Warner Bros. Consumer Products has announced an agreement with NASCAR that will lead to a major Batman Begins promotion at the Michigan International Speedway on June 19th, the first weekend that the new Batman film will be in theaters.  Roush Racing legend Mark Martin's Ford will receive a special Batman Begins paint job and the Nextel Cup race at the Michigan Speedway will be renamed the NASCAR Nextel Cup 'Batman Begins 400.' 

The race will be broadcast live on the Fox TV network, and racing fans will get a chance to see the Batmobile from the new film lead the pack of 43 cars off of pit road to the starting line.   Rumors have it that some key stars from the film, perhaps even Christian Bale, will also be in attendance at the race.

While this is the first time that a major motion picture has served as the sponsor for a NASCAR Nextel Cup race, Batman Begins is not the first DC Comics-based property to do so.  Last August the Michigan International Speedway hosted the Justice League Racing Weekend presented by Hot Wheels with some of top drivers piloting cars painted with the images of the JLA heroes -- and Greg Biffle won the race in his oh-so-appropriate Flash-mobile.  Mattel will also have a presence this year, marketing a series of Hot Wheels cars featuring the special Batman Begins paint scheme (Team Caliber will do likewise). 

In addition to diecast cars, Mattel also has a full range of products based on the Batman Begins movie including action figures, playsets and Batmobile replicas.

The Batman Begins 400 is just the latest example of how Warner Bros. is pulling out all the stops in its marketing campaign for the first new Batman film since 1997 (see 'Batman Begins Gets EW Cover').  Pop culture retailers can be assured that there will be few Americans unaware of the opening of Batman Begins on June 15th.

This summer will see the release of films from what are arguably the two most important film franchises in the development of the pop culture market in the U.S.  Longtime veterans of the direct market credit George Lucas' Star Wars (1977) and its first two sequels with providing a major boost for both science fiction and comic books, while Tim Burton's Batman (1989) was a merchandising bonanza that helped set the stage for the 'bull market' for comics in the early 1990s.  Will 2005, with the release of the final Star Wars film and what Warner Bros. hopes is the first in a new series of Batman movies, turn out to be another watershed year in pop culture stores?