Today will be partly cloudy with a chance of kick ass!

The Hobbit: Not long ago Guillermo Del Toro told fans that his next move was to begin work on The Hobbit script very soon. Well guess what? To our complete shock and surprise, the dude actually followed through on all this "writing script nonsense" and -- wait for it -- started working on the script. YES! And this is, like, the BIGGEST news online today. "NEWSFLASH: Del Toro is on page 12 and he's already introduced 750 new creatures!" I give up ... call me in 12 years when the film is finally complete and ready to hit theaters.

The Dark Knight: You've watched the movie countless times, followed hundreds of viral sites, read thousands of stories on Heath Ledger and why he deserves to square off against Jesus up in heaven for a chance to be God's new (and much more well-liked) son -- so, what's left? Well, if you still haven't overdosed on The Dark Knight and/or are in desperate need of another Batman fix, feel free to feast your eyes on the film's script. Yes, JoBlo managed to snag a copy of the entire thing (read it here) for you to save, print out and do whatever it is you freaks do with stuff like that. Personally, I enjoyed reading it to see where they trimmed and cut and called Wonder Woman a whore. Kidding! Just wanna make sure you're paying attention.

Poltergeist remake: Because in this one she's watching a reality show, gets pulled into the television and subsequently bores herself to death. [Writes down notes for Poltergeist 2 pitch ...] Anyway, THR tells us that Boogeyman writers Juliet Snowden and Stiles "I wonder how many Teen Wolf jokes he got growing up" White will pen the script for the remake of this classic spooky flick. "Too soon!" yelled a nobody movie blogger, but alas it was too late.

In a weekend glutted with new releases battling the aftershocks of The Dark Knight earthquake, Tropic Thunder debuted below expectations -- but well enough to steal the top spot from The Dark Knight in that film's 5th weekend. The R-rated comedy's $26 million weekend and $37 million 5-day was roughly on par with Pineapple Express' performance the previous weekend, but I think Tropic Thunder was predicted to have broader appeal. In retrospect, the advertising may have emphasized the film's inside-baseball aspects a bit too much.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars did okay in third place with $15 million -- weak for a purported Star Wars film, but not bad for a Saturday morning cartoon. The woeful Mirrors took in a relatively paltry $11 million, a wuss-out signaled by the 11th hour press screening cancellation. Contrast The Strangers, the summer's other major R-rated, non-Shyamalan horror film, which debuted to almost twice as much despite not having as nifty a high-concept.

The Dark Knight, meanwhile, continues to edge toward $500 million. Its 5-weekend total stands at $471 million, enough to top Star Wars' unadjusted numbers. Titanic still looks out of reach, even setting aside the apples-and-oranges aspect of comparing a 1997 release to a 2008 one.

Pineapple Express fell 57% in its second weekend, putting $100 million out of reach. On the other hand, Mamma Mia! continues to be popular, suffering drops of around 20% each week thanks to good word-of-mouth and likely repeat viewings.

Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona came in at #10, with $3.7 million on 700 screens, Woody's second-best opening ever. Two spots below that, the poorly-reviewed 3-D spectacle Fly Me to the Moon made $2 million on 450 screens.

The full estimates after the jump.

As we all know from The Dark Knight commercials, Two Face makes his grand, grotesque entrance. But there's an interesting twist in the whole story now. Beware of spoilers ahead ...

... spoilers below ...

Did he die -- or didn't he? That's the big question. He sure looked like he did, but then again, there was that whole spiel about how falling such a short distance won't kill a man. Why put that in there if there's no point? And couldn't the lovely Commissioner Gordon have lied to save the hopes of Gotham's populace?

I like to believe he lived, for a myriad of reasons. But if a few new tie-in books are to be believed, the dream is completely dead, and the nightmare won't continue. IGN reports that in the new novelization, it says: "Dent was sprawled, neck twisted, the mutilated side of his face exposed, his left eye open and staring sightlessly. He was obviously dead." This is joined with the shooting script, which says: "Dent lies at the bottom of the hole, his neck broken. DEAD."

