In a little under two years, we will have a new Batman onscreen by way of Ben Affleck.  It’s a very short turnaround considering that Christopher Nolan just finished his Dark Knight Trilogy last year, but Warner Bros. clearly wants to keep the momentum it gained with Man of Steel, and bringing Batman back into the fold appears to be part of that plan.  Let’s not forget, though, that Nolan’s new vision for Batman with Batman Begins was a complete 180 from any Batman iteration—or superhero movie in general—that we had seen before, and the process of casting the caped crusader was the most important piece of the puzzle.

The new Blu-ray set The Dark Knight Trilogy: Ultimate Collector’s Edition went on sale earlier this week, and one of the many new extras found on the set is a retrospective look at casting the Batman, featuring interviews with everyone from Nolan to Damon Lindelof.  A portion of that feature has made its way online, and after the jump you can watch Christian Bale, Cillian Murphy, and Eion Bailey (Band of Brothers) audition for the lead role and Nolan himself discuss the lengthy casting process.

Details for one of the must-haves of this coming holiday season, The Dark Knight Trilogy: Ultimate Collector’s Edition Blu-ray set, started trickling out last week as we got a peek at the potential cover art for the set, and now Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has revealed the full official details for the home video release, which will hit stores on September 24th.  The six-disc collection includes all three films with their existing extras, two new featurettes, and new collectible memorabilia including Hot Wheels vehicles for each film (Tumbler, Batpod, and The Bat), new art cards by Mondo that highlight the main villains, and a 48-page hardcover book.  Hit the jump for more.

[Update: We've been provided with a high-resolution image of the official artwork for the set. Take a look after the jump.]

When Christopher Nolan’s closing chapter in his Dark Knight saga The Dark Knight Rises was announced for Blu-ray release last year, fans of Nolan’s trilogy understood that a collector’s trilogy set would eventually come to home video.  It was subsequently confirmed that Warner Bros. would indeed be releasing the full Dark Knight Trilogy Blu-ray set in the third quarter of 2013, and now a possible first look at the set may have landed online.  If this is indeed the Blu-ray collection we’ve all been waiting for, it certainly looks like it’ll be well worth purchasing.  Hit the jump for some images.

Today only, Amazon is offering 22 movies you can download to own for $5 each in HD, and $4 each in SD.  Per Amazon, “Purchased videos will be stored in Your Video Library where you can access them whenever you want; watch on your PC, Kindle Fire, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, or more than 300 HDTVs, Blu-ray players, and set-top devices.”  Hit the jump for the list of films (which includes titles such as The Dark Knight, Casablanca, The Goonies, 300, The Town, The Departed, The Shawshank Redemption, and The Matrix) or click here for the full list on Amazon.

Now playing in theaters is director Olivier Megaton‘s Taken 2.  In the sequel, Liam Neeson’s character unwisely takes his family on a European vacation, only to find himself and his wife (Famke Janssen) taken hostage by the family members of the henchmen that Neeson brutally murdered in the first film.  The film also stars Maggie Grace and Rade Serbedzija. For more on the film, here’s four clips and all our previous coverage.

Last week in New York City I participated in two interviews with Neeson.  One was an exclusive video interview (which you can watch here), and the other was a roundtable interview with a number of other journalists.  During the group interview Neeson talked about how the sequel came together, what it was like filming in Istanbul, the car stunts, how much of a backstory he has created for the character, what it’s like being considered an action star, what props he’s taken home from set, his thoughts on a Taken 3, and more.  In addition, Neeson talked about working with Ricky Gervais on Life’s Too Short, told a great behind the scenes story about making Batman Begins, and revealed that Christopher Nolan wouldn’t tell him anything about The Dark Knight Rises.  Hit the jump for more.

Though it was already pretty much expected, we now have confirmation from Warner Bros. that an extended edition of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be released on home video sometime during the fourth quarter of 2013.  The idea of extended editions for Jackson’s The Hobbit films is somewhat intriguing, though, given that the adaptation was initially expected to be two films in length before Jackson was granted permission to extend it to a full trilogy.

Hit the jump for more, including details on an “Ultimate Collector’s Edition” of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy.

Now that Christopher Nolan has concluded his trilogy of Batman films with The Dark Knight Rises, a complete collector’s set of the director’s Bat-opus is coming to stores.  Some artwork for the UK release of The Dark Knight Trilogy has landed online, giving us our first look at the complete collection box set.  Details on the set are scarce, but the artwork on this UK release is pretty great, weaving in different themes from each film in the trilogy.  It’s important to note that the US release could look completely different, but for now hit the jump to take a look at the UK box set.

The Dark Knight Rises hits Blu-ray and DVD on December 3rd.

