Because it would be silly and confusing to name the sequel to Zack Snyder’s 300, 301 or 300: 2, the follow-up has now been given the official title of 300: Rise of an Empire.  Previously, the Noam Murro sequel/spin-off was titled 300: Battle of Artemisia, but perhaps that was too confusing and so we’re now left with this generic title that continues the theme of recent movies (The Dark Knight Rises, Rise of the Guardians, etc). Deadline reports that the Legendary Pictures film will keep its release date of August 2nd, 2013 intact.  300: Rise of an Empire stars Eva Green, Rodrigo Santoro, Sullivan Stapleton and Andrew Tiernan in a story based off of a Frank Miller comic.  Be sure to catch up with all of our previous coverage on the 300 spin-off here.

The Blu-ray release date for director Jay Oliva’s animated feature Batman: The Dark Knight Returns – Part 1 is rapidly approaching.  We have a new clip from the movie to tide you over until then.  If you missed it, here’s the trailer and first clip from Batman: The Dark Knight Returns – Part 1, which features Frank Miller’s take on the aging Caped Crusader who returns after a ten-year hiatus to take down a ruthless street gang, the Mutants.  In this new clip, the leader of the Mutants (voiced by Gary Anthony Williams) has a few words to say about Batman and Commissioner Gordon.  Hit the jump to check it out and be sure to pick up a copy of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns – Part 1 when it’s available starting September 25th.

After reporting this morning that Joe Carnahan’s pitch to Fox for Daredevil “went up in smoke,” the director decided to share those sizzle reels with Twitter.  It’s clear that I’m not cut out to be a studio executive, because Carnahan’s hardcore, 70′s take on the Man without Fear seemed spot on to me.  Granted, sizzle reels aren’t composed of actual footage; they are spliced together pieces of film stock, bits of soundtrack, some concept art and, in this case, comic book panels that are meant to give the viewer a sense of tone and theme.  Carnahan’s Daredevil would have been closer to a Frank Miller film: tough, ballsy and fearless.  It’s a shame we’ll probably never see the vision on the big screen. Hit the jump to watch two versions of the Daredevil pitch.

Dimension Films has set the release date for Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.  In a press release, the studio announced that Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller‘s sequel to Sin City will open in 3D on October 4, 2013.  The press release also confirms that Mickey Rourke will return to play Marv (because A Dame to Kill For is really more a prequel than a sequel), and adds that Jessica Alba will reprise her role as Nancy Callahan.  We previously reported that Rosario Dawson would be returning at Gail, but the press release makes no mention of the actress.  Rodriguez and Miller co-wrote the screenplay with Oscar-winning screenwriter Willliam Monahan (The Departed).  Dimension says, “The script and details of the film’s story are being kept tightly under wraps,” but you can find a synopsis for Miller’s graphic novel after the jump.

Currently, the only other film set to be released on October 4, 2013 is Henry Selick‘s untitled animated film.

As you can see from the image above, Daredevil is pissed at being left out of all The Avengers coverage.  Luckily we have a little bit of news on that front.  In a recent interview with Tom Rothman, 2oth Century Fox’s CEO, Steve gleaned some info about the David Slade-directed reboot of Daredevil, notably:

“It’s in development; we’re working on the script.”

Not much to go on, but at least we now know who is working on the script. Deadline reports that David James Kelly is doing a rewrite for the script, one that appears to be based on Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s classic 1986 “Born Again” arc, spanning issues #227-233.  The story centers on the Kingpin discovering Daredevil’s true identity which results in the hero’s life turning upside-down.  While I’m fully expecting some sort of hero origin story to be worked in, I’m curious: who do you think should play Daredevil this time around?

Last week, we reported that Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller‘s Sin City 2 had finally secured financing, and that filming was due to take place this summer.  The sequel, officially titled Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, has now lined up its first two actors by bringing back Sin City stars Mickey Rourke and Rosario Dawson.  Since A Dame to Kill For is actually a prequel, it allows room to bring back popular tough guy, Marv (Rourke), and prostitute dominatrix, Gail (Dawson).

Hit the jump for more.

I know this is hard to believe, but it appears that Sin City 2 is really, actually, 100% happening.  It was just announced that Robert Rodriguez’s Quick Draw Productions and Alexander Rodnyansky’s AR Films will partner with Dimension Films on Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, which is set to begin filming this summer.  Rodriguez said as much back in March, but he’s been promising “movement” on a Sin City sequel for years now so everyone basically took the news with a grain of salt.  As far as what’s in store for Sin City 2, creator/co-director/writer Frank Miller had this to say:

“The first Sin City knocked out audiences who had never seen anything like it before. Robert Rodriguez and I are going to shake things up and deliver a ferocious film experience that is going to go even further than the first.“

Hit the jump for more on the film, including story and casting details.

Joel Edgerton is entering talks with Warner Bros. to star in the 300 sequel, 300: Battle of Artemisia.  According to Vulture, Edgerton “would play Themosticles, the famed archon and general who led the Greeks to victory against the invading Persians in 480 BCE.”  Noam Murro, who previously directed the awful Smart People, is making a big leap from that indie to the tentpole action flick, but Zack Snyder is still on board to co-write the script based on Frank Miller‘s upcoming graphic-novel, Xerxes.