I am not entirely convinced. There's just something about using the word "obviously" that seems too redundant for it to be accurate. All of the emphasis of his death just makes it seem like they are trying too hard to convince us. But maybe that's just my hope to see more Aaron Eckhart.

What say you?

No matter how you look at it, one group of dedicated fans aren't going to be very happy about this. In an interview with MTV Movies blog, writer/director David Goyer dropped the hint that his X-Men origin flick Magneto may be taking a back seat to his Invisible Man update -- not the choice I would have made, but maybe Goyer is a little 'Superheroed' out. Goyer tells MTV that Magneto, "may be next," but he wouldn't confirm which film is going to get priority on his schedule, saying, "So it could be 'Magneto,' or it could be 'The Invisible Man' next." -- Gee Dave, thanks for clearing that up.

Goyer's Invisible update is just the latest in a series of adaptations of the classic H.G. Wells story on the big screen. Universal famously adapted the novella in 1933, with Claude Rains as the invisible Jack Griffin, and don't forget about the embarrassingly bad comedy version starring Chevy Chase back in 1992. Goyer told MTV that his story, "involves Scotland Yard getting their hands on the current Invisible Man and basically saying, 'Wow, you'd be a really good secret agent to send into Imperial Russia right now,'" an enthusiastic Goyer said of the plot. "It starts off from there." -- I'm suddenly having flashbacks to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and that is not a good sign.

So the real question is: What does this mean for Magneto? We all know that there is no danger that the film won't get made (No please, don't bring that dump truck full of money to the studio doors), but his work on The Dark Knight earned Goyer the reputation of 'Patron saint of comic book movies' (well, until Watchmen is released anyway), and it will be hard to top that; you can't blame the guy for wanting a break.

Stay tuned to Cinematical for the official word on which film will cross the finish line first.

Here's a piece of coolness that's been making its way around the internets today. From our friends at First Showing (via Superhero Hype) comes what appears to be a fan made poster for The Dark Knight Returns (click to enlarge), a sequel to this summer's The Dark Knight. No, a third Batman film has not been announced yet, so don't go gettin' your knickers in a twist thinking they've already started promoting the next film. (God, please don't tell me they've already started promoting it -- I think I speak for all us online movie dudes when I say we need a few months off to recover from this puppy.)

That said, can you spot the two new characters this poster introduces? Yes, one of them is Riddler, but the other is a bit harder to locate. (Hint: Look at the newspaper articles.) No one knows exactly what direction the next Batman movie will head in, except for the Nolan boys should they decide to pen the script. Riddler is a cool character, but is he too close to Joker? Should they take a chance on Catwoman? Should they dip into a lesser known villain, or create a brand new one? One thing's for sure: You folks will not get tired of this debate anytime soon ...

Some, I'm sure, watched Iron Man wishing they were the lucky one-night paramours of Tony Stark. Others, of course, just wanted that super awesome suit. Well, if you're one of the latter, you should really head on over to hacknmod.com. The website has been posting a bunch of DIY projects they've found on building your own personal Iron Man. (If only someone could also come up with a money tree or a sweet inheritance DIY project too ...) There are step-by-step guides, videos of the creations, and pictures of it from the film.

Make the hand repulsor. Whip up an arc reactor. Better yet -- make yourself an Iron Man mask. What's next? The whole flipping suit? If someone pulls that off, I'll be mighty impressed.

However, if The Dark Knight is more up your alley, they've also posted a super-cute USB bat spotlight. To the bat cave!

Since it's shaping up that the two largest fan favorites of the summer will be Iron Man and The Dark Knight, it's only right to hear what one superhero has to say about the other. And when you're talking about Robert Downey Jr., it means you're guaranteed a tremendous quote. Our friends over at Moviehole sat down with the Tropic Thunder/Iron Man star to shoot the sh*t and came away with one helluva quote from Downey Jr. on The Dark Knight. So, did Iron Man like the Bat Man?

