The Dark Knight

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The Dark Knight
Directed byChristopher Nolan
Written byScreenplay:
Christopher Nolan
Jonathan Nolan
Story:
David S. Goyer
Christopher Nolan
Characters:
Bob Kane
Bill Finger
Jerry Robinson
Produced byChristopher Nolan
Charles Roven
Emma Thomas
StarringChristian Bale
Heath Ledger
Aaron Eckhart
Michael Caine
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Gary Oldman
Morgan Freeman
CinematographyWally Pfister
Edited byLee Smith
Music byHans Zimmer
James Newton Howard
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release dates
North America:
July 18, 2008
Australia:
July 16, 2008
United Kingdom:
July 24, 2008
Running time
150 min.[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$180 million[2]
Box officeDomestic:
$158,411,483 [3]
Foreign:
$41,300,000
Worldwide:
$199,711,483

The Dark Knight is a 2008 American superhero film co-written and directed by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is a sequel to Batman Begins (2005). Christian Bale reprises the lead role. Batman's primary conflicts in the film include his fight against his arch-nemesis the Joker (Heath Ledger) and his strained friendship with district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart).

For his conception of the film, Nolan was inspired by the Joker's first two appearances in the comics and Batman: The Long Halloween. The Dark Knight was filmed primarily in Chicago, as well as in several other locations in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong. The director used an IMAX camera to film six major action sequences, including the Joker's first appearance in the film. The Batsuit was redesigned, with a cowl allowing Bale to move his head.

Warner Bros. editcreated a viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight, developing promotional websites and trailers highlighting screenshots of Heath Ledger as the Joker. After Ledger's death in January 2008, however, the studio refocused its promotional campaign.[4][5] The film was released on July 16, 2008 in Australia, on July 18, 2008 in North America, and on July 24, 2008 in the United Kingdom.

After its first weekend theatrical run, The Dark Knight set new records as the biggest-ever opener with $158,411,483 and biggest-ever single-day grosser with $66 million held on Friday, July 18, 2008, surpassing Spider-Man 3 with its $59.8 million Friday and $151 million weekend[6][7][8].

Plot

The film begins with the Joker robbing a mob-owned bank, and systematically double crossing his accomplices so he can have all the money. That night, multiple Batman impersonators interrupt a meeting between mobsters and the Scarecrow. The real Batman shows up and subdues everyone, but injuries suffered during the confrontation lead him to design a new, more versatile suit of armor. Batman and Lieutenant James Gordon contemplate bringing new district attorney Harvey Dent in on their plan to eradicate the mob, and the possibility that Dent will become the hero to the people that Batman cannot be. At the same time, Bruce Wayne and Harvey are both competing for the love of Rachel Dawes. The mob bosses meet to discuss how to handle Batman, Gordon, and Dent, while a Chinese mobster accountant, Lau, lets the gang leaders know he has taken their money to Hong Kong to prevent the police and the district attorney from seizing it in an imminent bank raid. The Joker arrives and proposes to kill Batman for them, and also tries to convince them that Lau will give them all up to the police if he is caught.

After Batman successfully abducts Lau in Hong Kong and delivers him to the Gotham City police, the mobsters agree to pay the Joker half of their money in return for killing Batman. The Joker tells all of Gotham that if the Batman does not turn himself in to the police, then he will kill people every day. When the Joker begins killing off public officials, including Commissioner Loeb, despite the best efforts of the police and Batman to stop him, Wayne decides to turn himself in to the police. Before he can do so, Dent publicly admits to being "the Batman" to draw the Joker out of hiding. The Joker attempts to kill Dent during transport, but Gordon and Batman intervene in time to stop and arrest him. With the Joker in custody, Batman interrogates the Joker until he reveals that Rachel and Dent have been taken to opposite sides of the city, far-enough apart that Batman does not have time to save both of them. Batman speeds off to save Rachel, while Gordon and the police head after Dent. Unknown to them, the Joker has switched the locations, sending Batman after Dent and Gordon after Rachel. With the help of a pre-planted phone bomb, the Joker escapes with Lau in tow. Batman arrives and rescues Dent just as both buildings explode, although the left side of Dent's face is burned during the explosion. Gordon does not reach Rachel in time and she dies in the explosion. In the hospital, Dent is driven to madness over the loss of Rachel, which he blames on Batman, Gordon and the Joker. The Joker frees Harvey from the hospital and convinces him to exact revenge on the cops, mobsters, Gordon and Batman.

