Here He Comes…

♫ Here comes Speed Racer
He’s a demon on wheels…♫

As much as I’m totally hyped to see Transformers in two weeks and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in three, the hype machine kicked into another gear the last couple of days, with pictures from the upcoming Speed Racer and Batman: The Dark Knight movies popping up on the web. Pics of the Mach 5 car had already been released by the Wachowski Brothers (writers/directors of Speed Racer and The Matrix movies), but a new one debuted from an industry convention (as seen below).

Speed Racer is based on the 1960’s Japanese manga and anime Mach Go Go Go, which was brought to the U.S. in 1967. It’s the story of title character Speed Racer and his fantastically tricked-out car, the Mach 5. Speed Racer was one of the first anime franchises (along with Astro Boy) to become wildly successful in the United States. Speed has gone on to appear in commercials for ESPN and Volkswagen.

The movie will star Emile Hirsch (The Girl Next Door) as Speed; Christina Ricci as his girlfriend, Trixie; John Goodman as Pops Racer; Susan Sarandon as Mom Racer; Matthew Fox (Lost, Party of Five) as Racer X; and Scott Porter (Jason Street on NBC’s Friday Night Lights) as Rex Racer. For more information, see http://www.speedracer.com/ or Warner Bros.’ movie website. The film is scheduled to open in May 2008.

The first shots from Batman: The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan’s sequel to Batman Begins, were also released, one featuring the new Bat-suit (kick ass) and a few featuring the Bat-cycle (also kick ass, and a.k.a. the "Batpod"). Batman: The Dark Knight stars Christian Bale in the title role, with Heath Ledger as the Joker, Aaron Eckhart as D.A. Harvey Dent (a character played by Billy Dee Williams, a.k.a. Lando Calrissian, in the 1989 Tim Burton Batman), and Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes (played by Katie Holmes in Batman Begins). Also involved in production are Morgan Freeman, Michael Gough, Gary Oldman, Anthony Michael Hall, and Eric Roberts. The movie is due to be released in July 2008. FYI, Batman: The Dark Knight is currently filming in Chicago, under the name Rory’s First Kiss.

I’m such a sucker for pop-culture media.

Pictures were found through Ain’t It Cool News.