Tag Archives: butch lukic

Get a Look at the noir art direction of Gotham City for Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One

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Supervising Producer Butch Lukic gives Gotham City the full noir treatment in Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One as seen in four new images released by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.

“I wanted to give the film a timeless look, kind of like the book, where you can’t pinpoint the actual time period,” said Lukic, who cited 1940s crime films and The Godfather as further inspiration for the film’s stylish, nuanced art direction. “I really set out to make Gotham City a character onto itself. All the backgrounds were thought out to have a look or feel of classic cinematography. I even shadowed most of the backgrounds myself to get the right style of lighting needed for particular scenes, and to give the film that classic noir look.”

Produced by Warner Bros. Animation and DC, the feature-length animated Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One will be distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on Digital and Blu-ray on June 22, 2021. 

  • Chasing Catwoman across the skyline of Gotham City, Batman leaps from one building to another – perfectly framed by the full moon – in this scene from Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One.
  • Butch Lukic’s art direction shines throughout Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One, particularly in his use of shadows and lighting – as evidenced by this image of Catwoman (and her shadow) sprinting across a Gotham City rooftop.
  • Deep shadows and a dark, haunting color palette go beyond the dialogue to inform the scenes in Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One, and this is particularly noticeable in this image featuring Bruce Wayne meeting with Carmine Falcone in The Roman’s office.
  • Wayne Manor offers an even more ominous appearance in Supervising Producer Butch Lukic’s vision of Bruce Wayne’s stately home in Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One.

Justice Society: World War II panel set for WonderCon@Home 2021

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Justice Society: World War II

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment brings an advance look at its highly-anticipated next entry in the DC Universe Movies canon – Justice Society: World War II – to Wonder@Home with a star-studded panel discussion on Saturday, March 27 at 11:00am PT.

To view the Justice Society: World War II panel, go to https://youtu.be/7Es8ztlK5Bw on WonderCon’s YouTube channel. This link will NOT be live until March 27 at 11:00am PT.

The 50-minute panel will include actors, filmmakers and assorted clips and images from the all-new, feature-length animated movie. Justice Society: World War II arrives on Digital starting April 27, 2021, and on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack and Blu-ray on May 11, 2021.

Headlining the panel discussion are actors Stana Katic as Wonder Woman, Matt Bomer as Barry Allen/The Flash, Elysia Rotaru as Black Canary, Omid Abtahi as Hawkman, Chris Diamantopoulos as Steve Trevor, Armen Taylor as Jay Garrick/The Flash,  Liam McIntyre as Aquaman, and Geoff Arend as Charles Halstead/Advisor alongside director Jeff Wamester, co-screenwriters Meghan Fitzmartin and Jeremy Adams, and supervising producer Butch Lukic. Publicist Gary Miereanu moderates the festivities.

Produced by Warner Bros. Animation, DC and WBHE, the all-new animated adventure finds modern-day Barry Allen – prior to the formation of the Justice League – discovering he can run even faster than he imagined, and that milestone results in his first encounter with the Speed Force. The Flash is promptly launched into the midst of a raging battle – primarily between Nazis and a team of Golden Age DC Super Heroes known as the Justice Society of America. Led by Wonder Woman, the group includes Hourman, Black Canary, Hawkman, Steve Trevor and the Golden Age Flash, Jay Garrick. The Flash quickly volunteers to assist his fellow heroes in tipping the scales of war in their favor, while the team tries to figure out how to send him home. But it won’t be easy as complications and emotions run deep in this time-skipping World War II thriller.

DC Showcase Delivers New Animated Shorts Starting with Sgt. Rock

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Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, in partnership with DC, are in production on five new DC Showcase animated shorts for release in 2019-2020.

Inspired by characters and stories from DC’s robust portfolio, the all-new series of shorts will be included on upcoming DC Universe Movies releases, with exception of an innovative Batman: Death in the Family long-form animated short, which will anchor a compilation set for distribution in late 2020.

Each of the five shorts – entitled Sgt. Rock, Adam Strange, Death, The Phantom Stranger, and Batman: Death in the Family – opens with a new, live-action branding sequence that features a few Easter Eggs specially added for observant fans.

