This week’s merchandise world has gone loopy for The Dark Knight Rises with two stellar announcements by two of the world’s biggest collectible players, in DC Direct and Hot Toys, and 2012 looks like it’s going to be a good year for anyone who collects Bat Merch. There’s also a couple of entries from Mattel, making this the most bumperest Merch Hunter column ever. It’s been a thrill-ride, and I’d like to thanks Jesus Christ and Chris Nolan for giving me the strength to achieve this monumental feat. So anyway, this week’s Merch Hunter is dedicated to Chris Nolan’s upcoming trilogy-ender, and the news that has got collectors’ tongues wagging and seats wet in the past week or so. So put away your wallets for now, because you won’t be able to buy what is listed here just yet – and in all honesty, saving up for them is probably going to be a pragmatic decision, given how much dough is likely to be needed to buy them.

On January 11, 1991, the then-head of Disney studios, Jeffrey Katzenberg, circulated an incredibly important memo about the state of the movie industry and the products they were making. It was called, “The World is Changing: Some Thoughts on Our Business,” and it had a simple purpose: to locate the root of a growing problem and to take steps to avoid falling victim to it. Katzenberg began the memo by stating: “As we begin the new year, I strongly believe we are entering a period of great danger and even greater uncertainty. Events are unfolding within and without the movie industry that are extremely threatening to our studio.” As we begin a new year two decades after this memo was written, it’s critical to look back at the points Katzenberg made to see that his period of great danger is now our period of great danger, to note that the same events unfolding within and without the industry still threaten the entire studio system in 2012, and to predict our future based on the past.

Despite the fact that the world collectively shat their pants at all of the cool included in the first trailer for Christopher Nolan’s third Batman joint, The Dark Knight Rises, there was also a rallying cry that begun to spring up after all the explosions and Batplanes had sunk in. It was the cry of, “Hey, what did Bane say? I couldn’t understand him at all!” Tom Hardy, behind the Bane mask, kind of sounds like the son of Michael Caine and Donald Trump gargling marbles, so everybody is now hoping that the line we got from him was just early footage, or a temporary sound mix, or something that isn’t at all indicative of what it’s really going to be like trying to understand the main villain for the entirety of the film. Unfortunately for those with hopes, THR claims to have sources saying that this is definitely what Bane is going to sound like through the whole movie, and that Christopher Nolan doesn’t have many plans to do anything about it. The first source they cite, who is just said to be “working on the film,” says that he is “scared to death” about “the Bane problem.” This could either be taken as evidence that Bane’s dialogue will be an issue, or evidence that somebody working as an extra wanted a little bit of spotlight from the trades and struck while an online controversy was hot to deliver a quote, I’ll let you decide. But further comments in [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

Wow. Wow is all there is. With all eyes on Christopher Nolan to find a fitting ending for the massive phenomenon that he’s turned into an even more massive phenomenon, the director and everyone involved seems to have pointed beyond the bleachers and out into the parking lot with this full length trailer for The Dark Knight Rises. It’s got Christian Bale getting existential as Batman, Tom Hardy as Bane looking ominous with a bomb and Anne Hathaway representing the unwashed masses as a masked Selina Kyle. In fact, it’s got enough red meat to make any old fan happy – and to prove that Nolan and company are not shying away from the greatness of their challenge.

It’s the final countdown. Dunuh na naaaa. Less than two weeks to go until Christmas, so naturally now’s the time to start buying things. Who needs organizational skills when you can imbue that action-film frenzied spirit into your final rounds of festive gift buying? Since I’m the collectible fiend around these parts, I’ve been tasked with listing the essential holiday gifts from that world for every film fan. It hasn’t been easy, and I’ve mentally spent way too much money in compiling the list myself. But hey, occupational hazard. Anyway, here follows 15 of the must-have collectibles for this holiday season, some regulars of the Merch Hunter column will recognize, and some will be brand new. Either way, they’re what movie lovers want. As this is my handiwork, you can expect a general mix of the uber-expensive and ultra-collectible as well as the affordable and accessible, more charming options. No snob am I….

A little birdie just dropped into my inbox, gravel-voiced a question about where the drugs were, and then told me that the prologue to The Dark Knight Rises will be in theaters 7 months before the rest of the movie. Those of you who want a taste of what Christopher Nolan and company are cooking up can get your six-minute fill on December 16th. Fans in the UK will have to wait a tick longer, but they’ll have their screens filled with Batman-y goodness on December 21st (which is the day the Magi spotted the Bane-shaped constellation in the sky and headed toward Gotham (true story)). Other international dates will be released soon. So will it be coming to a town near you, or will you have to pay for gas? Scope out the list of where it will be playing and see for yourself:

Hollywood is good at recycling things. After all, you build a giant house or an elaborate prop and you wouldn’t just use it once and toss it, right? This is why they have backlots at studios; they can hoard all their favorite stuff for later use (like the iconic building in the image above) or, failing that, at least use it for the studio tours. Same kind of goes for on-location sets – some places are just too dynamic to use only once, especially when the owner is more than willing to pimp out their place for cash. This circle of life is great when you are working with a generic looking high school or cookie-cutter set but there are the occasional moments when they use a location just a little too iconic for its own good – and like a type-cast actor, you can’t help but to see the location as anything besides what made it famous in the first place.

