The Spring Break/St. Patrick’s Day 2019 BOF Mailbag!

By
Bill "Jett" Ramey
-
2318

Hey Now!

Welcome to the March/Spring Break/St. Patrick’s Day 2019 edition of the BOF Mailbag!

I hope everyone who had a Spring Break enjoyed it…or still are enjoying it I suppose.

Also, I hope all that are participating in this year’s St. Paddy’s Day festivities — wherever it may be in the world — have fun and have fun safely.

A question about St. P’s Day…

Since only 8% of me is from Ireland/Scotland, does that mean I can only 4% celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?

I think I can channel that 4 to 8 percent Irish blood in me and get it to 100% at least day a year, right?  (So why am I craving fish and chips, bangers and mash, Coq au vin, and escargot?  Genetics, I’m sure.)  ANYWAY…

Thanks for all the questions, so let’s get to ’em now!

Do you think the [AT&T/Time Warner merger] will have any effect on Warner Bros. Pictures/Batman on film?

JETT SAYS: Look, I’m FAR from an expert on big business mergers, but I don’t think it will have any effect on how Warner Bros. Pictures — and by default, Batman on film — operates.  DC Comics too.

JETT SAYS: Nah, I don’t think they’ll announce any Batman on film news anytime soon.  I’m thinking Summer or early Fall.  I don’t think it has anything to do with SHAZAM!

What’s your favorite “Batman moment” (movie, tv show, comic)? What’s your favorite Bruce Wayne moment?

JETT SAYS: Oh Ryan Lower, WHAT a question!  You know that I’m 53 and have been a Batman fan for at least 50 years, right?  Here are the 2 that came to me immediately…

My favorite “Batman Moment” is this scene from BATMAN: YEAR ONE…

And my favorite “Bruce Wayne Moment would be this no doubt about it…

 

JETT SAYS: Well first off as well, thank you, sir!  I totally agree that it’s “all about the clicks” nowadays.  I guess I’m a dinosaur, but I don’t care.  I’m happy to remain in the Jurassic age when it comes to reporting superhero (Batman, first and foremost) cinema news.

As far as your question about “multiple villains,” I’d say that Chris Nolan pulled it off very well in the 3 films that made up THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY.  That should be an example for Matt Reeves.

I get what you’re saying, but the only Batman movie that really was negatively affected by having too many villains was BATMAN & ROBIN, no?

I’m pretty sure that even if Mr. Reeves is using “multiple villains,” he’ll balance it out quite well.

I don’t expect the “Let’s team-up against The Batman dadgummit!” storyline to be part of THE BATMAN.

What’s your favorite episode of any animated Batman TV series and why?

JETT SAYS: “The Chill of the Night!” from BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD, hands-down.

Why?  I think it’s one of the greatest “Batman Moments” in any media ever and absolutely nails what “Batman” is all about.

 

JETT SAYS: Based on my experience, it’ll happen 3 to 6 months before THE BATMAN starts shooting.  As someone who thinks that’ll happen in early 2020, I say the window is this Summer to early Fall.

What do you think of all of this talk about a BATMAN BEYOND live-action film?

JETT SAYS: I’ll be honest, I haven’t heard anything about a live-action BB in the works.  With that said, I’d love for them to do a one-off BB movie ALA the upcoming JOKER movie with Joaquin Phoenix.

And sadly, it appears that the rumor of a theatrically-released animated BB film was false.

JETT SAYS: If the report is true, probably.  However, I researched this story’s source and, well, OK, I’m not dismissing it, but if it came from a trade I’d be more willing to think it’s legit.  Hell, maybe it is?

I’ll say this, Armie Hammer is on everyone’s list for roles like this…so take that for what you will.

If I’m AH and had to choose between those 2 projects, I’d totally go Batman.  However, the film starts shooting in May, so even if he did TIM, he’d still be able to do THE BATMAN.

We shall see soon enough.

What’s your favorite Batman story involving bombs in pants?