DC Showcase Sgt. Rock

Sgt. Rock is executive produced and directed by Bruce Timm (Batman: The Animated Series) from a script by award-winning comics writers Louise Simonson, Walter Simonson and Tim Sheridan (Reign of the Supermen). The original tale finds battle-weary Sgt. Rock thinking he has seen everything that World War II can dish out. But he is in for the surprise of his life when he is assigned to lead a company consisting of legendary monsters into battle against an unstoppable platoon of Nazi zombies. Karl Urban (Star Trek & Lord of the Rings film franchises) provides the voice of Sgt. Rock. Also voicing characters in Sgt. Rock are Keith Ferguson, William Salyers, and Audrey Wasilewski.

Adam Strange is produced and directed by Butch Lukic (Batman Unlimited franchise), who also conceived the original story – which is written by J.M. DeMatteis (Constantine: City of Demons). On a rugged asteroid mining colony, few of the toiling workers are aware that their town drunk was ever anything but an interplanetary derelict. But when the miners open a fissure into the home of a horde of deadly alien insects, his true identity is exposed. He is space adventurer Adam Strange, whose heroic backstory is played out in flashbacks as he struggles to save the very people who have scorned him for so long. Charlie Weber (How To Get Away with Murder) provides the voice of Adam Strange, alongside with Roger R. Cross, Kimberly Brooks, Ray Chase, and Fred Tatasciore.

Inspired by Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman,” Death is produced and directed by Sam Liu (Justice League vs. The Fatal Five) and written by J.M. DeMatteis (Batman: Bad Blood). In the story, Vincent, an artist with unresolved inner demons, meets a mysterious girl who helps him come to terms with his creative legacy … and eventual death. Leonardo Nam (Westworld) provides the voice of Vincent, and Jamie Chung (The Gifted, Big Hero 6) is the voice of Death. The cast includes Darin De Paul, Keith Szarabajka, and Kari Wahlgren.

The Phantom Stranger has Bruce Timm (Batman: The Killing Joke) at the helm as executive producer and director, and the short is written by Ernie Altbacker (Teen Titans: The Judas Contract). Set in the 1970s, the short follows young adult Jess as she joins her friends at a party in a dilapidated mansion hosted by the mysterious Seth. When odd things begin to happen to Jess and her friends, the Phantom Stranger intervenes to save her from a dreary fate. Peter Serafinowicz (The Tick) gives voice to The Phantom Stranger, and Michael Rosenbaum (Smallville, Impastor) provides the voice of Seth. The Phantom Stranger also features the voices of Natalie Lander, Grey Griffin, and Roger Craig Smith.

More information regarding Batman: Death In The Family will be available in 2020.

All five new DC Showcase shorts credits include Jim Krieg as co-producer, Amy McKenna as producer, and Sam Register as executive producer.

Initially launched in 2010, DC Showcase was originally comprised of four animated shorts produced by Bruce Timm and directed by Joaquim Dos Santos: The Spectre (released on 2/23/2010), Jonah Hex (7/27/2010), Green Arrow (9/28/2010) and Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam (11/9/2010). An additional short, Catwoman (10/18/2011), was attached the following year to the release of Batman: Year One, and was directed by Lauren Montgomery and executive produced by Bruce Timm. Screenwriters on the initial quintet were Steve Niles (The Spectre), Joe Lansdale (Jonah Hex), Greg Weisman (Green Arrow), Michael Jelenic (Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam) and Paul Dini (Catwoman).

Actors featured on the first five shorts were Malcolm McDowell, James Garner (in his final performance), Jerry O’Connell, Linda Hamilton, Gary Cole, Alyssa Milano, Thomas Jane, Michael Rooker, Eliza Dushku, Neal McDonough, Ariel Winter, Danica McKeller, George Newbern, Michelle Trachtenberg and Arnold Vosloo, as well as Jon Polito, Rob Paulsen, Jeff Bennett, Steve Blum, Grey Delisle, John DiMaggio, Josh Keaton, Zach Callison, Jason Marsden, Liliana Mumy, Tara Strong, Cree Summer and Kevin Michael Richardson.