VIDEO: Behind The Scenes of ‘Batman: The Dark Knight Returns – Part One’

Every time Warner Bros. puts out a new DC Universe Animated Original Movie they always have a behind-the-scenes feature on the next film that they are going to release. In this case, on the Superman vs. The Elite disc there is a feature on Batman: The Dark Knight Returns – Part One.

Things of Note:

  • The 80s style synth pop soundtrack on the featurette is fantastic and hopefully indicative of the style of the films.
  • The voice actors shown here are uniformly great, and Peter Weller’s gravel and broken glass voice as Old Man Batman is FANTASTIC.
  • I couldn’t be more excited/terrified for this one.

 

Comments

  1. I need to give a shoutout to my boy, the long lost hero of TDKR, – Klaus Janson!! Thank you.

  2. Holy shit! This video is 12+ minutes long! I’m dying to watch this, but I’m at work and my boss is hovering. Be back later.

  3. Avatar photo Arrrggghhh (@Arrrggghhh) says:

    Nice! Looks like they are on the right track.
    So I’m guessing Part One will only be released this year – and Part Two will follow in 2013?

  4. Oh man, this looks good. I don’t know what I’m looking forward to more, this or Dark Knight Rises. Good time to be a Batfan.

  5. Looks great. Sounds great. I’d be nervous if Timm, Romano, and co. didn’t have such a damn good track record. Nothing’s ever going to devalue this story for me, so if I end up with nothing more than a fun animated companion to it, I’ll consider it a win.

    Ya know, it’s funny; You read classics like this for so many years, and it really does take on its own unique form in your mind. I have a silly little tradition of reading this book every New Years Day while nursing my inevitable hangover. It’s just my way of starting the year off right. I’ve read it so many times now that it has its own movements, sounds, and smells in my mind. I know it like I know my own voice.

    So when I initially heard the voices of the actors here (particularly Gordon and the Mutant Leader), I thought “No, this is all wrong.”. Then, as the adorable Andrea Romano was discussing the cast, I started to realize that it was just me resisting anything that didn’t sound like MY version of it. And the interesting part is that I don’t even know what my version sounds like. I couldn’t even put into words the voice of the Mutant Leader I hear in my mind. I couldn’t compare it to any one actor. It’s something completely without form, but I ease into it like a comfy armchair every time I sit down and crack open those pages. This is something we run into often in our little niche, but it never ceases to fascinate me. The closer something is to your heart, the more you have trouble letting someone else take it for a ride.

  6. Here’s a suggestion: why not DC animation make an animated Justice League movie instead (of a live action one)? I remembered when Batman: Mask of the Phantasm was shown in the movies and it was a huge success.

    • Because:

      BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM: $8,367,675 (Domestic Gross, Adjusted for Inflation)
      MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS: $575,233,764 (Domestic Gross)

    • I would still pay to see Mask of the Phantasm on the big screen. That movie was amazing. This looks pretty good too. Got to admit I’ve never read this. I’ve owned all of the trades for years and have just never got to it.

    • wow @cskilpatrick I wasn’t prepared for that detailed reply. It’s nice to know though.

    • It’s not a bad idea. When MOTP came out the Pixar movies were in their infancy. They could do an animated justice league and it could possibly do well. Toy Story 3 made a pile of cash just 2 years ago. It also was not just for kids and dealt with mature themes. Right now, I think I might be more optimistic about an animated JLA movie then a live action one.

    • Next year will be the 20th anniversary of MOTP. I would love to see a rerelease but I’m not holding my breath.

  7. By the way, I realize Pixar is not a part of DC animated. I’m just saying the tech is out there to make a damn good JLA animated movie and that might be the way to go.

  8. While this looks good, some of the voice acting sounds pretty hokey. Granted, it was pretty raw without all the sound effects and music, but still sounded not so good.

    As I was watching this last night, I thought – “Why haven’t they made an animated feature of Kingdom Come yet?” Seems like that would make a GREAT animated film.