Since their inception, the LEGO licensed games have followed a pretty standard formula. Players start off in a central hub where they can select missions to enter, check their progress and buy more characters to play as. After years of this between Star Wars, Batman, Indiana Jones and Harry Potter, the franchise was due for a change.

Not only is LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes the first LEGO game to feature voice acting for the characters, but it will be an open world format. How this will impact gameplay will be interesting as this has never been attempted by any of the LEGO franchise games before. It may be a structure similar to a GTA game where players meet up with NPCs and receive missions or maybe even an Arkham City style where Batman receives updates from Alfred or Oracle, which would make sense using both the Batman franchise as well as the new voiceover being added to the game.

Take a peek below at the trailer and screen shots for LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes to see Batman, Superman, the Flash, the rest of the Justice League and all the villains in action. You even get a brief glimpse of the friendly antagonism between Batman and Superman as well. LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes is coming to all major consoles and handhelds on June 19th.

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These new TV spots don’t really give us much more information than we already have. Still, it’s nice to see the PR machine is cranking up to full power in anticipation of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises.

Of course, if you’re like us, you don’t really need a reason to see this movie and will probably be there at midnight when it opens. That doesn’t mean it isn’t fun to see these new TV spots.

Although, and maybe I’m in the minority here, I’m still not sold on Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. Sorry folks, she just seems like the weakest link here and I can’t shake that feeling no matter how much I try. Let’s hope she doesn’t ruin the experience.

The Dark Knight Rises hits theatrs on July 20. Click through for the videos.

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The DC animated universe is fantastic. Bruce Timm has been masterminding gold standard animation for nearly two decades, and his crew is finally taking on one of the most important Batman stories ever told, Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns.

This epic two-part animated event has already been officially announced, but The Hollywood Reporter has announced the principle voice cast:

Peter Weller (Robocop) will star as Batman/Bruce Wayne and Modern Family’s middle child Ariel Winter will play Robin… Also in the cast are David Selby, the veteran actor who starred in the original Dark Shadows soap opera as well as the classic 1980s soap Falcon Crest; Wade Williams (Prison Break) as Harvey Dent/Two-Face; and Michael McKean as Dr. Wolper, the psychiatrist who releases the Joker from the insane asylum.

Fan favorite Michael Ironside played the role in a classic episode of Batman: The Animated Series that payed homage to the seminal story. While it would have been nice symmetry to have him back, Peter Weller is an amazing choice for the role.

The story is being split into two animated features, the first of which will be hitting shelves later this year, followed by the second part in early 2013.

The Dark Knight Rises looms. As The Avengers makes ungodly sums of money and other potential blockbusters come and go, the true tenor of the season wont be determined until Batman has his say.

Warner Bros. has released a new one sheet for the anticipate super hero conclusion, and it really plays up the ‘fire rises’ motif that has been a constant in the marketing. The ad campaign for the sequel has thus far been much less interesting than for The Dark Knight.

The viral aspects seem to cause less of a fervor among fans, there is nothing like those variant Joker tagged posters that popped up in theaters after a few months of the regular ones hanging on those walls. Just on the whole the marketing for this movie just seems to have less impact. Of course this could be on purpose, you don’t need much impact when everyone and their mother saw the last film.It is still interesting to see the different tactics in play.

As for the quality of this particular poster, it is rather nice. Getting a splash of color in there is a good touch, and I like the symmetry of this design and some of the earlier teasers.

Check out the full poster after the jump.

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Though we know you aren’t dragging your heels to see Marvel’s The Avengers this weekend, one thing you don’t have to wait till then to enjoy is the brand new trailer for Christopher Nolan’s “final” film in his Batman trilogy, Dark Knight Rises.

The trailer is set to hit at the beginning of Marvel’s superhero mashup flick this weekend, but the marketing gurus at WB thought it wouldn’t hurt much if the trailer was released a few days early.

Up until now, we haven’t gotten much of the film’s plot, outside of the fact that we know Bane, Catwoman, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were all in the film. Now, we’re getting a bit more of the substance, as to what happens to Bale’s Bruce Wayne, what Catwoman’s role is like, and why Gordon-Levitt is always looking so surprised.

Check out the trailer right after the jump, and be sure to catch Dark Knight Rises in theaters just after Comic-Con, on July 20th.

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The Dark Knight Rises is going to be a big film, and now we know that has more than one meaning. The blockbuster is going to be setting a new standard for how much IMAX native footage is released for a Hollywood feature film.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Christopher Nolan’s Bat-Finale will include the most actual IMAX footage of any studio film before it:

When Mr. Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises” opens July 20, it will contain the most IMAX footage ever for a Hollywood feature, more than one hour’s worth. There were 40 minutes of such footage in 2008′s “The Dark Knight”—which set box-office records in its opening weekend.

IMAX’s summer slate also includes potential blockbusters “The Avengers,” “The Amazing Spider-Man,” “Men in Black 3,” Tim Burton’s gothic comedy “Dark Shadows,” and Ridley Scott’s 3-D “Prometheus.” Mr. Nolan’s film was the only one shot using IMAX cameras; the others were converted using IMAX’s technology.

Sounds exciting. These Nolan Bat-Films are paving the way for the first truly IMAX movie. Sure the cameras and tech have been around for ages, but up till know it was used for nature docs and educational programming. We want to see what true film-making legends can do with the tech. IMAX is always going to be more immersive than traditional movies, so this can only be a big win movie goers.