While "Harvey Two-Face" confronts the corrupt cops and the mobsters one by one, flipping a coin to decide their fates, the Joker burns Lau along with the mob's money. The Joker then declares that he will rule the streets and that anyone left in Gotham at nightfall will be subject to his rule. The Joker plants explosives on two ferries of evacuees and gives the passengers on board the chance to destroy the opposing vessel, one full of prison convicts and another with civilians, in order to save their own lives. Batman tracks the Joker to an uncompleted skyscraper. Batman prevents the Joker from blowing up the ferries when both vessels' occupants decide they would rather not sacrifice the lives of the passengers in the other vessel for their own.

Dangling from a wire, the Joker acknowledges that Batman really is incorruptible, but that Dent was not, and that he has unleashed Harvey's madness upon the city. Batman finds Gordon and his family with Dent at the building where Rachel died. Two-Face proceeds to judge Batman, himself, and Gordon's son through the chance of a coin flip, which he sees as the only fairness left in the world. Two-Face shoots Batman in the stomach, but before he can determine the boy's fate, Batman tackles him over the side of the building, saving Gordon's son. As Dent lies motionless on the ground, Batman and Gordon decide that the Joker would win if anyone found out about Dent's corruption and madness. Batman convinces Gordon to let him take all the blame for Dent's murders in order to preserve the former district attorney's image as Gotham's hero and give the city hope. As Gordon destroys the Bat-Signal, a manhunt is issued for Batman.

Cast and characters

Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman: A billionaire who has dedicated himself to protecting Gotham City from the criminal underworld. Bale was confident in his choice to return in the role because of the positive response to his performance in Batman Begins.[9] He trained in the Keysi Fighting Method,[10] and performed many of his own stunts.[9] He did not gain as much muscle this time, because of the storyline in which Batman builds a new suit that allows him to move with more agility.[11]

The actor described Batman's dilemma as whether "[his crusade is] something that has an end. Can he quit and have an ordinary life? The kind of manic intensity someone has to have to maintain the passion and the anger that they felt as a child, takes an effort after awhile, to keep doing that. At some point, you have to exorcise your demons."[12] He added, "Now you have not just a young man in pain attempting to find some kind of an answer, you have somebody who actually has power, who is burdened by that power, and is having to recognize the difference between attaining that power and holding on to it."[2] Bale felt because Batman's personality was strongly established in the first film, it was unlikely that his character would be overshadowed by the villains, stating: "I have no problem with competing with someone else. And that's going to make a better movie."[13]

Heath Ledger as The Joker: Heath Ledger described the Joker as a "psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy".[14] Nolan had wanted to work with Ledger on a number of projects in the past, but had been unable to do so.[15] When Ledger saw Batman Begins, he realized a way to make the character work consistent with that film's tone,[16] and Nolan agreed with his anarchic interpretation.[15] To prepare for the role, Ledger lived alone in a hotel room for a month, formulating the character's posture, voice and psychology, and kept a diary, in which he recorded the Joker's thoughts and feelings to guide himself during his performance.[13][17] While he initially found it difficult, Ledger was eventually able to generate a voice that did not sound like Jack Nicholson's take on the character in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman film.[14][17] He was also given Batman: The Killing Joke and Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth to read, which he "really tried to read [...] and put it down".[16] Ledger also cited inspirations such as A Clockwork Orange and Sid Vicious, which were "a very early starting point for Christian [Bale] and I [sic]. But we kind of flew far away from that pretty quickly and into another world altogether."[18][19] "There’s a bit of everything in him. There’s nothing that consistent," Ledger said, adding that "There are a few more surprises to him."[18] Before Ledger was confirmed to play the Joker in July 2006,[20] Paul Bettany,[21] Lachy Hulme,[22] Adrien Brody,[23] Steve Carell,[24] and Robin Williams[25] publicly expressed interest in the role.

On January 22, 2008, after he had completed filming The Dark Knight, Ledger suddenly died, leading to intense press attention and memorial tributes. "It was tremendously emotional, right when he passed, having to go back in and look at him every day," Nolan recalled. "But the truth is, I feel very lucky to have something productive to do, to have a performance that he was very, very proud of, and that he had entrusted to me to finish."[19] All of Ledger's scenes appear as he completed them in the filming; in editing the film, Nolan added no "digital effects" to alter Ledger's actual performance posthumously.[26] Nolan has dedicated the film in part to Ledger's memory, as well as to the memory of technician Conway Wickliffe, who was killed during a car accident while preparing one of the film's stunts.[27][28]

Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent / Two-Face: The Gotham district attorney who is hailed as Gotham's "White Knight"; Dent's battle with the Joker turns Dent into a murderous, disfigured vigilante called "Two-Face".[29][30] Producer Charles Roven described Dent as initially the "white knight of the city".[31] Wayne sees Dent as his heir, which comes back to the theme of him realizing that being Batman will be a lifelong mission, and the tragedy that follows when Dent is corrupted.[28] Whereas Two-Face is an evil villain in the comics, Nolan chose to portray him as a twisted vigilante to emphasize his role as Batman's counterpart, and Eckhart, who has played corrupt men in films such as The Black Dahlia, Thank You For Smoking and In the Company of Men, notes: "[He] is still true to himself. He's a crime fighter, he's not killing good people. He's not a bad guy, not purely," while admitting: "I'm interested in good guys gone wrong."[29][30] Nolan and David S. Goyer had originally considered using Dent in Batman Begins, but they replaced him with the new character Rachel Dawes when they realized they "couldn’t do him justice".[32] Before Eckhart was cast in February 2007, Liev Schreiber,[33] Josh Lucas,[34] and Ryan Phillippe[35] had expressed interest in the role.[36] Nolan chose Eckhart, whom he had considered for the lead role in Memento, citing his "extraordinary" ability as an actor, his embodiment of "that kind of chiselled, American hero quality" projected by Robert Redford, and his subtextual "edge".[13]

Gary Oldman as James Gordon: Lieutenant of the Gotham City Police Department and one of the few cops who isn't corrupt. He forms a tenuous, unofficial alliance with Batman and Dent. When Police Commissioner Loeb is assassinated, Gordon is given the position by Mayor Garcia. Nolan explained that "The Long Halloween has a great, triangular relationship between Harvey Dent and Gordon and Batman, and that's something we very much drew from."[37] Oldman added that "Gordon has a great deal of admiration for him at the end, but [Batman] is more than ever now the dark knight, the outsider. I'm intrigued now to see: If there is a third one, what he's going to do?"[37] On the possibility of another sequel, he said that "returning to [the role] is not dependent on whether the role was bigger than the one before".[38]

Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes: The Gotham assistant D.A. and childhood friend of Bruce Wayne, she is one of the few people who know that he is Batman. Gyllenhaal took over the role from Katie Holmes, who had performed it in Batman Begins. In August 2005, Holmes was reportedly planning to reprise the role,[39] but in January 2007, she turned it down due to scheduling conflicts.[40]. By March 2007, Gyllenhaal was in "final talks" for the part.[41] Gyllenhaal has acknowledged that her character is a damsel in distress to an extent, but says that Nolan sought ways to empower her character so that "Rachel's really clear about what's important to her and unwilling to compromise her morals, which made a nice change" from the many conflicted characters whom she has previously portrayed.[42]

Supporting characters include:

Beatrice Rosen plays a Russian ballet dancer. Joshua Harto plays a lawyer who becomes a target of the Joker. Chucky Venice plays a bodyguard of Gambol. Keith Szarabajka plays Detective Stephens. Edison Chen cameos in a minor role.[46] Batman fan and United States Senator Patrick Leahy, who previously was an extra in the 1997 Batman & Robin and also was a guest voice actor on Batman: The Animated Series, has a cameo in The Dark Knight in a scene with Batman and the Joker.[47] Melinda McGraw and Nathan Gamble appear as James Gordon's wife and son. Tom Lister, Jr. cameos as a convict aboard one of the ferries threatened in the film's climax.

Production

Development

Before the release of Batman Begins, screenwriter David S. Goyer wrote a treatment for two sequels, which introduced the Joker and Harvey Dent. His original intention was that the Joker would scar Dent during his trial in the third film, turning him into Two-Face.[48] Goyer, who wrote the first draft of the screenplay, cited the DC Comics 13-issue comic book limited series Batman: The Long Halloween as the major influence on his conception of the storyline.[32] While initially unsure of whether he would return to direct the sequel, Nolan did want to reinterpret the Joker on screen.[13] On July 31,2006, Warner Bros. Pictures officially announced the initiation of production for the sequel, titled The Dark Knight.[20] This makes it the first live-action Batman film without the word "Batman" in its title, which Bale noted as signaling that "this take on Batman of mine and Chris' is very different from any of the others."[49]

After much research, his brother and co-writer Jonathan suggested the Joker's first two appearances, which were both published in the first issue of Batman (1940), as the crucial influence.[15] Jerry Robinson, one of the Joker's co-creators, was consulted about the character's portrayal.[50] Nolan decided to avoid having to tell an in-depth origin story (or back story) for the Joker, instead portraying his rise to power, so as not to diminish the threat that he poses, explaining to MTV News "that the Joker we meet in The Dark Knight is fully formed. ... 'To me, the Joker is an absolute,' he said. 'There are no shades of gray to him—maybe shades of purple. He's unbelievably dark. He bursts in just as he did in the comics.' "[51] "We never wanted to do an origin story for the Joker in this film," he reiterated to IGN, because "The arc of the story is much more Harvey Dent's; the Joker is presented as an absolute. It's a very thrilling element in the film, and a very important element, but we wanted to deal with the rise of the Joker not the origin of the Joker...."[15] Nolan suggested that Batman: The Killing Joke influenced the Joker's belief he can bring down anyone to his level.[52]

