it looks like directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) will be adding Elizabeth Banks (The Hunger Games) and Morgan Freeman (The Dark Knight Rises) to their voice cast.  The picture, which is an 80/20 blend of animation/live-action, centers on Emmet (Pratt), an “instruction worker” who is mistaken for the Master Builder.  The Lego crew them embarks on a quest to prevent an evil tyrant from gluing the universe together.  Hit the jump for more on Banks and Freeman’s roles in the film, as well as updates on other cast members.

While walking around Comic-Con the past two days, I’ve taken almost 150 pictures of the various things items on the convention floor.  If you’re interested in checking out what’s in San Diego this year, hit the jump for tons of posters, costumes, toys, collectibles, people, props, and so much more.

A few of the movies and TV shows you’ll see include Iron Man 3, Breaking Bad, Men in Black, The Walking Dead, Resident Evil, Total Recall, Looper, Ender’s Game, G.I. Joe, Transformers, Star Trek, Back to the Future, Lego, Knight Rider, Star Wars, Sideshow Collectibles, Entertainment Earth, The Hobbit, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, The 5th Element, Thundercats, THX 1138, and more.

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) are powering up their Lego feature film with the addition of Batman and Superman.  The film, now titled Lego: The Piece of Resistance, stars Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation) as Emmet, an “instruction worker” in the Lego world who has zero creative skills and can only build from the provided manual.  When he is mistakenly identified as a legendary MasterBuilder, Emmet reluctantly embarks on a quest to prevent an evil tyrant from gluing the world together.  Lego: The Piece of Resistance, itself an 80/20 blend of Lego-animation and live-action, also features Robot Chicken director Chris McKay as a co-director under Lord and Miller.  Hit the jump for more on the project, including who will voice the Lego superheroes.

With the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3 2012) set to kick off on June 5th at the Los Angeles Convention Center, we thought we’d bring you a preview of some of the major video games that are going to be on display.  This year will feature a new installment in the Halo franchise, a return to form for the groundbreaking Tomb Raider series and a few new LEGO games that will please fans of DC heroes and Lord of the Rings alike.  There’s also talk of a new game from LucasArts, titled Star Wars 1313 but unfortunately there’s no video to share as of yet.
As someone who grew up with blocky monochrome pixels bouncing around the screen, I’m continually impressed by the level of realism and beauty that comes out of these games.  Hit the jump to check out a variety of jaw-dropping trailers and previews.

Fresh off a very disappointing opening weekend for Battleship (I actually didn’t think the movie was terrible), Universal has decided that it needs more movies based on existing toy/game properties.  Heat Vision reports that the studio is in negotiations to acquire the rights to LEGO’s Hero Factory line of toys, with Predators scribes Michael Finch and Alex Litvak onboard to write the screenplay.  The toy line actually has a mythology of its own, as the robotic characters hail “from a planet where a factory churns out robotic machines whose goal is to fight intergalactic evil.”

Though it was definitely marketed as such, apparently Battleship wasn’t Transformers-y enough for Universal so now they’re going all-out by turning what’s basically a knock-off Transformers toy line into a movie.  Seriously, this is two steps away from Transmorphers.

Sadly, that Shaun of the Dead LEGO set we featured last month hasn’t been approved for production. But the good news is, people will still keep making awesome custom LEGO sets for us to feast our eyes upon, and another one has just shown up. Our attention has been called to this fantastic LEGO set paying tribute to Arrested Development to go along with the anticipated return of the series with new episodes on Netflix sometime down the road.

Matt De Lanoy has crafted a custom set featuring the entire Bluth clan along with their infamous model home, and of course, the ever handy stair car. While you may never have any of these LEGO figurines or that awesomely accurate LEGO version of the home that Michael (Jason Bateman) and George-Michael (Michael Cera) called home, you might just be able to get that stair car in your hands. Information on that and a slew of photos of the LEGO set (which includes a blue Tobias Fünke too) after the jump.

It’s most definitely Avengers week around the fan community, and those of you who are Avengers-inclined will find this particular giveaway of interest.  We’ve been provided with five Black Widow LEGO Minifigures to give to a few lucky readers.  The minifigure comes as part of the Avengers LEGO Quinjet Aerial Battle set, and Black Widow is a special item because she is only available as part of the complete set.  It’s actually a pretty cool figure, as Widow has two different faces so you can choose which one you’d like to display depending on your mood/feelings towards your other LEGO figures.

Hit the jump to find out how you can win, and to get a look at Black Widow and the full set.

One of the funniest movies of 2012 so far has been the pleasantly surprising 21 Jump Street.  Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) brought their goofy humor to this feature film iteration of the popular TV series that was buoyed by some terrific comedic performances from Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum.  For their next project, Lord and Miller have been hard at work on a feature-length LEGO movie.  Though plot details are scarce, we know that the film will incorporate some of the most popular LEGO characters while introducing some new ones, and it centers on a young hero who must save the LEGO world from destruction.

Warner Bros. announced today that they have set the film for a February 28th, 2014 release and they have confirmed that it will be in 3D.  Hit the jump for more, including what competition the pic will face on that date.

Back in December, we shared some swell photos of a one-of-a-kind LEGO set that LEGO-fied the characters from Shaun of the Dead.  At the time, the prospects of the set becoming a reality were grim given that LEGO doesn’t necessarily make sets based on R-rated zombie movies.  However, one thing LEGO didn’t anticipate was the persistence of one Simon Pegg.  In order to even be considered by LEGO, a project must reach at least 10,000 supporters.  Pegg lobbied hard on Twitter to make this a reality, and last Saturday “the Winchester project” finally reached the numbers needed to submit to LEGO.  Hit the jump for more, including video of Pegg talking about the sets on Conan.