First look: Batman Begins...

Did you know they were making a movie about Batman's origins, revealing the reason he likes to dress up in rubber and beat people up at midnight? Surely Tim Burton's first effort covered all that in as much detail as an audience will ever need, but such trifling matters have never concerned Hollywood.

And it doesn't seem to concern Electronic Arts that Batman has the unenviable record of being the worst videogame character of the last seven years, or at least starring in the most consistently low-rated titles. Plus they recently squeezed out a bit of a Batman-related stinker with the risible Catwoman. This one won't even have a digital Halle Berry to look at, since Bats is played by Christian Bale. As long as it isn't a generic platformer or a 3D beat-'em-up, it has a chance. Maybe Batman will turn out to be the next Lara Croft. Yes.

Batman Begins will be out in 2005 for Gamecube, PS2, Xbox, GBA and PSP