Nolan also cited Heat, the 1995 film directed by Michael Mann and starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, as another "sort of an inspiration", for his aim "to tell a very large, city story or the story of a city": "If you want to take on Gotham, you want to give Gotham a kind of weight and breadth and depth in there. So you wind up dealing with the political figures, the media figures. That's part of the whole fabric of how a city is bound together."[15]

As we looked through the comics, there was this fascinating idea that Batman's presence in Gotham actually attracts criminals to Gotham, [it] attracts lunacy. When you're dealing with questionable notions like people taking the law into their own hands, you have to really ask, where does that lead? That's what makes the character so dark, because he expresses a vengeful desire.

—Nolan on the theme of escalation[2]

According to Nolan, an important theme of the sequel is "escalation", extending the ending of Batman Begins, with "things having to get worse before they get better".[53] While indicating that the film would continue the themes of Batman Begins, including justice vs. revenge and Bruce Wayne's issues with his father,[54] Nolan emphasized that it would also convey more of Wayne's function as a detective, an aspect of his character that they did not have time to develop in Batman Begins.[11] He described the friendly rivalry between Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent as the "backbone" of the film.[51] Nolan chose to compress the story, having Dent become Two-Face in the film, thus giving the film an emotional arc that the unsympathetic Joker could not offer.[52]

Filming

While scouting for shooting locations in October 2006, location manager Robin Higgs visited Liverpool, concentrating mainly along the city's waterfront. Other candidates included Yorkshire, Glasgow, and parts of London.[55] In August 2006, one of the film's producers, Charles Roven, stated that its principal photography would begin in March 2007,[56] but filming was pushed back to April.[57] For its release in IMAX theaters, Nolan shot four major action sequences in that format, including the Joker's introduction, and said that he wished that it were possible to shoot the entire film in IMAX: "if you could take an IMAX camera to Mount Everest or outer space, you could use it in a feature movie."[58] For fifteen years Nolan had wanted to shoot in the IMAX format, and he used it also for "quiet scenes which pictorially we thought would be interesting."[51]

File:Jokerbehingdthaglass.jpg
Director Christopher Nolan (far left) and actor Heath Ledger (in make-up) filming a scene in The Dark Knight with an IMAX camera

Warner Bros. chose to film in Chicago for 13 weeks, because Nolan had had a "truly remarkable experience" filming part of Batman Begins there.[59][60] While filming in Chicago, the film was given the false title Rory's First Kiss to lower the visibility of production, but the local media eventually uncovered the ruse.[61] Richard Roeper of The Chicago Sun-Times commented on the absurdity of the technique, "Is there a Bat-fan in the world that doesn't know Rory's First Kiss is actually The Dark Knight, which has been filming in Chicago for weeks?"[62] Production of The Dark Knight in Chicago generated $45 million in the city's economy and created thousands of jobs.[63] For the film's prologue involving the Joker, the crew shot in Chicago from April 18 to April 24,2007.[64][65] They returned to shoot from June 9, 2007 to early September.[63] Shooting locations included Navy Pier, 330 North Wabash, James R. Thompson Center, LaSalle Street, The Berghoff, Hotel 71, the old Brach's factory, the old Van Buren Street Post Office and Wacker Drive.[66] Pinewood Studios, near London, was the primary studio space used for the production.[67]

While planning a stunt with the Batmobile in a special effects facility near Chertsey, England in September 2007, technician Conway Wickliffe was killed when his car crashed.[68] The film is dedicated to both Ledger and Wickliffe.[27] The following month in London at the defunct Battersea Power Station, a rigged 200-foot fireball was filmed, reportedly for an opening sequence, prompting calls from local residents who feared a terrorist attack on the station.[69]

Filming took place in Hong Kong from November 6 to November 11, 2007, at the Central-Mid-Levels escalators, Queen's Road, The Center, and International Finance Centre.[70][71][72] The city's walled city of Kowloon influenced the Narrows in Batman Begins.[73] The shoot hired helicopters and C-130 aircraft.[70] Officials expressed concern over possible noise pollution and traffic.[71] In response, letters sent to the city's residents promised that the sound level would approximate noise decibels made by buses.[70] Environmentalists also criticized the filmmakers' request to tenants of the waterfront skyscrapers to keep their lights on all night in order to enhance the cinematography, describing it as a waste of energy.[71] Cinematographer Wally Pfister found the city officials a "nightmare", and ultimately Nolan had to create Batman's jump from a skyscraper (which Bale had looked forward to performing) digitally.[26]

Design

Heath Ledger as the Joker. The Joker's scruffy and grungy make-up is intended as a reflection of his "edgy" character.