Being a professional obsessive might make me a social pariah, but it does offer me the opportunity to trawl the internet looking for my worldly fix with relative impunity – “what! This is work!” And even more importantly, it introduces me to some extremely cool stuff. Stuff that I will invariably buy on my own recommendation, or at least leave major hints to loved ones that I need them for Christmas of my birthday. Both of which are coming up, just in case you’re reading this, Mum… Anyway, a wise man once said that the important things in life aren’t things, but I would put it to him that he obviously hadn’t seen Disney’s Villain Vinylmations, or Sideshow Toys’ Batman busts, or Derek Deal’s posters, the big idiot. Luckily, no one here shares his false philosophies, so here are all of those lovely things below…

Why Watch? Batman giving beat downs, Poison Ivy using rose thorns during simulated sex, and sweet, sweet action. It’s true that director Aaron Schoenke (the same name behind the wonderful City of Scars) has a knack for fight scenes and Batmobiles. This latest short film is the kind that feels like the first episode of a series, but everything from the make-up design (Killer Croc!) to the choreography is enough to place it head and shoulders above other fan films. Schoenke is in another league altogether. What does it cost? Just 9 minutes of your time. Check out Seeds of Arkham for yourself:

Now that the L.A. portion of shooting for Christopher Nolan’s third Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises is finishing up, the production is packing up and getting ready to head out to New York City. And according to 24 Frames, someone working on the the film who has access to the actors’ schedules says that those in the movie have been briefed that while in New York they may be filming scenes that take place at the Occupy Wall Street protests. What sort of craziness is this? Well apparently there are scenes of civil unrest in TDKR and instead of going through the trouble of making his own, fake protests, Nolan would like to see if he could add some authenticity to his film by using a real street movement as a backdrop. Everything that TDKR is actually doing is, of course, super secret. The movie doesn’t even film under its own name, it films under the code name “Magnus Rex,” so whether any of this talk about protest shooting is real or not is hard to confirm. This news is coming from one source that has contacted the L.A. Times, so to believe is to have faith in them. If shooting that takes place at the protests actually does become a reality, it’s interesting to imagine how the social movement would respond to having a big Hollywood production in their midst. Would they see the movie industry as a tool of corporate greed and try to disrupt the shootings? [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

This week, on a very special episode of Reject Radio, we speak with legendary actor Ron Perlman about his white dreadlocks in Bunraku, we’ll chat with The Dark Knight Rises executive producer Michael Uslan about his incredible journey to bringing Batman to the screen, and we’ll talk with Brian Salisbury and Luke Mullen about favorite films from Fantastic Fests past to get excited for the debauchery of this week. Plus, Screenrant editors/Screenrant Underground Podcast hosts Ben Kendrick and Rob Keyes fight to the pain in our Movie News Pop Quiz. Is it any wonder we end up talking about Qwikster? Download This Episode

Shooting in downtown Chicago for Zack Snyder’s upcoming Superman movie Man of Steel will begin on Wednesday, and local rag Chicago Business has scoops on some of the locations that will be used and what they will be doubling as. More specifically, while they’re not sure of the locations of any street shots, they know what building Snyder plans to use as the headquarters of Metropolis’ number one newspaper The Daily Planet. Apparently Chicago’s Board of Trade building will serve as the Planet building exteriors (with digitally inserted globe atop, I’m sure) and the interiors of the newspaper office will be filmed inside of the Wesley Willis Memorial Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower). These choices make a lot of sense, because the Board of Trade is a big imposing building that looks nice standing at the end of a street, and the Willis Tower is huge, so there’s probably plenty of room inside to be converted into movie sets. Eagle eyed Chicago enthusiasts or great big super hero nerds might have noticed that there’s a sweet little bit of trivia created by Snyder’s choice though. The Board of Trade looks so good as a big imposing building that it was also used as the headquarters for Wayne Enterprises in Christopher Nolan’s Batman franchise. Using the same building twice for two big superhero movies shouldn’t be a big deal; you slap a big W on it the first time, you put a big globe on it the second time, [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

It’s been quite a while since it was announced that saucy young actress Juno Temple would be appearing in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming and omnipresent The Dark Knight Rises. But other than the fact that she would be playing a “street smart Gotham girl”, nobody has been able to dig up the specifics of exactly who her character is, and if she would be somebody who has already appeared in the Batman mythos. Of course, when absolutely anything about a highly anticipated comic book movie is left unclear, speculation often runs rampant. Would she be the “The Dark Knight Returns” version of Robin, Carrie Kelly? Would she be playing the youthful psychologist turned clown-faced wacko, Harley Quinn? It turns out, no. Total Film seems to think they have a scoop on the role Temple is filling, and it’s that of sometime Catwoman sidekick Holly Robinson.

