Batman Movie Trilogy Marathon: The Dark Knight (2008)
June 22 update: The Dark Knight Rises viral campaign is now in full swing. Directed by Christopher Nolan, and starring Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne / Batman), Anne Hathaway (Selina Kyle / Catwoman), Tom Hardy (Bane), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (John Blake), Marion Cotillard (Miranda Tate), and Gary Oldman (Jim Gordon), The Dark Knight Rises opens at midnight July 20.
The Warner Bros. marketing people aren’t wasting any time. Surely, the studio wants the last installment in the Batman trilogy to surpass Disney / Marvel’s Joss Whedon-directed The Avengers at the box office – both in North America and overseas.
So, the Gotham Observer‘s top headline blasts “Harvey Dent Day Festivities Planned.” Gotham City district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) met his maker in The Dark Knight. But the people of Gotham City and their leaders – for better or for worse – haven’t forgotten him.
“When asked for comment, Police Commissioner Jim Gordon was quick to praise Dent’s positive impact. He’s been the guiding light for Gotham City ever since his passing. Few men have ever left a more lasting effect on the quality of our fair city. His legacy is strong – but even today District Attorney Dent is sorely missed.”
Batman horoscope?
In other Gotham City news, Zach Harris has re-signed with the football team The Rogues, a local public library will be renamed, and construction sites throughout the city have been ransacked.
And here’s a bit from the Pisces horoscope: “Although things seem hard, it’s your job to rise up and face them.”
Via comicbookmovie.com and DewGothamCity.com.
Batman Movie Trilogy Marathon: Ready to watch The Dark Knight Rises? Can’t quite recall how The Dark Knight ended? Can’t remember how it all began in Batman Begins? Your Blu-ray player isn’t working? Can’t locate yourself in either Gotham City or Arkham City?
Well, if you live in Canada you shouldn’t worry – except, perhaps, when it comes to Arkham City. For on July 19, Cineplex theaters will have a “one-night only” Batman Trilogy Marathon, so you can watch all three Batman movies directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / The Caped Crusader. (Needless to say, The Dark Knight Rises screening will start at 12:01 a.m. on July 20.)
The Batman Movie Trilogy cast
Directed by Christopher Nolan, in addition to Oscar winner Christian Bale (The Fighter), all three Batman movies feature Oscar nominee Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Oscar winner Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby) and two-time Oscar winner Michael Caine (Hannah and Her Sisters, Cider House Rules) in supporting roles.
The Batman Begins cast also includes Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Ken Watanabe, Tom Wilkinson, Rutger Hauer, and Linus Roache. The Dark Knight was boosted by the presence of the recently deceased Heath Ledger as The Joker, plus Maggie Gyllenhaal, Aaron Eckhart, Eric Roberts, Anthony Michael Hall, and the return of Cillian Murphy.
The Dark Knight Rises’ new cast members are Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Conti, Matthew Modine, Josh Pence, Juno Temple, Daniel Sunjata, Joey King, Ben Mendelsohn, and Adam Rodriguez.
The Dark Knight image: Warner Bros.
June 9
Christopher Nolan won’t direct another Batman movie. Christopher Nolan is no fan of digital technology.
Neither statement is really news, but according to Deadline.com, at the “Produced By” conference held on the Sony lot (the old MGM) in Culver City, Nolan reiterated that there’ll be no “The Dark Knight Also Rises” or some such. The director also said that digital technology is “devaluing of what we do as filmmakers,” adding that he “didn’t have any interest in being the research department for an electronics company” and that digital projection “is reducing most theaters to showing TV commercials.”
If Christopher Nolan lives by his word, you’ll only see him use digital technology “when it is as good as film and makes economic sense.” That better happen fast, as the Hollywood majors will reportedly stop distributing 35mm film prints in the United States and a handful of other countries by the end of 2013, and elsewhere by the end of 2015.
Christopher Nolan’s movies include Memento (2000), with Guy Pearce; Insomnia (2001), with Al Pacino, Robin Williams, and Hilary Swank; Batman Begins (2005), with Christian Bale, Liam Neeson, and Katie Holmes; The Prestige (2006), with Bale, Hugh Jackman, and Piper Perabo; The Dark Knight (2008), with Bale, Heath Ledger, and Maggie Gyllenhaal; and the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises (2012), with Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Gary Oldman, and Michael Caine.
June 4
The Dark Knight Rises trailer/TV Spot #6: Warner Bros., Christopher Nolan, and Morgan Freeman want to “show you something” in The Dark Knight Rises’ TV Spot #6. Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne/Batman will inevitably have to come out of retirement to fight Tom Hardy’s Bane. And then there’s also Anne Hathaway’s Selina Kyle / Catwoman, who is curiously absent from this trailer. Or perhaps hers was a blink-and-miss cameo. I blinked; I missed.