Costume designer Lindy Hemming described the Joker's look as reflecting his personality—that "he doesn't care about himself at all"; she avoided designing him as a vagrant but still made him appear to be "scruffier, grungier", so that "when you see him move, he's slightly twitchier or edgy."[17][13][17] Nolan noted, "We gave a Francis Bacon spin to [his face]. This corruption, this decay in the texture of the look itself. It's grubby. You can almost imagine what he smells like."[74] In creating the "anarchical" look of the Joker, Hemming drew inspiration from such countercultural pop culture artists as Pete Doherty, Iggy Pop, and Johnny Rotten.[75] During the course of the film, the Joker only once removes his make-up, causing it to become more unkempt and resemble an infection as it worsens.[13] Ledger described his "clown" mask, made up of three pieces of stamped silicone, as a "new technology", taking much less time for the make-up artists to apply than more-conventional prosthetics usually requires—the process took them only an hour—and resulting in Ledger's impression that he was barely wearing any make-up at all.[13][76]

Designers improved on the design of the Batsuit from Batman Begins, adding wide elastic banding to help bind the costume to Bale, and suggest more sophisticated technology. It was constructed from 200 individual pieces of rubber, fiberglass, metallic mesh, and nylon. The new cowl was modeled after a motorcycle helmet and separated from the neck piece, allowing Bale to turn his head left and right and nod up and down.[77] The cowl is equipped to show white lenses over the eyes when the character turns on his sonar detection.[78] The gauntlets have retractable razors which are able to be fired.[77] The gloves also possess hydraulics for Batman to crush objects. The original suit was also worn during part of the film. Though the new costume is eight pounds heavier, Bale found it more comfortable and less hot to wear.[11]

The film introduces the Batpod, which is a recreation of the Batcycle. Production designer Nathan Crowley, who designed the Tumbler for Batman Begins, designed six models (built by special effects supervisor Chris Corbould) for use in the film's production, because of necessary crash scenes and possible accidents.[79] Crowley built a prototype in Nolan's garage, before six months of safety tests were conducted.[11] The Batpod is steered by shoulder instead of hand, and the rider's arms are protected by sleeve-like shields. The bike has 508 millimeter (20-inch) front and rear tires, and is made to appear as if it is armed with grappling hooks, cannons, and machine guns. The engines are located in the hubs of the wheels, which are set 3 1/2 feet (1067 mm) apart on either side of the tank. The rider lies belly down on the tank, which can move up and down in order to dodge any incoming gunfire that Batman may encounter. Stuntman Jean-Pierre Goy doubled for Christian Bale during the riding sequences in The Dark Knight.[79]

For Two-Face's make-up, Eckhart warned, "When you look at [him], you should get sick to your stomach. Being the guy under all that, well, that was a lot of fun for me. It's like you would feel if you met someone whose face had pretty much been ripped off or burned off with acid [...] There are fans on the Internet who have done artist's versions of what they think it will look like, and I can tell you this: They're thinking small; Chris is going way farther than people think."[29] Nolan described Two-Face's appearance in the film as one of the least disturbing, explaining, "When we looked at less extreme versions of it, they were too real and more horrifying. When you look at a film like Pirates of the Caribbean—something like that, there's something about a very fanciful, very detailed visual effect, that I think is more powerful and less repulsive."[80]

The depiction of Gotham City is less gritty than in Batman Begins. "I've tried to unclutter the Gotham we created on the last film," said Crowley. "Gotham is in chaos. We keep blowing up stuff. So we can keep our images clean."[2]

Music

See also: The Dark Knight (soundtrack)

Batman Begins composers Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard returned to score the sequel. Zimmer originally said the main Batman theme was purposely introduced at the end of Batman Begins, and would be fleshed out in the sequel as the character develops.[81] Zimmer and Howard both realized that creating a heroic theme that a viewer could hum would ignore the complexity and darkness of the character. That the heroic theme is audible only twice, early on in the film, creates what Zimmer described as a "red herring", a kind of musical foreshadowing.[82]

Composition began before shooting, and during filming Nolan received an iPod with ten hours of recordings, which Zimmer claimed Nolan fully memorized.[83] Their nine-minute suite for the Joker is based around two notes. Zimmer compared its style to the band Kraftwerk, who come from his native Germany, as well as his work with bands like The Damned.[82] When Ledger died, Zimmer felt like scrapping and composing a new theme, but decided that he could not be sentimental and compromise the "evil [performance] projects".[84] Howard composed Dent's "elegant and beautiful" themes,[82] which are brass-focused.[83]

