WARNER BROS. GOES 'BAT' TO THE FUTURE.

Byline: - Compiled by Rodney Richey from staff and wire services

Darren Aronofsky, who directed ``Pi,'' one of the most fascinating independent films of recent years, takes a major step uptown, now that he has been tapped by Warner Bros. to direct the next chapter in the Batman saga, ``Batman: Year One.'' According to a story in Variety, the film will center on the forces that drove Bruce Wayne to become Batman (read: ``younger actor''). One of those involved will be Frank Miller, the writer-artist who created the graphic novel ``Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.'' That was the original work, it has been said, that kicked off the whole movie franchise in the first place.

'IRON' CLAD CONTRACT: Now that the fever for superhero films has heated up again with the success of ``X-Men,'' New Line Cinema has picked up the rights to the Marvel Comics hero Iron Man. Ironically, Tim McCanlies, the screenwriter hired to hammer the story together, wrote last year's surprise animated hit ``The Iron Giant.''

GET SPIKED: Those fans of the WB's ``Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' who really dig - or really hate - Spike the vampire get a chance to tell him how they feel today on the Web. Responses from James Marsters, the actor who plays Spike, to fans' questions will be posted on www.eonline.com beginning today.

MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD ... ``Rat Race,'' a modern (37 years later) retelling of the ``It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World'' epic, has begun filming under director Jerry Zucker, who has helmed ``Ghost,'' ``My Best Friend's Wedding'' and ``First Knight,'' and - with his brother, David Zucker, and their partner, Jim Abrahams - was responsible for ``Airplane!''

The cast includes Whoopi Goldberg, John Cleese, Rowan Atkinson, Jason Alexander, Breckin Meyer, Wayne Knight, Amy Smart and Seth Green. The plot follows a half-dozen Las Vegas high rollers involved in a casino magnate's no-holds-barred contest to find $2 million in a hidden locker.

IN 'GENERAL': According to Variety, Paramount has secured the rights to the sequel novel to Nelson DeMille's ``The General's Daughter,'' which was made into a surprise hit movie with John Travolta. In this story, ``Up Country,'' Travolta's character, Paul Brenner, travels to modern-day Vietnam to look into a 30-year-old murder. The book will not be published until next fall.

YET 'AGAIN':Lenny Kravitz's new single, ``Again,'' has become the first video ever downloaded on the Web sites of both MTV and VH1.

On Friday, the video was available to fans on www.mtv.com and www.vh1.com. The video will be available through the sites through Oct. 9. After that, the video will move to the official Lenny Kravitz (www.lennykravitz.com) and Virgin Records America Web sites (www.virginrecords.com) for the download as well.

The video co-stars actress Gina Gershon.

HAIL, CAESAR: Original sketches from the landmark TV comedy series ``Your Show of Shows'' and ``Caesar's Hour'' are available on video and DVD in ``The Sid Caesar Collection,'' which was released last Tuesday. Also featured are exclusive interviews from those who participated in those shows, including Caesar, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Larry Gelbart, Neil Simon, Mel Tolkin, Danny Simon, Howard Morris and Nanette Fabray. And, of course, as always, these original kinescopes have been ``digitally enhanced.''

TOO EASY: The guest on Thursday's edition of Comedy Central's show ``Turn Ben Stein On''? Former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss. (INSERT JOKE HERE.)

AND FINALLY ... In news from God's Country, an Indiana funk/hip hop band, Zambow, will sing its own arrangement of the Folgers Coffee jingle - ``the best part of wakin' up'' - for a new commercial, as a result of a contest marking Folgers' 150th anniversary. Other known performers - including Aretha Franklin and Rockapella - have sung the jingle since it was introduced in 1984.