Also of note, The Dark Knight Rises tickets go on sale June 11. The upcoming Batman movie opens July 20. TDKR‘s running time is reportedly two hours and forty-five minutes. When Christopher Nolan talked about “epic,” he meant not only in terms of scope and number of extras, but also in terms of length.
And I’ll say it again: much like The Dark Knight belonged to Heath Ledger’s The Joker, The Dark Knight Rises will belong not to Christian Bale’s caped crusader, but to Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman and Tom Hardy’s Bane. Expect Oscar nominations.
Directed and co-written by Christopher Nolan and his brother Jonathan Nolan, The Dark Knight Rises stars Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gary Oldman, and Michael Caine.
Also: Morgan Freeman, Tom Conti, Matthew Modine, Josh Pence, Juno Temple, Daniel Sunjata, Nestor Carbonell, Joey King, Brett Cullen, Chris Ellis, Adam Rodriguez, Josh Stewart, Christopher Judge, Aidan Gillen, and Ben Mendelsohn.
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The Dark Knight Rises trailer/new footage is once again available online. (Please scroll down.) After Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s John Blake tells Anne Hathaway’s Selina Kyle/Catwoman, that she has made “some mistakes,” Selina explains – quite logically – that “a girl’s gotta eat.” Shortly thereafter in the TDKR “trailer” Selina, now as Catwoman, tells Tom Hardy’s Bane, “Don’t be shy.”
Considering what happens afterwards – explosions, terrorist attacks, bridges collapsing, violent protests – shyness doesn’t seem to be one of Bane’s character traits. The Dark Knight Rises opens July 20.
The Dark Knight sold more tickets than The Avengers to date
As of June 1, The Dark Knight (2008), was still quite a bit ahead of The Avengers at the domestic box office – in terms of ticket sales – the true measure of a film’s box office success. In addition to Christian Bale, The Dark Knight features Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner Heath Ledger, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Aaron Eckhart.
The Dark Knight Rises footage premiered at the 2012 MTV Movie Award. It was considered by some to be the highlight of an otherwise lackluster evening. The (somewhat surprising) Best Film winner was Bill Condon’s The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1, starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner.
Among the MTV Movie Awards 2012 presenters and/or winners were The Hunger Games’ Josh Hutcherson, Jennifer Lawrence, Elizabeth Banks, and Alexander Ludwig; the cast of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2; Horrible Bosses’ Jennifer Aniston; The Descendants’ Shailene Woodley; Snow White and the Huntsman‘s Chris Hemsworth and Kristen Stewart; Prometheus’ Charlize Theron and Michael Fassbender; and That’s My Boy‘s Adam Sandler. Dark Shadows’ Johnny Depp received a special award. (Breaking Dawn – Part 1 was “surprise winner” in that it was nominated in relatively few categories.)
Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle / The Dark Knight Rises screengrab: Warner Bros.
The Dark Knight Rises “premiere” at the MTV Movie Awards 2012: “Mankind needs heroes,” intones Gary Oldman while presenting, alongside Christian Bale and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, footage from The Dark Knight and Batman Begins. “But sometimes the legend of the hero is even more important than the hero himself. In Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, Batman has transcended comic books and film to become a legend for a new era.” (Please scroll down for the TDKR intro clip.)
What followed Oldman’s lofty speech (and Bale’s and Gordon-Levitt’s) was a montage featuring moments from Christopher Nolan’s first two Batman movies, Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008), both starring Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman. According to reports (I didn’t watch the show), Christian Bale got “emotional” when he saw scenes featuring eventual Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner Heath Ledger as The Joker. Ledger, until then best known for his gay cowboy in Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, died a few months before The Dark Knight was released.
Then Christopher Nolan introduced new clips from The Dark Knight Rises. Much of the footage featured Anne Hathaway chatting with Joseph Gordon-Levitt (“A girl’s gotta eat,” Hathaway’s Selina Kyle/Catwoman explains.) Much of the rest of the TDKR footage featured the usual explosions, rapid cuts, and the like. Unfortunately, Warner Bros. has made the clips unavailable online. (Now back online, see link above.)
The Dark Knight sold more tickets than The Avengers to date
As of June 1, The Dark Knight (2008), was still ahead of The Avengers at the domestic box office – in terms of ticket sales – the true measure of a film’s box office success. In addition to Christian Bale, The Dark Knight features Heath Ledger, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Aaron Eckhart.