Release

Marketing

In May 2007, 42 Entertainment began a viral marketing campaign utilizing the film's "Why So Serious?" tagline with the launch of a website featuring the fictional political campaign of Harvey Dent, with the caption, "I Believe in Harvey Dent."[85] The site aimed to interest fans by having them try to earn what they wanted to see and, on behalf of Warner Bros., 42 Entertainment also established a "vandalized" version of I Believe in Harvey Dent, called "I believe in Harvey Dent too," where e-mails sent by fans slowly removed pixels, revealing the first official image of the Joker; it was ultimately replaced with many "Haha"s and a hidden message that said "see you in December."[86]

File:Norulessensible.jpg
WhySoSerious.com directed fans to find letters composing the Joker's message "The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules," to send in photographs of these letters, and then featured their photos in a collage.

During the 2007 Comic-Con International, 42 Entertainment launched WhySoSerious.com, sending fans on a scavenger hunt to unlock a teaser trailer and a new photo of the Joker.[87] During that month, WhySoSerious.com featured an animated jack-o'-lantern whose mouth was shaped like a bat-logo. The candle in the jack-o'-lantern melted as time progressed, while half of the pumpkin's face simultaneously deteriorated.[88]

On October 31, 2007, the film's website morphed into another scavenger hunt with hidden messages, instructing fans to uncover clues at certain locations in major cities throughout the United States, and to take photographs of their discoveries. The clues combined to reveal a new photograph of the Joker from the film, accompanied by an audio MP3 clip of Ledger's recorded voice saying, "And tonight, you're gonna break your one rule." Completing the scavenger hunt also led to another website called Rory's Death Kiss[88] (referencing the false working title of Rory's First Kiss), where fans could submit photographs of themselves costumed as the Joker set in various landscapes. Those who sent photos were mailed a copy of a fictional newspaper called The Gotham Times, whose electronic version led to the discovery of numerous other websites.[89][90]

The Dark Knight's opening sequence, (showing a bank raid by the Joker) and closing montage of other scenes from the film, was screened with selected IMAX screenings of I Am Legend, which was released on December 14,2007.[51] A theatrical teaser was also released with non-IMAX showings of I Am Legend, and also on the official website.[91] The sequence was released on the Blu-ray Disc edition of Batman Begins on July 8, 2008.[92] Also on July 8, 2008, the studio released Batman: Gotham Knight, a direct-to-DVD animated film, set between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight and featuring six original stories, directed by Bruce Timm, co-creator and producer of Batman: The Animated Series. Each of these segments, written by Josh Olson, David S. Goyer, Brian Azzarello, Greg Rucka, Jordan Goldberg, and Alan Burnett, presents its own distinctive artistic style, paralleling numerous artists collaborating in the same DC Universe.[93]

After the death of Heath Ledger, on January 22, 2008, Warner Bros. adjusted its promotional focus on the Joker,[4] revising some of its websites dedicated to promoting the film and posting a memorial tribute to Ledger on the film's official website[94] and overlaying a black memorial ribbon on the photo collage in WhySoSerious.com.[95] On February 29, 2008, I Believe in Harvey Dent was updated to enable fans to send their e-mail addresses and phone numbers.[96] In March 2008, Harvey Dent's fictional campaign informed fans that actual campaign buses nicknamed "Dentmobiles" would tour various cities to promote Dent's candidacy for district attorney.[97]

Toyota Formula One racing car featuring the Batman insignia, at the 2008 British Grand Prix

On May 15, 2008, Six Flags Great America and Six Flags Great Adventure theme parks opened The Dark Knight roller coaster, which cost $7.5 million to develop and which simulates being stalked by the Joker.[98] Mattel has been producing toys and games for The Dark Knight, action figures, role play costumes, board games, puzzles, and a special-edition UNO card game, which began commercial distribution in June 2008.[99] Also to promote the film, the Toyota Formula One team raced with a special livery featuring the Batman insignia and "The Dark Knight" at the 2008 British Grand Prix, held from July 4 to July 6, 2008.

