Entertainment Weekly, a Time Warner publication, gave the cover of its double-sized 'Summer Movie Preview' issue to the Warner Bros. release Batman Begins.  Chris Nolan's $150 million attempt to revive the Batman franchise also got a six-page spread, by far the most coverage given to any of the numerous summer movie blockbusters (Star Wars Episode III, War of the Worlds, Fantastic Four, Kingdom of Heaven, etc.), and in spite of its June release Batman Begins got to lead off the 'Summer Movie Section,' which then detoured back to May for Episode III.  This is not just an exercise in corporate synergy, it's an attempt to put the full marketing muscle of the giant Time Warner media empire behind the resurrection of the caped crusader (which will also benefit from numerous other Time Warner maneuvers including an 8-minute preview included in the 90-minute season-ending episode of the DC Comics-based Smallville, which airs on the WB Network on May 8, see 'Batman Begins in Smallville').

In 'Bat Outta Hell,' his entertaining essay on the new Batman film, writer Daniel Fierman dwells on the lengthy gestation of the Batman Begins project starting from the ruins of ground zero -- Joel Schumacher's wretched Batman and Robin from 1997, which, contrary to what a reader might glean from Fierman's cleverly written piece, failed for far more reasons than just those infamous 'batnipples' on George Clooney's unfortunate 'batcostume.'  Fierman takes the reader behind the scenes at Warner Bros. for an inside look at the demise of the once hot Batman vs. Superman project (which led to the departure of Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, Warner's president of worldwide production) before elaborating on the current Batman project spearheaded by director Christopher Nolan, who earned his spurs on modestly budgeted thrillers like his brilliant debut film, Memento.  In stark contrast to Schumacher's Batman and Robin, Nolan and writer David Goyer (Blade) take the Batman saga seriously and are determined to avoid the flabby campy quality of Batman and Robin.  Nolan and Goyer's serious approach should guarantee strong support from hardcore comic book fans.

What Fierman doesn't discuss is the way in which Nolan has actually filmed Batman Begins -- on locations around the world and with a minimum of computer-generated effects.  Cinephiles should pray for the success of Batman Begins if only to forestall Hollywood's headlong rush towards cheaper electronically generated methods of production (Sin City and Sky Captain are fine, but all films shouldn't necessarily look like that).  If Batman Begins fails, the expensive old school adventure film could become as dead in Hollywood as hand-drawn 2D animation -- and that would be a tragedy of sorts.  So there is a lot riding on Batman Begins and Warner Bros. and DC Comics won't be the only losers if Batman Begins stumbles -- but with the marketing muscle of Time Warner and the impressive array of talent (both in front of and behind the camera) that appears to be an unlikely possibility, though, judging from the coverage in EW, Time Warner is taking no chances.