When it comes to a character as old and popular as Batman, everybody has an opinion.  Following the announcement that a Batman/Superman movie was in the cards for Warner Bros., we knew there would be some debate over who the studio and director Zack Snyder should choose to don the cape and cowl for their Man of Steel follow-up.  Early word was that they were looking to cast an older, more experienced Batman opposite Henry Cavill’s young Superman, and names like Josh Brolin and Jon Hamm were bandied about.  However, when the studio announced last night that Ben Affleck has been cast in the role, the reaction was unsurprisingly vehement.

The internet specializes in snap judgments, and the casting of Affleck as Batman is no different.  But fan outcry and caps-lock rants are premature; people are already rating a performance that we won’t see on screen for nearly two years.  Hit the jump for more on why everybody needs to calm down.

Warner Bros’ announcement that the sequel to Man of Steel will be a Batman/Superman team-up is big news.  But it is also a totally natural development, one that has been rumored and desired for years.  Charles Roven, a producer on Man of Steel and Christopher Nolan‘s Batman trilogy, famously denied the possibility in 2011:

“That may be in somebody’s mind but right now the Batman lives in his world and the Superman lives in his world.  Those stories are those stories and we haven’t thought beyond each individual picture.”

I would change the wording a bit to say “That may be in everybody at Warner Bros’ mind,” because we have seen Easter eggs that hint at a Batman/Superman crossover in many recent WB properties: Man of Steel, The Dark Knight Rises, Superman Returns—even I Am Legend and Fringe.  Follow the trail after the jump.

For years now, studios have used this weekend to launch some of summer’s biggest titles: The Dark Knight, Inception, The Dark Knight Rises. Left without a major marquee release for 2013, however, the box office instead hosted a handful of more marginal titles, including Turbo, Red 2 and R.I.P.D.  No surprise, then, that overall receipts were way down from 2012 or that only one film – The Conjuring – made a major impression.

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.]

For those who are upset that genre films are never recognized at the Oscars beyond sound and VFX categories, the Saturn Awards are for you.  The Saturns recognize accomplishment in sci-fi, fantasy, action, and horror for movies and TV shows that rarely receive any consideration from the Oscars and Emmys, although there is some crossover.  For example, among the TV nominees, Breaking Bad led with “Best Presentation on Television”, Best Actor for Bryan Cranston (tying with Kevin Bacon for The Following), and Best Supporting Actor for Jonathan Banks.  Over on the movie side, The Avengers netted four wins including Best Science Fiction Film, Best Director (Joss Whedon), Best Supporting Actor (Clark Gregg), and Best Visual Effects.  Among the other genre categories, Life of Pi won Best Fantasy Film, The Cabin in the Woods took home Best Horror/Thriller, and Skyfall earned Best Action/Adventure film.  Like any awards presentation, there’s bound to be debate about the winners, but it’s great that at least one long-running awards ceremony recognized Jonathan Banks and Clark Gregg.

Hit the jump to check out the full list of winners.  In the days ahead, we’ll have plenty of interviews with actors and filmmakers who attended the event.

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.

Though director Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy came to a close last year with the release of The Dark Knight Rises, it appears that we’ll still be seeing material from the franchise for some time to come.  Hot Toys has posted a few curious images that tease the unboxing of a rather massive 1/6 scale model of “The Bat” from The Dark Knight Rises, revealing that Batman’s aerial vehicle could soon be yours.  No price is given, but one imagines this won’t exactly be cheap.  Pre-orders are expected to begin in the near future, so keep an eye out.

Hit the jump to take a look at some images of the “Bat” model.

For proof that 2012 was a nutty year for awards contenders, look no further than the Best Director category.  Over the past few days, we’ve been looking back how the ebbs and flows of the past 12 months have shaped the awards race in a number of categories, and one of the most dynamic shifts came with Best Director.  After the jump, we run down how the race for Oscar glory progressed over the past few months to give us the five nominees who will be vying for the gold on Oscar Sunday.  Hit the jump to read on.

One of the many films to premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival was writer-director Jill Soloway’s Afternoon Delight.  Starring Kathryn Hahn, Juno Temple, Josh Radnor and Jane Lynch, the film’s about a L.A. housewife that “puts her idyllic hipster life in jeopardy when she tries to rescue a stripper by taking her in as a live-in nanny.”  Featuring great performances from the entire cast, the film was well received by audiences and critics and Soloway won the U.S. Dramatic Directing Award during the closing night festivities.

