According to The Hollywood Reporter, as expected, Warner Home Video will release the DVD of Batman Begins on Oct. 18, putting into place one of the final pieces of the fourth-quarter home video puzzle.

Batman Begins, which recently inched past the $200 million domestic gross mark, will be available in two versions: a single-disc edition that contains the movie only and a two-disc deluxe edition that includes a 72-page collectable comic book and several hours of DVD extras.

Among them: documentaries on the genesis of the Dark Knight, the reinvention of the Batmobile and the development of miniatures, CGI and effects for the Monorail Chase scene; a study of Christian Bale's transformation into Batman; a spoof, "Tankman Begins"; and a featurette on the creation of Gotham City, the Batcave and Wayne Manor.

Industry sources had long expected Batman Begins to drop into Oct. 18, which for several weeks had been the month's only open date with no major theatrical film slated for DVD release.

Appetites had been whetted several weeks ago when Warner announced that a series of two-disc special editions of the four original Batman movies from the 1980s and '90s--Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever and Batman & Robin--would be released on that date.

Then, last week, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment announced it would release a collection of vintage Batman serials on DVD Oct. 18. "Batman: The 1943 Serial Collection," a two-disc set that features all 15 segments in the Caped Crusader's first screen appearance.

The serial finds Batman squaring off against Dr. Daka, mastermind of a wartime Japanese spy and sabotage group. Dr. Daka is armed with an array of weapons, including a radium-powered death ray and an alligator pit.