PI director Darren Aronofsky is set to helm the newest in Warner Bros.’ BATMAN franchise, BATMAN: YEAR ONE. Aronofsky will write and develop the screenplay with Frank Miller, writer of the graphic novel BATMAN: YO from which the film will be based. The noir-styled graphic novel was originally published by DC Comics in 1987 and chronicles the trials and tribulations of Bruce Wayne’s first year as Batman. Aronofsky as director is an interesting direction for Warner to take with the BATMAN movie franchise. His moody philosophical films – PI, about a mathematical genius’ struggle between brilliance and madness, and the upcoming REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, a currently unrated film paralleling the tales of a son’s addiction to heroin and his mother’s addiction to diet pills – are a 180 degree turn from the bubble gum neon of Joel Schumacher’s BATMAN FOREVER and BATMAN & ROBIN. Currently, Warner Bros. is also developing another BATMAN installment based on the animated TV series BATMAN BEYOND, which is set 40 years in the future as retired Bruce Wayne trains a new Batman to take his place. The flick is being directed by Boaz Yakin (REMEMBER THE TITANS) and written by TV series creators Paul Dini and Alan Burnett, with assistance by cyberpunk sci-fi novelist Neal Stephenson.