The day after the premiere, I landed an extended interview with Juno Temple.  We talked about how she got involved in Afternoon Delight, how much changed during production, how 2012 was an extraordinary year as she played a normal girl from the 70s, a schizophrenic, a stripper/prostitute, and a fairy, and more.  In addition, we also talked about making Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, Alexandre Aja’s Horns (which stars Daniel Radcliffe), and Robert Rodriguez’ Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.  Hit the jump to watch.

One of the many films to premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival was writer-director Jill Soloway’s Afternoon Delight.  Starring Kathryn Hahn, Juno Temple, Josh Radnor and Jane Lynch, the film’s about a L.A. housewife that “puts her idyllic hipster life in jeopardy when she tries to rescue a stripper by taking her in as a live-in nanny.”  Featuring great performances from the entire cast, the film was well received by audiences and critics and Soloway won the U.S. Dramatic Directing Award during the closing night festivities.

The day after the premiere, I landed an extended interview with Juno Temple.  While I’ll be posting the full conversation soon, today I’m posting what she had to say about making Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, Alexandre Aja’s Horns (which stars Daniel Radcliffe), and Robert Rodriguez’ Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.  Hit the jump for more.

After a tongue-in-cheek tacky movie, a clever casting twist with Michael Keaton, and a slow, nipple-suited downfall further plagued by the crack of Catwoman’s whip, Christopher Nolan reinvigorated Batman.  Fantastical absurdity was replaced with practical reality and the comic edges were smoothed until a bat hero almost seemed like a real-world possibility.  Now the final installation of the trilogy has hit shelves, and you can check out a review of The Dark Knight Rises Blu-ray after the jump.

It’s January 1, 2013, which means that 2012 is now officially in the rear-view mirror.  Quality-wise, it was a stellar year in film, and with over a month to go before the Oscars there’s still an exciting air of unpredictability surrounding the awards contenders.  2012 wasn’t so shabby box office-wise either, and we thought today would be a nice time to take a look back at the year’s highest grossing films, lowest grossing films, and everything in between.  This year saw a few comedy surprises, the highest grossing Steven Spielberg drama in a long time, a couple of superhero megahits, and the glorious disaster that was Oogieloves.  Hit the jump to take a look at 2012’s Box Office in Review.

To try something new with our top 10 lists this year, we opened up a readers poll where you could vote for your 10 favorite movies of 2012.  The tallies are in: 3,760 of you from over 100 different countries racked up 28,375 total votes.  Your top ten of the year are The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers, Skyfall, Looper, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Django Unchained, Argo, The Cabin in the Woods, Moonrise Kingdom, and Prometheus.

The two superhero giants were always a lock for the top spots, but I was surprised to find that a true majority of our readers voted for The Dark Knight Rises (59.9%) and The Avengers (55.4%).  It’s nice to see that not everything on the list is a blockbuster, as so many of you found room for the likes of The Cabin in the Woods (25.7%) and Moonrise Kingdom (21.9%).  Hit the jump for the full breakdown of the votes, including a comparison of American votes and international votes.

While I stuck to my genre-loving guns in my Top 10 Films of 2012 and Top 10 Trailers of 2012, I’m happy to branch out a bit more with respect to the year’s ten best movie posters.  Here’s where I get pretentious.  Posters have the difficult task of attracting attention, holding it long enough to convey a message and getting that message across without the use of sound or motion (normally).  I prefer posters that are minimalist in nature and leave you with an iconic image that you’ll forever associate with the film.  Bonus points are given to those posters that offer layered meanings tied into the movie in question and which inspire curiosity in the picture.  What follows are the year’s ten best posters from a mix of big budget and lesser known movies.  Hit the jump to check them out.

While 2012 was a great year for superhero movies, fans continue to fiercely debate which one was “the best.”  Those in Christopher Nolan’s camp squarely defend The Dark Knight Rises as the year’s best, while fans of Joss Whedon hold to the superhero assembly flick, The Avengers.  Few comic book fans may rally to support The Amazing Spider-Man for the top spot, but Marc Webb followers certainly liked his stamp on the property.  General consensus would suggest that none of these movies were perfect.  A new batch of micro-reviews from Cinema Sins point out the flaws in each movie and tally them up.  If you’re a fan of Honest Trailers or just want some more ammunition to tear apart your friends’ shitty opinions, you’ll like these.  Hit the jump to check them out.