Having just watched The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, I’m in the mood for something slightly more uplifting than watching small children being murdered at the hands of their own fathers in an ironic twist of fate that I may have just spoiled for anyone who hasn’t yet seen it. Ah well, it’s not exactly the most cheery of films anyway, so maybe choose something else from the Pyjama canon of works – perhaps Bananas in Pyjamas or something like that. Anyway, rambling isn’t getting me anywhere, so I’m channeling the spirit of movie merch nostalgia once again to try and cheer the whole ruddy miserable world up. And with that in mind, this week’s cornucopia of merchandising magic comes courtesy of a phenomenal Joker action figure from Sideshow, a set of incredible Art Nouveau posters from a bona fide legend-in-the-making artist and a winning blast from the past from Tiger Electronics…

As the whole world (or England at least) goes absolutely Goddamn batshit and falls to pieces in front of my eyes, it’s time to declare an age-old addage, cast forth historically from some of the greatest minds of human history… “And now for something completely different.” Socio-cultural insurrection is a lot like merchandise collecting. It frequent leads to anger, there’s like looting… and like… okay, so it’s not. But aren’t we all glad of that?! I don’t really want to use this column as some kind of soap-box, other than to push the dirty evils of capitalism and commodity acquisition of course, but for God’s sake, we’re all essentially the same bags of bones and gristle. Can’t we all just get along? Anyway, since what we all need on this side of the Atlantic is a little escapism, and maybe a superhero or two, this week’s column features merch picks inspired by both. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, but mostly you’ll wish you had remortgaged your home enough times to afford everything.

Those who know me well, know I have some problems when it comes to holding on to my money, especially when confronted with delicious, belly-warming movie merchandise. Seriously, it’s a disease – though not one I am actually particularly ashamed of – which hasn’t exactly cost me relationships, but has cost me a lot of respect at least. Over the past ten or so years, since I succumbed to the need to seek out and purchase these pretty treasures, I have spent thousands of pounds (remember I’m a Limey) supplementing my now vast DVD and Blu-ray collection with the best the market has had to offer me. Hundreds of those pounds went to securing (finally) all of the Star Wars Mr. Potato Heads that I foolishly chose to collect only when most of them weren’t bloody well available any more. That’s just how I roll. The idea of this column then is to share my obsession – to point out the greatest in new and legendary merchandise, and to suggest three essential purchases every week for discerning collectors and casual fans alike. Since Comic-Con 2011 has just closed its doors, leaving a vapor trail of teasers and pre-orderable goodies, it’s probably most appropriate this week to offer up three of the coolest items announced at the expo. They’re all improbably expensive, but hey, who needs food when you can have things like this instead…?

Why Watch? Because this might be the best class project of all. Maybe because it’s Comic-Con time, or maybe it’s because the teaser trailer just came out, but this Batman short film has got a lot going for it simply because it’s a different take on the character. Mostly because it doesn’t feature Batman. Instead, it’s a pair of students trying to search for the caped crusader in Gotham while getting interviews with average citizens giving their opinion on a vigilante that might not actually exist. Honestly, the best thing about this short is what it represents. Copyrights be damned, we live in a world where fan fiction can be taken to new heights. If you love something, you can whip out your camera and become a part of it. What does it cost? Just 11 minutes of your time. Check out The Dark Knight Project for yourself:

Bootlegs suck. If I wanted to watch a grainy movie trailer from someone who can’t keep his camera still, I’d just find a Paul Greengrass film. Here as an alternative, officially, is the Dark Knight Rises teaser trailer straight from the horse’s mouth over at the Facebook page. Fortunately, The Film Stage has embedded it properly, so we can deliver it straight to you, dear reader. There isn’t much to say, and you’ve probably skipped all this anyway. How do you spell ‘anticipation?’

Oh, Jerry Warren. Duke of Schlocky Horror Films (he wasn’t prolific or notable enough to be The King). The Wild World of Batwoman is a blatant rip-off of several films and a desperate attempt to piggyback on the popularity of the Batman television series of the 60s. It makes no sense, except for the fact that Batwoman and her Batmaidens fight evil by Go Go Dancing. This method is still used in the NYPD to this day. At some point, Batmania wasn’t catching fire like it used to, so Warren changed the title to She Was a Hippy Vampire. Both trailers are included here, but no explanation for the movie’s plot could be found.

Why Watch? Because you’ve always wondered who would win in a fight between Batman and… The legality of all this is completely unclear (to a simple caveman like me), and it would be a shame to ruin the surprise of the characters who show up here, but Batman has to take on some baddies that are new to Gotham. All of them are iconic to film fans, but they’re fresh off the boat as far as Bruce Wayne is concerned. This extended fight sequence was written and directed by Sandy Collora who has done creature effects, design and gained some acclaim for writing/directing Hunter Prey recently. Plus, it features Andrew Koening (yes, the guy who played Boner on Growing Pains) as a surprisingly creepy Joker, and a Batman that sounds like Keaton mated with Bale (in the good way). Enjoy geeking out. Or biding your time before The Dark Knight Rises hits your eyeballs. What does it cost? Just 6 minutes of your time.