If you don’t know what Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s full name is for his character in The Dark Knight Rises, don’t fret; I’ll save that tidbit until after the jump.  But since director David Cronenberg (Cosmopolis) decided to chime with his opinion on Christopher Nolan and his Batman trilogy, we thought we’d let Gordon-Levitt have his say.  In a recent appearnce on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Gordon-Levitt talked about the final scene from The Dark Knight Rises and whether or not that sets anything up for a future film.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

As you’re likely aware, the 2012 Summer Olympics kicked off in London yesterday. In other words, it’s time for me to care about competitive swimming and gymnastics for the first time since the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. To all of our readers, especially those internationally-based, I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on the Summer Olympics. Is it an event that evokes your inner-patriotism and love of otherwise obscure athletic feats? Do you take great joy in defeating the ol’ U.S. of A. in something other than Math and Science scores? Sound off in the comments.

This Saturday brings us the Man of Steel teaser trailer set to John Williams‘ original Superman score, coverage from our visit to the set of Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis‘ The Campaign, an extended trailer and first official images from Cloud Atlas, interviews with the fellas of The Watch, and Brendan’s latest By the Numbers installment covering The Caped Crusader from Batman: The Movie to The Dark Knight Rises. Unless you’re a Top 5 noob (in which case, welcome aboard!), you know that a brief recap and link to each can be found after the jump.

Whether you’re a fan of his take on the character or not, director Christopher Nolan changed the face of superhero movies forever with his Dark Knight trilogy.  It seems like nearly every other comic book property since the release of Batman Begins has taken a “gritty” approach to the story, with Begins acting as the benchmark for grounded superhero adaptations.  Nolan’s story has now come to a close with the third and final chapter, The Dark Knight Rises, and he’s written a sort of “farewell letter” to the series and the character.

It’s a touching, revealing look at Nolan’s journey to Rises and how his ambitious Batman reboot spawned one of the best—and most successful—trilogies of all time.  Whatever your thoughts on how the final film unfolded may be, Nolan’s mark on the genre is undeniable and he’s set a new standard for what the term “upping your game” means.  Hit the jump to read what he had to say.

I can’t say who is the biggest superhero in comics, but when it comes to their big screen counterparts, the debate is short: It’s Batman. With the release of The Dark Knight Rises, the collection of nine Batman feature films over the last six decades is on its way to $3 billion in worldwide gross. To celebrate I present Batman by the Numbers, a feature that provides a numbers-based snapshot of each movie and its place in the filmography by looking at the box office, critical reception, and miscellaneous facts.

Hit the jump for a comprehensive review of Batman at the movies, featuring Batman: The Movie, Batman, Batman Returns, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises.

People toss around the word “epic” far too much in describing the things they like and the failures of noobs. But the films of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy are epic, in every sense of the word. Which makes the trailer we’re about to show you really freaking epic. Imagine, if you will, that Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises were actually one big blockbuster. Now imagine they made a trailer for that blockbuster…and it was really, really, really great.

Weaving together footage from all three chapters, what lies on the other side of the jump is not just another appetizer for The Dark Knight Rises, but an illustration of the remarkable ambition and scope of this whole series. This is the first big screen comic franchise that works as one (pristinely executed) arc, with a clear beginning, middle and end. We should all look forward to the day when we can pop them in the Blu-ray one after the other and, with the final credits rolling, utter the word “Epic” as we’ve never meant it before. For now, hit jump to be blown the hell away.

One of the coolest things at Comic-Con 2012 we’ve seen so far is the collection of Batmobiles spanning from Adam West’s 1955 Lincoln Futura all the way up to The Dark Knight Rises’ camouflage version of the Tumbler.  It’s an impressive collection, one that billionaire Bruce Wayne was kind enough to lend for the festivities this week.  The Batmobile display is part of the Warner Bros. Extra Stage, which also features guest appearances from their television properties as well as videogame franchises like Lego’s The Lord of the Rings. Hit the jump to check out a ton of images from the Batmobile display and be sure to keep up with all of our continuing coverage here at Comic-Con.

For the past six days, Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man has held the top spot at the daily box office. It should surprise no one, therefore, that the reboot easily netted the weekend prize as well; earning an estimated $65 million from 4,318 locations. That gives the film a new domestic total of $140 million, a number that’s higher than early projections but lower than past entries in the Spider-Man series. Worldwide, the film has now earned a reported $341 million, which is not too bad for reboot…

Now that it’s officially July, The Dark Knight Rises will be here before you know it!  In the meantime, you can check out these new Movie Masters figures.  Batman (Christian Bale), Catwoman (Anne Hathaway), Bane (Tom Hardy) and Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine) were previously released and a fifth figure features Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Gotham City Police Officer, John Blake.  A sixth figure has been teased and we’ve got reports on who it will be, but we’ll save that spoilery info for after the jump.  There are also some new vehicles in toy form, including a Hoverjet and a Jetcruiser.  Whether these will show up in The Dark Knight Rises film or just the toybox remains to be seen.

Also starring Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman and Marion Cotillard, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises opens in IMAX on July 20th.  Hit the jump to check out the toy images.