Theatrical run and box office

The official premiere took place at the AMC Loews IMAX theater in Lincoln Square, New York, on Monday, July 14, 2008; before screening of the movie, composers Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard performed the film score live on stage.[100] The film was released theatrically on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 (Australian time), in Australia;[101] on Friday, July 18, 2008 (EDT), in North America[102]—with "Special Pre-Opening Thursday Midnight Shows" on July 17, 2008[103] and will be released on the following Friday, July 25, 2008 (BST), in the United Kingdom, at the Odeon Leicester Square and nationally, with "previews" on the previous day, Thursday, July 24, 2008.[104]

The evening after the Australian opening, on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 (CDT), the 44th Chicago International Film Festival, along with Warner Bros. Pictures and Cinema/Chicago, co-hosted an IMAX screening of the film in Chicago, Illinois, as part of The Dark Knight Gala tribute to Christopher Nolan.[105] Other early showings of the film are being hosted throughout the United States; for example, Senator Patrick Leahy (D, VT), a "lifelong" Batman comics fan who cameos in the film, hosted a local charity event showing the film, in his hometown of Montpelier, on July 12, 2008.[106] The film will screen on over 4,366 theaters in North America, breaking Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End's record of the largest opening on the continent.[107]

Over a week before release, the ticket service Fandango reported that "many of its pre-opening Thursday midnight shows on July 17 are already sold out in cities across the [United States], from New York to Boise, Idaho" and that "Theaters continue to add 3:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. showtimes to meet the ticketing demand."[108] According to a press release of July 10, 2008, by eMediaWorld, IMAX Corporation, and Warner Bros., The Dark Knight: The IMAX Experience will be opening in the U.S. "in a record 94 IMAX(R) theatres domestically on July 18th in conjunction with the film's wide release" and will also open in "15 theaters day-and-date internationally, with at least 23 additional international locations opening in the following weeks"; moreover, U.S. ticket pre-sales have "surpassed $2 million, more than a week prior to opening", with "over 100 shows already sold out", and some U.S. IMAX theaters plan to screen The Dark Knight: The IMAX Experience "non-stop for 24 hours to meet the high moviegoer demands."[109]

The Dark Knight opened on July 16, 2008 in Australia and July 18, 2008 in the United States and Canada with midnight screenings in 3,040 theaters. From the first midnight screenings, the film has earned $18.5 million and has set a new midnight debut record beating Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith which earned $16.9 million.[110] On its opening day, July 18, 2008, The Dark Knight set a single-day box office record of $67.85 million, breaking a record of $59.8 million previously held by Spider-Man 3.[111] The film also surpassed the $151.1 million opening weekend record of Spider-Man 3 with an opening of $158.4 million, including a record breaking IMAX opening of $6.2 million, surpassing the $4.7 million of Spider-Man 3.[112] The Dark Knight sold an estimated 22.37 million tickets with today's average admission of $7.08 meaning The Dark Knight sold more tickets than Spider-Man 3 which sold 21.96 million with the average price of $6.88 in 2007.[113]

After its first weekend theatrical run, The Dark Knight set new records as the biggest-ever opener with $158,411,483 and biggest-ever single-day grosser with $66 million held on Friday, July 18, 2008 , surpassing Spider-man 3 with its $59.8 million Friday and $151 million weekend[114][115][116]. The picture also owns new records of biggest midnight release ($18.5 million on Friday), biggest weekend on IMAX screens ($6.2 million), top single-day take on a Friday ($67.9 million), and most released screens (4,366)[117].

Critical reception

Based on 206 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, The Dark Knight has an average overall approval rating of 94 percent, with a weighted average score of 8.5/10.[118] Among Rotten Tomatoes's Cream of the Crop, which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs,[119] the film holds an overall approval rating of 90 percent.[120] By comparison, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 82 from the 39 reviews it collected.[121] On the Internet Movie Database, it has a rating of 9.6 out of 10. With this, The Dark Knight is #1 on the Top 250 movies as voted by users.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times describes The Dark Knight as a "haunted film that leaps beyond its origins and becomes an engrossing tragedy." He praises the performances, direction, and writing, and says the film "redefine[s] the possibilities of the comic-book movie". Ebert states that the "key performance" is by Heath Ledger, and ponders whether he will become the first posthumous Academy Award winner since Peter Finch in 1976.[122] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone writes that the film is deeper than its predecessor, with a "deft" script that refuses to scrutinize the Joker with popular psychology, instead pulling the viewer in with an examination of Bruce Wayne's psyche,[123] while David Denby of The New Yorker holds that the story is not coherent enough to properly flesh out the disparities. He says the film's mood is one of "constant climax", and that it feels rushed and far too long. Denby criticizes scenes which he argues are meaningless or are cut short just as they become interesting.[124] Todd Gilchrist of IGN remarks that, unlike most "mythology"-centred films, The Dark Knight covers everything concerning the logical or conceptual challenges such films present, giving the viewer everything they expect, but in ways which catch the viewer off-guard.[125] David Ansen in Newsweek says the film is "impressive" in discussing the moral dilemma at its heart: the question about whether a vigilante has to abandon his code in order to defeat the villain.[126]

Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News compares the film's sober depiction of characters that are "ticking time bombs" to those in Unforgiven (1992). He says that Bale, Gyllenhaal, Oldman, and Eckhart combine to add a maturity that was not present in Batman Begins.[127] Travers has praise for all the cast, saying each brings his or her "'A' game" to the film. He says Bale is "electrifying", evoking Al Pacino in The Godfather II, and that Eckhart's portrayal of Harvey Dent is "scarily moving". Travers reserves the most acclaim for Ledger, saying the actor moves the Joker away from Jack Nicholson's interpretation into darker territory. He expresses his support for any potential campaign to have Ledger nominated for the first posthumous Academy Award since Peter Finch,[123] a call echoed by filmmaker Kevin Smith,[128] and Emanuel Levy among others. Levy writes that Ledger "throws himself completely" into the role,[129] and Todd Gilchrist calls Ledger's performance "transcendent". Gilchrist also shows admiration for Oldman's depiction of virtue, self-doubt and authority, and says Gyllenhaal adds depth and vigor to her role.[125] David Denby remarks that the central conflict is workable, but that "only half the team can act it", saying that Bale's "placid" Bruce Wayne and "dogged but uninteresting" Batman is constantly upstaged by Ledger's "sinister and frightening" performance, which he says is the film's one element of success. Denby concludes that Ledger is "mesmerising" in every scene.[124]

Travers says that the filmmakers move the film away from comic book cinema and closer to being a genuine work of art, citing Nolan's direction and the "gritty reality" of Wally Pfister's cinematography as helping to create a universe that has something "raw and elemental" at work within it. In particular, he cites Nolan's action choreography in the IMAX-tailored heist sequence as rivaling that of Heat (1995).[123] Gilchrist praises the film's blending of comic book theatrics into realistic surroundings, and says that the film is the first comic book adaptation to qualify as a superior artistic achievement in its own right. Gilchrist says that Nolan examines the grand themes in "beautifully human" terms, and that the director reaches further than the first film with both his storytelling and camerawork, sustaining the "haunting" atmosphere, momentum and tension throughout the entire runtime.[125] Emanuel Levy proclaims that the film represents Nolan's "most accomplished and mature" work, and the most technically impressive and resonant of all the Batman films. He calls the action sequences some of the most impressive seen in an American film for years, and talks of the Hong Kong-set portion of the film as being particularly visually impressive.[129] While Denby has praise for Pfister's cinematography, he does not rate the film as a remarkable piece of craftmanship. He puts forward that while a lot happens in the film, it is often difficult to follow due to the close, dark photography and editing. Denby says the film is too grim and is seemingly "jammed together".[124]

Dean Richards of WGN-TV calls the film not only the year's best film, "but one of the best films in years." Richards further compliments the film, noting how Chicago has never been used more effectively as a canvas for a story and stating, "It's not just a stunning super hero movie; it's a stunning film, period".[130] Todd Gilchrist describes the film as "dark, complex and disturbing", and the most ambitious film of its type. He concludes that it breaks the boundaries set by any previous comic book adaptation—and even those of good filmmaking—in its weighty, thoughtful examination of the implications of heroism.[125] Emanuel Levy and Peter Travers conclude that the film is "haunting and visionary",[123][129] while Levy goes on to say that The Dark Knight is "nothing short of brilliant".[129] David Denby surmises that the heavy-handed score and "thunderous" violence only serve to coarsen the property from Tim Burton's vision of the franchise into a "hyperviolent summer action spectacle", and that the film embraces the themes of terror that it purports to scrutinize.[124] Larry Carroll at MTV.com says that the chase sequences, suggestions of The Godfather, and "beautiful" cinematography combine to make the film feel "Oscar-worthy",[131] and David Ansen questions whether the viewer will come away from the film more exhausted than invigorated. He says that while The Dark Knight's ambition to be more than disposable entertainment is admirable, he wishes it could be more fun.[126]

NPR film critic David Edelstein has been less sympathetic to the film, saying it "plays as if it were written by Oxford philosophy majors trying to tone up American pop." Edelstein also criticized the decision to set Gotham City in the real world, but then undercut its own realism with action scenes that he called "spectacularly incoherent." Said Edelstein, "I defy you to make spatial sense of a truck/Bat-tank/police car chase, or the climax with Batman, the Joker, hostages, SWAT teams, fake Batmen and Morgan Freeman on some kind of sonar monitoring gizmo."[132]

CinemaScore reports that audiences have graded the film "a solid A" with demographics skewed slightly male and older.[133]

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Further reading

External links

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