Right now, any discussion of Batman movies is obviously centered on The Dark Knight Rises, the final chapter of Christopher Nolan's much heralded cinmatic Bat-trilogy.  This year, though, Warner Premiere is hard at work adapting one of the most influential comics ever created.  As has long been rumored, Frank Miller's epochal 1986 masterpiece The Dark Knight Returns is getting a DC Universe animated adaptation, and today we have new details.

You know what would be nice?  A seasonally-themed animated adventure that isn't predicated upon crassly commercial, winking pop-cultural references and fart jokes.  The first official trailer for Rise of the Guardians has landed online, and it seems as though the film will fit that bill. 

WonderCon 2012 (San Diego Comic-Con’s sister convention) kicked off on Friday at the Anaheim Convention Center and that evening fan’s were treated to the World Premiere of the latest film from DC Universe Animated Original Movies entitled Superman vs. The Elite, which will be available on Blu-ray DVD combo, VOD and digital downloads beginning June 12^th.

The PG-13 direct-to-video film series has adapted many classic DC stories in the past including Superman: Doomsday, Justice League: The New Frontier, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, Batman: Under the Red Hood, All-Star Superman, and Batman: Year one. The new film is based on the classic Action Comics issue #775, “What’s So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way?” written by popular comic book scribe Joe Kelly with art by Doug Mahnke. The story takes a look at the values Superman stands for and if they are still necessary in our cynical new world.

The heaviest superheroic hitters of DC Comics won't be getting a The Avengers-style live action team up movie this year, but as a consolation prize, the popular DC Universe series of features is serving up an animated ensemble with Justice League: Doom.  Warner Home Video has released three new images from the film, which is inspired by Mark Waid's four issue comic arc JLA: Tower of Babel. 

The idea is that Batman's top secret contingency plans to cripple his fellow Justice League members exploited by bad guys, leaving Bats to clean up the mess that started with paranoia and general coolness.  In the comics, it was Ra's Al Ghul up against the League, but in the new movie, it's the the Legion of Doom.

What with the presence of Johnny Depp and all, Dark Shadows is the 2012 Tim Burton film that's been hogging the attention as of late, but today Disney released the first official images from Frankenweenie, the director's feature-length stop-motion expansion on his 1984 short film of the same name.  These two stills introduce Sparky, a dog, and Bob, the suburban boy who uses science to play god and resurrect his beloved pet when Sparky dies unexpectedly.  Of course, this leads to all manner of complications.  For the first time since Ed Wood, Burton's doing an entire feature in black and white, and I'm sort of astonished Disney is allowing it.  The lack of color carries over from the original short, is inarguably stylish, and fits the tone of the material like a glove.

Since Batman: The Animated Series first premiered in the early 1990's, Kevin Conroy has voiced the Caped Crusader on multiple television series, as well as in a theatrical feature, and multiple videogames.  He's sitting out Warner Premiere's new animated feature, Batman: Year One, as it features a younger Batman, but Conroy's back in Justice League: Doom, the next DC Universe-based animated movie.  At New York Comic-Con this weekend, Warner Premiere debuted the first trailer for the superhero ensemble, which is loosely based on Mark Waid's comic arc Justice League: Tower of Babel.  The story finds each member of the League made vulnerable when an enemy utilizes Batman's secret contingency plans against his cohorts.  As you can see in the trailer, the enemy in Doom is, appropriately enough, the Legion of Doom.

Just because the fourth season of AMC's Breaking Bad came to a perfect conclusion on Sunday doesn't mean you can't get your Bryn Cranston fix on the fairly regular.  In the animated feature Batman: Year One, which is now available for download and hits Blu-ray and DVD next Tuesday, everybody's favorite chemistry teacher/meth cook/monster provides the voice for Lieutenant Gordon, Batman's most trusted ally in Gotham.  A new clip from the Warner Premiere film has Gordon bringing his wife (voiced by Grey DeLisle) along to investigate his hunch that Batman and Bruce Wayne are, in fact, the same guy.  Ben McKenzie voices Wayne in full-on callow playboy mode.  He throws Barbara Gordon off the Batman trail with the oldest trick in the book, but Jim Gordon's a good cop, and he still has his suspicions.

Everybody loves Pixar, and the studio is dusting itself off from its first ever critical disappointment with Cars 2 this summer.  The next Disney release from Pixar Animation Studios is their first original tale since 2009's Up, and it's the animation powerhouse's first crack at a proper fairy tale, couched between two sequels and a prequel (Toy Story 3, Cars 2, and Monsters University in 2013).  That's not the only reason to be excited though.  There's also the fact that Princess Merida, voiced by Kelly MacDonald, is the first heroine in Pixar's 25 year run.

We've known for awhile that Brave follows aspiring archer Merida on an adventure across the Scottish Highlands, but a new synopsis for the film reveals some new detail as to the story.  A lot of the info is stuff previously gleaned or known, but there's some intriguing new business in here as well.

Everyone loves onomatopoeia, when a word exists an imitation of the sound it describes.  Yesterday, we brought you a clip from Disney's new theatrical Winnie the Pooh in which A.A. Milne's "bear of very little brain" feebly endeavored to decipher a note left by Christopher Robin before succumbing to his crippling honey habit.  Today, a new clip once again features Jim Cummings as the voice of a confused Pooh bear, along with Owl and Eeyore, voiced respectively by late night talk show host Craig Ferguson and Pixar Animation veteran Bud Luckey.  The cause of confusion: some onomatopoeia-influenced wordplay.  All in a day at the Hundred Acre Wood, one imagines.

The imminent release of a mere ninety-second trailer for The Dark Knight Rises continues to cause a case of widespread fanboy blue balls, next weeks Comic-Con International will see the premiere of an animated feature based on a four-issue comic arc by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli that was a huge influence on Christopher Nolan's interpretation of Batman.  Batman: Year One is executive produced by Bruce Timm, the animation luminary whose history with Bats gos back to the great early 90's animated series and continues through last year's Batman: Under the Red Hood.  While Batman: Year One will screen at Comic-Con, it won't be available for home viewing until October.  Today, Warner Home video released the full specs, special features, and cover art for the film.