Batman: Under the Red Hood Due in July

Batman: Under the Red Hood cover

The next direct-to-DVD original animated movie featuring DC Comics characters will be Batman: Under the Red Hood, available July 27, 2010. Today, Warner Home Video released the following trailer.

Batman: Under the Red Hood cover

The premise is described as “Batman confronts new enemies, old foes and painful memories when a powerful vigilante [Red Hood] with a penchant for violence comes to Gotham City”. Batman is voiced by Bruce Greenwood, with Jensen Ackles (Supernatural) as Red Hood and Neil Patrick Harris as Nightwing. Judd Winick wrote the movie based on graphic novels he wrote that were published in 2005. The movie is the solo directorial debut of Brandon Vietti, who previously co-directed Superman: Doomsday.

The movie will be available on Blu-ray (list price $29.99), two-disc DVD special edition ($24.98), or single-disc DVD ($19.98). Bonus features include a featurette presenting “Robin’s Story”, “the story of Dick Grayson and how he transformed into Robin, with Batman as his father-figure role model”; a sneak peek at the next animated DC Universe movie, not yet named; and two episodes of the animated Batman, picked by executive producer Bruce Timm. Exclusive to the Blu-ray is the featurette “Death in the House of Batman”, about the death of Robin Jason Todd. (Update: A different marketing piece labels this “Robin’s Requiem: The Tale of Jason Todd”.)

You can pre-order the movie on DVD, Blu-ray, or digital video download. Fans are already speculating on the appropriateness of the voice casting and what may be seen by freeze-framing the trailer at sites like Comics Alliance. It all looks a bit too violent for me, and Greenwood’s voice sounds too whispery/ papery, but a minute clip is not very much to go by.

The DC Showcase short (which I thought was the best part of the previous release — The Spectre was featured in the Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths package) will be Jonah Hex, timely, considering the summer movie of the same name. It’s written by Joe Lansdale and features the voices of Thomas Jane, Linda Hamilton, Michelle Trachtenberg, and Michael Rooker.



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