The Weekly Ketchup: New Joker Pic, Dark Knight Footage Leaked, Iron Man at Comic-Con, and More!

In this week’s Ketchup, we see a new photo of Heath Ledger as The Joker, the first teaser trailer of the sure-to-be hit The Dark Knight, and some grainy footage of the “Batpod” in action. Also, Iron Man brings the house down at Comic-Con, we get some early news about Spider-Man 4, and Johnny Depp plans another outing as Hunter S. Thompson. Read on.

This Week’s Most Popular News:

New Pic of Heath Ledger as the Joker
It appears IGN Movies has solved the riddle left by Warner Bros. on the teaser site promoting the next Batman movie, The Dark Knight. As the reward, we get to see not only Heath Ledger as the Joker, but also a video teaser of the movie as well.

The Dark Knight Footage Leaked!
We’ve got a little under a year to go before The Dark Knight graces our cineplex screens, but Warner Bros. knows how to parcel out morsels for hungry fans — now, to go along with the steady stream of casting information, photos, and the first teaser, Latino Review is offering footage of Batman’s motorcyle (A.K.A. “The Batpod”) in action.

Surprise Iron Man Footage Knocks Comic-Con’s Socks Off
Director Jon Favreau wasn’t supposed to present much on the upcoming comic book flick Iron Man until Saturday, but Thursday’s crowd got a treat when he unveiled an entire segment of footage early, in true Comic-Con style.

Early Production Underway for Spider-Man 4
Yep, just a little more vague mumbling about what might happen on Spider-Man 4, but when Sam Raimi has something to say, it’s usually worth listening to.

Johnny Depp to Take Another Crack at Hunter S. Thompson
It’s been a long time coming, but it looks like Johnny Depp will finally get his wish to turn Hunter S. Thompson’s The Rum Diary into a movie. And of course he’ll be playing the legendary author. (Again.)

Quite a stretch from his cowboy role

In Other News:

• Rogues Pictures has acquired Jeremy Passmore’s thriller script Summer’s End, for Michael Bay‘s Platinum Dunes to produce.
• Arthur Sarkissian (Rush Hour 3) will produce and adapt the Lawrence Sanders novel The Anderson Tapes for a feature film.
• Katey Sagal, Wallace Shawn, Gilbert Gottfried and Chevy Chase will star with Christopher Lloyd in the live-action fairy tale feature Jack and the Beanstalk.
• Carice van Houten (Black Book) has joined the cast of Boris Damast‘s Vivaldi biopic for Future Films.
• Universal Pictures has acquired rights to a seven-book series of novels by Daniel Silva, with the 2006 novel The Messenger viewed as the first film.
• Katherine Heigl has teamed with her mother to form a production company, and set up an untitled action-comedy at Fox 2000 that will also serve as a starring vehicle.
• Jim Broadbent, Miranda Richardson and Mark Strong have joined the cast of The Young Victoria with Jean-Marc Vallée set to direct.
• Michael Imperioli has joined the cast of Peter Jackson‘s The Lovely Bones for DreamWorks.
• McG has signed a three-year movie deal with Warner Bros. Pictures, and will develop a heist drama, a spy pic and an action-comedy.
• Jack Black will star in and produce The Lost Adventures of Stone Perlmutter Jr. for Universal Pictures and Electric Dynamite.
• George Lopez is in talks to co-write, produce and star in an untitled sci-fi comedy thriller, one of three Salma Hayek-produced projects in the works.
• Finally, RT would like to remember directors Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni, both of whom passed away this week.

Michelangelo Antonioni, 1912-2007