The Dark Knight is a huge hit in America, but not everyone loves Bruce Wayne’s alter ego. The Japanese obviously don’t like Batman at all. The Dark Knight bombed in Japan and made only a little over $8 million.

So what’s the other movie to break the $500 million mark in American ticket sales? James Cameron’s 1997 film Titanic, which made $600.8 million and still remains at #1.

In related news, sales of The Dark Knight comic book by Frank Miller (Sin City, 300) have also skyrocketed. The Dark Knight is currently ranked #63 out of all book sales on Amazon.com.

Not bad for a comic book mini series that was released in 1986.

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Here’s a parody of The Evolution of Dance performed by Optimus Prime from The Transformers called “The Evolution of Dance With Optimus Prime.” Keep your eyes peeled for the subtle robotic crotch thrusts during YMCA. It might not be appropriate for younger Decepticons.

Gotta love the ending. Optimus Prime doesn’t like the Macarena. He transforms and leaves the stage.

Surprisingly, this clip is not from the popular stop-animation comedy show Robotic Chicken. The guy who made it is named Patrick Boivin. Seth Green should give him a job.

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The show stars Michelle Ryan (of Eastenders fame) as Jaime Sommers a bartender and surrogate mother who after nearly getting killed in a car accident receives a butting edge operation that leaves her with advanced bionic prosthetics and implants with extraordinary new strength, among other artificially enhanced gifts.
13.6 million viewers.

Reference for posting: http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire

IESB.net reported a rumor that 28-year-old Mike Vogel (see in Poseidon) could be the guy to fill the Captain’s shoes. Vogel is already working with Abrams in another project codenamed Cloverfield which is slated to open Jan. 18, 2008 and this link does make the rumor just a tad more credible. Of course neither Vogel’s agency nor Paramount will confirm it.

The cast members who have been confirmed include Zachary Quinto who plays Sylar in Heroes as a young Spock, , Zoe Saldana as Uhura and Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov.

Reference for posting: http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire

So far, more than 1 million players have logged on the play the networked Xbox Live version of Halo 3.

The game is expected to give a huge boost to the Xbox 360. Lately, the runaway success of the Nintendo Wii has been a thorn in the side of both Microsoft and Sony.

You can read our review of Halo 3 here.

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But because there is so much anticipation and hype around Halo 3, corporate employers and school systems are fearing that their staff and students will spontaneously be calling in sick this week.

Here are a couple quotes I found on USA Today.com:

“I’ve already talked to my teachers and got my assignments for Tuesday. I don’t plan on going to class,” says Dane Mitchell, 20, a Cincinnati State and Community College sophomore. “I’m going to pick up the game at midnight from GameStop, go to a friend’s house, and play it for 36 hours,” he says.

Like Mitchell, Neil Godwin, 21, of Milford, Ohio, reserved his copy more than a year ago. He’s taking a vacation day Tuesday from his job as a Kroger computer help desk analyst to play Halo 3 all day with his brother.

Corporate sponsors are also helping fuel the hype around Halo 3. Even if the last video game you played was Pong in the 1980’s, Microsoft still wants you to know about Halo 3. Everyone from Burger King, NASCAR, Pontiac and even Mountain Dew have promotional deals with Microsoft for Halo 3 that rival such theatrical franchises as Harry Potter. Last night I even saw a ‘limited edition’ Halo 3 Mountain Dew 12-pack labeled as “Game Fuel.” I guess there’s probably enough sugar and caffeine in a 12-pack of Mountain Dew to even keep a Polar Bear up all night.

Beyond the corporate sponsors, promotional advertising blitz and the Internet buzz, Halo 3 is special to gamers because it’s the final chapter in the Halo series. It’s the last time fans will get to see their beloved Master Chief in action. Halo 3 is equivalent of how important “Return of the Jedi” or “The Return of the King” was Star Wars and Lord of the Rings fans. It’s the end of a saga.

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Kosinski, who last month signed on to the remake of “Logan’s Run” for Warner Brothers, will oversee the visual development of the project and have input on the script, which is being written by “Lost” scribes Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. Story details are being kept secret.

In case you didn’t see the original film or have forgotten the plot (after all it’s 25 years-old now), Tron was about a computer programmer who gets sucked into a virtual world and forced to fight in his own video games. In 1982, the special effects used in Tron were groundbreaking. It was the first movie to use computer generated images (CGI) in conjunction with live action. Sources also say that visual effects personnel, for many of whom Tron was an inspiration to enter the business, are already are jockeying to work on the film.
Good news for Tron fans. According to the Hollywood Reporter, commercial director Joseph Kosinski is in final negotiations to direct a sequel to the 1982 cult movie classic. Steven Lisberger, who co-wrote and directed the original film, has signed on as a producer.

Kosinski, who last month signed on to the remake of “Logan’s Run” for Warner Brothers, will oversee the visual development of the project and have input on the script, which is being written by “Lost” scribes Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. Story details are being kept secret.

In case you didn’t see the original film or have forgotten the plot (after all it’s 25 years-old now), Tron was about a computer programmer who gets sucked into a virtual world and forced to fight in his own video games. In 1982, the special effects used in Tron were groundbreaking. It was the first movie to use computer generated images (CGI) in conjunction with live action. Sources also say that visual effects personnel, for many of whom Tron was an inspiration to enter the business, are already are jockeying to work on the film.

Before Disney green lighted Lisberger to make the original film, he had to shot a test reel, financed by the studio, of the deadly Frisbee battle. It looks like Kosinski will have to do the same thing, but this time the studio wants to see a test sequence involving the movie’s Light Cycles. I can see why. The arcade game based on the Light Cycle scene was so popular in the early 1980’s that it earned more money than the movie.

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Before Disney green lighted Lisberger to make the original film, he had to shot a test reel, financed by the studio, of the deadly Frisbee battle. It looks like Kosinski will have to do the same thing, but this time the studio wants to see a test sequence involving the movie’s Light Cycles. I can see why. The arcade game based on the Light Cycle scene was so popular in the early 1980’s that it earned more money than the movie.

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Bell will play the role of Elle who is involved in Claire’s future and is also connected to Peter and H.R.G. Her character will start to appear in the show in October.

“This was not easy to pull off,” show creator Tim Kring told Variety. “But since we’re an ensemble show, with many arcs playing out through the year, we found a way to jump into a small window in her schedule.”

Reference for posting: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk

An anonymous source told the site that there are three visual-effects companies in the running for the job; Rhythm & Hues, Imageworks and possibly Weta.

If this rumor is in fact true then it could add a couple of years to the films production as the CG takes time to render.

Reference for posting: http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire

The Sunday Mirror reported that the actor would play a young version of the famous Star Trek engineer in the film which is to be directed by Lost creator, J. J. Abrams.

The 11th film in the sci-fi series will focus on the earliest adventures of humans and aliens who serve in Starfleet. The film is expected to be released on Sept 7, 2008.

Reference for posting: http://www.allheadlinenews.com