Remember back before we had multi-billion dollar movies in theaters showcasing our favorite heroes doing the things we had them doing with action figures in your garage decades ago? Just me? Probably, but that doesn’t mean most of you didn’t want to do the same, and now DC and LEGO are giving you the chance to do it in style with their brand new app, LEGO Super Heroes Movie Maker.

The app is to celebrate the new marriage of LEGO and Warner Bros.’ famed DC list of characters, in the DC Super Heroes line of toys and video games. The app works pretty simply, but is also perfect for those with a good amount of time and patience. Here’s how they break it down.

Bring the LEGO DC Universe Super Heroes to life with the LEGO DC Super Heroes Movie Maker. The free app lets you bring your blocks to life using simple tools and guides that make it easy to shoot, edit, even score your movie with music. Add one of the customizable title cards and share your directorial debut online.

You can get the app now for free in the iTunes App Store, or just wait for it to hit your non-iPhone sometimes soon. In the meantime, check out their trailer for the app after the jump.

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With the release of Christoper Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises inching ever closer we can expect to see more and more information about the film start to come out. This time around we’ve got new images from the film which appeared in Entertainment Weekly and were generously scanned by the folks at Batman News.

In them we get a look at our major players including a very good opportunity to see just what Anne Hathawy’s Catwoman outfit is all about. Like we’ve heard from others around the Interwebs (and around The Flickcast’s water cooler), we’re not completely in love with the look.

That said, we’re more than willing to give Nolan the benefit of the doubt here. He’s proven time and again that he’s a guy who knows exactly what he’s doing.

Plus, Tom Hardy’s Bane looks pretty badass and so does, not surprisingly, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character. He looks pretty at home with that firearm. Wonder how he’d look in the Batsuit?

Anyway, check out some more pics after the break. Look for The Dark Knight Rises in theaters and IMAX on July 20.

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After breaking the 10 million sold mark, it was inevitable that LEGO Batman would receive a sequel. The original was so popular, it became a part of the package deal for the XBox 360 for a time. Back in November of 2011, a few months after LEGO revealed initial designs for their LEGO DC Super Heroes line, Traveller’s Tales and Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment announced that the latest LEGO Batman title would encompass some of the most well known heroes and villains of the DC Universe. Now more than a full three months later, we get a first glimpse of it in action in LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes.

In the trailer below, we see LEGO Batman and his ward LEGO Robin once again, but this time joined by the Man of Steel (or in this case also LEGO) Superman. He makes his way over to Gotham as the Joker is released from Arkham Asylum by Supe’s own nemesis, Lex Luthor (voiced by none other than Clancy Brown).

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On February 13, DOOM is coming to New York City.

Co-presented by MTV Geek and Warner Home Video, the world premiere of JUSTICE LEAGUE: DOOM (check out the trailer here ) will be held on Feb. 13 at the Paley Center for Media in New York City.

The new DC Animated feature, based on the classic Mark Waid story “Tower of Babel”, reunites Justice League‘s Kevin Conroy (Batman), Michael Rosenbaum (Flash), Carl Lumbly (Martian Manhunter), and Susan Eisenberg (Wonder Woman) and also stars Tim Daly (Superman/Batman: Apocalypse) and Nathan Fillion (Green Lantern: Emerald Knights).

We’ve got an exclusive clip for you to take a look at after the jump, featuring a very nasty super villain gang taking down one famed caped crusader. JUSTICE LEAGUE: DOOM premieres on Blu-Ray and DVD February 28.

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Now that DC fans have settled into their cozy new logo that the company slapped them with back in 2005, they’re ready to do it one more time! That’s right, DC Entertainment (formerly DC Comics) has finally revealed their new logo that has allegedly been in the works for the last year.

Said to show off more of the different identities of their most popular brands, rather than just be a static logo like some “other” comic publishers. Here’s a DC exec with the worst possible explanation of the new logo. From Co.Create:

“We didn’t want a static logo, but a living identity that could capture the power of our characters and storytelling,” says Amit Desai, senior vice president of franchise management. “What is special about DC content is the notion of a dual identity. When you think about our DC Comics superheroes, there’s a secret identity. When you think about Vertigo, it’s this notion of good vs. evil in many of the stories. And so, in addition to flexibility, the new logo communicates this idea of dual identity: There’s more than meets the eye. You have to take a closer look to understand the richness of our characters and stories.”

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Sure, we may get Abraham Lincoln fighting vampires later this year, but before that even happens, you’ll be getting another American icon kicking some supernatural ass and leaving historical fact at the door.

That’s right, the film FDR: American Badass! is a real film starring the likes of Bruce McGill (Animal House), Ray Wise (Twin Peaks), Kevin Sorbo (Hercules) , Lin Shaye (Austin Powers Films), and Barry Bostwick (Rocky Horror Picture Show) as Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Here’s a brief synopsis if you don’t believe us.

In this throwback to the original 1966 Batman movie, FDR rides a “wheelchair of death” to stop the world from werewolves who carry the polio virus, including werewolf versions of Hitler, Mussolini, and Emperor Hirohito.

Imagine FDR taking on Nazi werewolves, riding a gun-wielding wheelchair, and saying things like “F*ck Polio!”. That’s exactly what you’re going to get from the “straight to Netflix” writing/directing duo of Ross Patterson and Garret Brawith in this flick.

Take a look at the awe inspiring trailer after the jump, and keep your eyes on all forms of distribution for when this movie hits later this year.

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