JETT SAYS: HA…I see what you’re up to!  There isn’t one!

Hi Jett, I have a question. With the success of the AQUAMAN movie, do you see Warner Bros. and DC Comics planning to do an Aquaman open world video game in the future?

JETT SAYS: Maybe…that could be cool.

Who is going to do the music score for THE BATMAN?!

JETT SAYS: If I had to guess, Michael Giacchino.

JETT SAYS: This is a tough question to answer because one can come off looking like an A-hole!  Here’s my take on it…

I have no issue with some classic Batman characters being Black; Gordon, Selina Kyle, and even Alfred or Robin are examples.

I do think that Bruce Wayne needs to be White; same goes for Clark Kent/Superman — though I’d actually dig seeing a Superman movie featuring the Calvin Ellis version of the character.  And hell, what about a Batwing movie with Luke Fox?

Look, it’s a touchy subject (though maybe it shouldn’t be?), but a discussion I’d welcome.

Even though Affleck is not going to be Batman in Reeves’ Bat-film, the Batfleck universe is still alive and continuing with THE SUICIDE SQUAD and BIRDS OF PREY.  [How likely is it] that Batfleck might still cameo in these films?

JETT SAYS: Ben Affleck cameoing as Batman in either of those films you mentioned — or in any DC movie going forward — is about as likely as me becoming the next head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.

He is 100% done.

What’s going on is that WB is ignoring the MOS/BvS/JL “trilogy” if you will, and simply moving forward.  They’re are keeping the parts that worked — i.e. Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, and Jason Momoa’s Aquaman (though that was iffy until the movie was a big hit) — and moving forward with a soft, and sometimes hard, reboot.

So saying that the “Batfleck Universe” is still alive, isn’t 100% true Travis, as they’re going to soft/hard reboot their way out of it.  He can live on in the periphery for the fans who want him to (for the time being), but we’ll never actually see him again.

WB’s Batman on film going forward will be all about Matt Reeves’ film(s).

Hey Jett, how are you doing? What happened with WB allowing Batman to appear in live action series like TITANS and GOTHAM? Although I believe a [live-action] Batman appearance should be an event, I can’t lie, I was excited at first; but in both shows, the suit looks extremely cheap (based on GOTHAM’s leaked pic).

JETT SAYS: Well, did Batman really appear in TITANS?  He was more of a prop than a character, no?

But clearly, yes, WB has eased up a bit when it comes to the “Batman Embargo” over the years, so his “appearances” like it was in TITANS could happen again in the future…like in the upcoming BATWOMAN TV series on The CW.

When it comes to GOTHAM, apparently it’s going to be a tad more than what we saw in TITANS.  When securing the rights from WB/DC to do the series, it was agreed upon by both parties that full-on Batman would be allowed in the final episode.  While I have no comment on that alleged leaked image of GOTHAM‘s Bat-Suit, the question remains how MUCH of full-on Batman we’ll see in the series finale.

Will Michael Keaton ever come back as Batman? I’m pretty sure if WB and Tim Burton get the RIGHT people for this project to make a third Batman film within the [Burton-Batverse], it would be a massive hit at the box office. The fans want this to happen. [It could be loosely based on] Frank Miller’s THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS. So in your opinion, would you think I would be a big box off hit considering the fact that Michael Keaton is Batman again?

JETT SAYS: Whew!  That’s a lot there brother!  I’ll give you my take sentence-by-sentence…

I doubt it.

I agree.

Maybe.  There are some Batman fans nowadays — kids to those in their 20s — who really don’t know, of think of, Michael Keaton as Batman.

That probably be the only way to do it…though MK is now about a decade and a half too old for THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS‘ Bruce Wayne/Batman.  (And about a decade and a half too young for BATMAN BEYOND‘s Bruce.)

Yes, I do think it would be a big hit and honestly, I’d love to see it happen as a one-off.  Do I think it’s going to happen?  Probably not.

 

 

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