While I’m not exactly sure we need 300: The Same Amount of Greased-Up Ripped Guys Fighting the Brown People, Edgerton is undoubtedly a strong lead.  Unfortunately, American audiences probably don’t know that yet since no one saw Warrior and he’s barely in The Thing.  However, they’ll get more chances to see him in 2012 since he’s leading Kathryn Bigelow’s Kill Bin Laden, and he’s co-starring in the family flick The Odd Life of Timothy Green and Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of The Great Gatsby.

It seems as if there’s no shortage of supernatural or undead properties for Hollywood to farm these days. The recent acquisition of Top Cow comic In the Dust suggests that the public still hungers for more vampiric fare. George Mahaffey, who co-created the graphic novel with Christian Duce, is slated to pen the adaptation.

In the Dust sends a government agent out to investigate the reported disappearances of small-town Midwest families during the “black blizzard” storms in the 1930s Dust Bowl. When an army of vampires are found to be the culprits, the agent forges a partnership with Al Capone’s gang to protect the vampires’ next target: Chicago. The 165-page graphic novel will hit shelves next year. Hit the jump for more on In the Dust and Sin City 2.

Sin City 2, which has lived in development hell for the past six years, may finally be coming to life.  Director Robert Rodriguez says he now has financing for the flick and he would shoot the film before the year was out as long as he had a quality script.  However, he also hit upon a unique problem with the original Sin City in that the movie was not so much written as it simply used Frank Miller’s comics as a storyboard while bringing hardly anything new to the table.  It remains the strongest case for why a 100% faithful adaptation is pointless.

But I have some hope that Sin City 2 may be better because Oscar-winning screenwriter William Monahan (The Departed) is coming on board to work on the script.  Hit the jump for more.

In what was almost certainly the most uncomfortable panel of Comic-Con the newly minted Legendary Comics brought Frank Miller to the stage to discuss his controversial new superhero comic, Holy Terror. Additionally, the new company also announced a pair of projects from Paul Pope and Matt Wagner.

Hit the jump for a description of Pope and Wagner’s projects and a few choice quotes from Miller.

A teaser trailer for Frank Miller’s upcoming graphic novel Holy Terror is now available online. That’s right, it’s a trailer. For a comic. And you know what? I kind of like it. Featuring the classic hard lines of Miller’s art and the type of violence that fans of previous works like Sin City and/or 300 have come to expect and enjoy from the writer/artist, Holy Terror looks to be a gruesomely fun ride with a little social commentary sprinkled on top. Originally conceived a decade ago as Holy Terror, Batman, the 120-page graphic novel now centers on a “hero” called The Fixer who fights terror on the fear-filled, post 9/11 streets.

Check out the trailer after the jump. The newly formed Legendary Comics will release Holy Terror as its inaugural title on September 14th.

One of the seminal deconstructions of the superhero genre is Frank Miller and Klaus Janson’s 1986 miniseries The Dark Knight Returns.  The comics are set in the future where a middle-aged Bruce Wayne feels forced to come out of retirement and fight crime only to incur the wrath of his old foes as well as the Gotham police department, the United States government, and Superman.  If you haven’t read it, go buy it right now.

But if you don’t feel like reading it, Bleeding Cool reports that an animated adaptation is in the works.  The adaptation would be the latest in a line of animated films based on DC Comics following the recent All-Star Superman and the in-development Year One, the latter of which is also based off a famous Miller Batman comic.  According to Bleeding Cool, “several veterans of Batman toons past will be on the crew list.”  My question is how dark can they go with this adaptation.  DKR isn’t exactly the bright sunshine of All-Star Superman.   It will be interesting to see who will be writing the adaptation of Dark Knight Returns and how they’ll be adapting this classic comic.  Hit the jump for a synopsis of The Dark Knight Returns.

Ever since Zack Snyder’s 300 hit theaters three years ago, fans have been chomping at the bit for a sequel/follow-up. Snyder always said that it depended on whether comic book artist/writer Frank Miller wanted to write another graphic novel. Well, it appears that Miller has a good chunk of Xerxes written and drawn, and he recently spoke extensively about the project. Regarding the story, Miller had this to say:

The time frame begins 10 years before ’300′ and the story starts with the Battle of Marathon, which was killer to draw, by the way, even if it was a lot of work. The lead character is Themistocles, who became warlord of Greece and built their navy. The story is very different than ’300′ in that it involves Xerxes’ search for godhood. The existence of gods are presupposed in this story and the idea is that he [is] well on his way to godhood by the end of the story.

For much, much more from Miller regarding Xerxes, hit the jump.

While in London last week doing press for Legend of the Guardians, director Zack Snyder talked about his plans for the upcoming 300 spinoff, Xerxes.  I say “spinoff” because as we previously reported, Snyder says that Xerxes isn’t a “prequel or a sequel” because it’s about the Battle of Artemisium, which took place during the exact same three days as the Battle of Thermopylae (which was depicted in 300).  But whereas Thermopylae was a land battle, Artmisium was fought at sea and Snyder has big plans for how he plans to depict that fight.  Hit the jump for how he says he’s going to have Greeks and Persians going at it this time.