The 2012 MTV Movie Awards’ Best Film winner was Bill Condon’s The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1, starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner. Among the presenters and/or award recipients were The Hunger Games’ Josh Hutcherson and Jennifer Lawrence, Horrible Bosses’ Jennifer Aniston, Snow White and the Huntsman‘s Chris Hemsworth and Kristen Stewart, Prometheus’ Charlize Theron and Michael Fassbender, and That’s My Boy‘s Adam Sandler. Dark Shadows’ Johnny Depp received a special award.
Christian Bale, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gary Oldman / The Dark Knight Rises “premiere” at MTV Movie Awards screengrab: Warner Bros.
The latest The Dark Knight Rises trailer/TV spot has Anne Hathaway’s Selina Kyle/Catwoman once again reminding Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne/Batman that he doesn’t “owe them anything.” In this latest Batman trailer, Batman himself – it’s that bat-whisper – disagrees. He wants to give them (whoever they are) something to remember him by. Rapid cuts, explosions, special effects, and Tom Hardy’s Bane follow. The Dark Knight Rises opens July 20.
Directed by Christopher Nolan, and co-written by Nolan and his brother Jonathan Nolan, The Dark Knight Rises features Oscar winner Christian Bale (The Fighter), Oscar nominee Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married, and soon to be seen in Tom Hooper’s Oscar hopeful Les Misérables), Oscar winnerMarion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose), Lawless’ Tom Hardy, Inception‘s Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and two-time Oscar winner Michael Caine (Hannah and Her Sisters / The Cider House Rules).
Box Office: The Dark Knight sold more tickets than The Avengers
As of June 1, The Dark Knight Rises’ predecessor, The Dark Knight (2008), was still ahead of The Avengers at the domestic box office – in terms of ticket sales, which, of course, is the true measure of a film’s box office success. In addition to Christian Bale, The Dark Knight features Heath Ledger, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Aaron Eckhart.
By the way, the 2012 MTV Movie Awards’ Best Film winner was The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1. Among the presenters and/or award recipients were The Hunger Games’ Josh Hutcherson and Jennifer Lawrence, Horrible Bosses’ Jennifer Aniston, Snow White and the Huntsman‘s Chris Hemsworth and Kristen Stewart, and Prometheus’ Charlize Theron and Michael Fassbender. Johnny Depp received a special award.
The Dark Knight Rises football stadium screengrab: Warner Bros.
June 3
The Dark Knight Rises trailer – or new footage or clip or TV spot – was, for some, the highlight of the MTV Movie Awards 2012. “A girl’s gotta eat,” explains Anne Hathaway’s Selina Kyle/Catwoman to Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s John Blake. What exactly Hathaway’s Selina has got to eat remains a mystery. Anyhow, Christian Bale’s Batman will be giving it all to Selina and everybody else when The Dark Knight Rises opens July 20. [Apologies: Warner Bros. has requested that The Dark Knight Rises’ footage be removed.]
The Dark Knight ahead of The Avengers
As of June 1, TDKR‘s predecessor, the 2008 blockbuster The Dark Knight, was still ahead of The Avengers at the domestic box office – in terms of ticket sales, which, of course, is the true measure of a film’s box office success. In addition to Christian Bale, The Dark Knight featured Heath Ledger, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Aaron Eckhart.
By the way, the 2012 MTV Movie Awards’ Best Film winner was The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1. Among the presenters and/or award recipients were The Hunger Games’ Josh Hutcherson and Jennifer Lawrence, Horrible Bosses’ Jennifer Aniston, Snow White and the Huntsman‘s Chris Hemsworth and Kristen Stewart, and Prometheus’ Charlize Theron and Michael Fassbender. Johnny Depp received a special award.
Tom Hardy as Bane / The Dark Knight Rises screengrab: Warner Bros.
2 comments
You omitted Nolan’s greatest film to date – 2010’s Inception!!
If I were you, I would be a little more cautious in my predictions about the characters. You don’t know if Bane and Catwoman will “steal the show,” any more that I do. Even if Tom Hardy and Anne Hathaway’s performances do stand out, that does not necessarily mean that they will outshine Bale’s performance. For all we know, the primary focus could very well be on Bruce Wayne alone with the others serving supporting roles rather that the “ensemble cast” approach that appeared to be taken with The Dark Knight. I don’t doubt that this film will have great acting performances, but is it really fair to automatically assume only certain performances will stand out just because of your own personal observations about the previous film?
Be as excited as you want to, ( I certainly am) but it’s bothersome that one would make predictions like they were facts. We won’t know until the film comes out. Until then, predictions are fine, but let’s not count our chickens before they hatch.