"My whole thing is that that I saw 'The Dark Knight'. I feel like I'm dumb because I feel like I don't get how many things that are so smart. It's like a Ferrari engine of storytelling and script writing and I'm like, 'That's not my idea of what I want to see in a movie.' I loved 'The Prestige' but didn't understand 'The Dark Knight'. Didn't get it, still can't tell you what happened in the movie, what happened to the character and in the end they need him to be a bad guy. I'm like, 'I get it. This is so high brow and so f--king smart, I clearly need a college education to understand this movie.' You know what? F-ck DC comics. That's all I have to say and that's where I'm really coming from."

God Bless that man. Sure, I get that TDK was a tad confusing and complex at times, but so is the character and so is his universe. Personally, I enjoyed both films very much for different reasons, and think Downey Jr. is being a tad rough on his competition. Then again, maybe that's the point.

It's hard to deny that, in any format, The Dark Knight has made a considerable impression on the moviegoing landscape (current gross: a bajillion dollars and counting), yet it's equally difficult to deny that the IMAX showings held their own potent appeal, thanks to director Christopher Nolan's use of proper cameras to help the action fill the screen -- and if any of you haven't noticed, that's a lot of screen to fill.

ComingSoon.net has confirmed that next summer's Night at the Museum and Transformers sequels will be showcased in IMAX, while it remains rumored that this fall's Eagle Eye and next spring's Watchmen will be as well. Now, while Paramount/Dreamworks and Warner Brothers have often been equally eager to offer up super-sized blockbusters in the format, I'm curious to know if audiences have subsequently raised their expectations for this fare. For me, the nearest location is well across town, and before The Dark Knight, the last thing I bothered to catch there was Beowulf in 3-D. (I can, however, attest that announced plans to format several theaters in the AMC chain for the IMAX experience are indeed underway a wee bit closer to my neck of the woods.)

So, without the draw of IMAX in its full effect, or even the likes of 3-D technology, do you find it any more worthwhile to go out of your way and catch an anticipated film at your nearest location, or will it take something truly special from here on out?

The alternate film universe must be an incredible place -- a land where George Lucas directed Apocalypse Now, Frank Darabont's Indiana Jones 4 script was made, and Joss Whedon directed Batman Begins. Actually, in that other dimension, Whedon has probably written and directed everything, including enough Firefly to sate our hungry souls.

Whedon told MTV that once upon a time, he pitched a Batman reboot to Warner Bros when Batman Begins was in early development. "It wasn't what they did but the vibe was very similar. Mine was a bit less epic. It was more about the progression of him and it was more in Gotham City. He didn't go to Tibet and meet cool people, but it was very similar in vibe." But most interesting of all was the idea that he didn't plan on using any villains from the comic book canon. "In my version, there was actually a new [villain], it wasn't one of the classics - which is probably why they didn't use it. It was more of a 'Hannibal Lector' type - he was somebody already in Arkham Asylum that Bruce went and sort of studied with. It was a whole thing - I get very emotional about it, I still love the story. Maybe I'll get to do it as a comic one day."

The weekend estimates have The Dark Knight taking the top spot for the fourth straight week in another squeaker -- though not as close as last week's victory over The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. It dropped 39% to $26 million, which was good enough to beat the $22.4 million showing for the stoner comedy Pineapple Express. That brings The Dark Knight to $441.5 million, edging out Shrek 2 for third place on the all-time domestic charts. By next weekend, it should pull ahead of Star Wars (its unadjusted numbers, anyway) for second place. Titanic still remains out of reach, or at least it seems that way right now.

It's worth noting that Pineapple Express was released on Wednesday (since Wednesday's the new Friday, doncha know), and pulled in $40.5 million over the five days -- a victory for an R-rated stoner comedy. The horribly titled The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, also released on Wednesday, had a $19.7 million five-day on just over 2,700 screens, a reasonably strong showing for a sequel to a niche film that made $39 million in 2005.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor dropped 60% to $16.1 million -- whoops. It looks to top out at around $100 million, which would make it a distant third in the main franchise, though it might beat out The Scorpion King.

One of the summer's biggest box office surprises is lurking down at #7 on the weekend chart. Journey to the Center of the Earth continues to suffer only miniscule drops; it's taken in $82 million after five weekends of release, after an opening weekend of only $21 million. That sounds like a ringing audience endorsement of Real-D 3-D to me.

The full estimates after the jump.