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Posts tagged as: the dark knight
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According to an article posted late yesterday on Reuters, (link) studio bosses are planning to drop The Dark Knight back into theaters, in early January.
While the article doesn’t say anything about conventional movie theaters, I have no doubt that it won’t be long after the flick returns to IMAX, that it hits regular theaters again.
If that’s the case, it’s certain to take over the number one all time grossing record, from Titanic. I, for one, will certainly go see it again in IMAX, and know that many of you would, as well.
What do you say? Would you drop another $12 to see The Dark Knight in IMAX again?
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Movies based on video games are notoriously violent (see Resident Evil, Hitman, etc.), so I’m not really surprised at the news that Max Payne has been given an R rating. The director, John Moore, was surprised, however. According to Moore, the MPAA told him they handed down the R rating because the movie “feels” like an R. Moore is pissed because he thinks his movie is less of an R than The Dark Knight. Needless to say, he’s appealing the decision.
While I can’t say if Max Payne is more or less violent than TDK, I can say that I don’t necessarily disagree with the PG-13 rating on TDK. The camera cuts away from most violence, there’s little (if any) profanity, and while it’s dark, it’s also a movie about a dude saving an entire city from a madman, again.
Check out what Moore had to say to Das Gamer.
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I had the opportunity to catch an IMAX screening of The Dark Knight in New York over the weekend, while visiting family. Obviously, I jumped at the opportunity. While The Dark Knight has been falling lower and lower on the box office charts, the IMAX showings in our area are still often sold out. As was the case in New York, at Saturday night’s 5PM showing.
Luckily, we got there early, and were able to get seats that weren’t two inches from the screen.
The movie starts out with a scene shot specifically for IMAX, the entire bank robbery scene was there, in all its enormous glory. Seeing it on the big screen was one thing, but seeing it in IMAX was a completely different experience.
Not only is the screen almost double the size of a regular theater, but the sound was also much better than the theater I’d previously seen The Dark Knight in.
If you’ve been wondering if it’s worth dropping another $10 to see it in IMAX, the answer is a resounding yes. Not only will you notice things you didn’t pick up on the first run through the film, but you’ll also enjoy it more. And, let’s face it, we should all go see the movie again, so we can knock Titanic off the number one spot. As it stands now, I don’t think The Dark Knight is going to rake in another $110 million, to beat Titanic, unless I go see the movie 100,000 more times. Which, if I had the money, I totally would.
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After weekend totals came rolling in earlier tonight, Box Office Mojo is reporting that The Dark Knight has officially surpassed the original Star Wars film in domestic gross revenue.
Star Wars racked up just short of $461 million (not adjusted for inflation), when it was in theaters.
The Dark Knight, including this weekend’s $16.8 million, just broke the $471 million mark. The only movie left in its sights is Titanic, at just over $600 million. However, at the pace the ticket sales for The Dark Knight have trailed off over the last few weeks, I don’t think it’ll surpass Titanic and take over the number one spot.
This weekend would have marked the 5th week in a row that The Dark Knight was number one, but sadly the Ben Stiller directed Tropic Thunder took first place, with roughly $26 million.
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 In a recent interview with Moviehole.net, Robert Downey, Jr. talks about his new movie Tropic Thunder, his last hit Iron Man, and the fact that he didn’t “get” The Dark Knight. Read:
My whole thing is that that I saw The Dark Knight. I feel like I’m dumb because I feel like I don’t get how many things that are so smart. It’s like a Ferrari engine of storytelling and script writing and I’m like, ‘That’s not my idea of what I want to see in a movie.’ I loved The Prestige but didn’t understand The Dark Knight. Didn’t get it, still can’t tell you what happened in the movie, what happened to the character and in the end they need him to be a bad guy. I’m like, ‘I get it. This is so high brow and so f–king smart, I clearly need a college education to understand this movie.’ You know what? F-ck DC comics. That’s all I have to say and that’s where I’m really coming from.
You liked The Prestige but didn’t understand The Dark Knight? Did you get The Prestige? Are you sure? TDK, while it may be complex, isn’t nearly as complicated to sort through as The Prestige.
And while we’re on the subject of complicated movies, how about Iron Man? I don’t remember any major plot points - just explosions and awesome flying scenes. Oh, and lots of tech gadgets. Maybe that’s why Robert Downey, Jr. didn’t get The Dark Knight - maybe he thinks superheroes are supposed to be simple.
Go check out Moviehole.net for the whole interview.
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We all know that The Dark Knight is not a kids’ movie. Some clever video-makers, however, decided to make it a kids’ movie - by re-filming the trailer starring actual kids.
You can check out the video at The Bat Blog. My favorite part is that Batman rides a Big Wheel.
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For yet another week The Dark Knight is #1, overshadowing new release Pineapple Express despite the great reviews.
Pineapple Express pulled in $22.4 million over the weekend but couldn’t beat The Dark Knight’s $26 million. This weekend’s take brought TDK up to a grand total of $442 million, making it the third biggest movie of all time (behind Star Wars and Titanic).
Movie fans and critics are debating whether or not Knight has the staying power to beat Titanic. The Dark Knight only has to make $159,151,327 more to beat Titanic at the box office. Based on recent numbers, that means it needs to hold on to at least $25 million per week for the next six-and-a-half weeks.
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 It seems some entertainment writers are stunned that women voluntarily go to see The Dark Knight and superhero movies in general. This week’s Entertainment Weekly article titled “Knight Fever” says,
A reported 48 percent of The Dark Knight’s audience was female, and that number probably would have been even higher had so many women not flocked to Mamma Mia!
First of all, just writing Mamma Mia! in the same sentence as The Dark Knight hurts my soul a little. Secondly, I’m willing to bet that 90% or more of that 48 percent female audience share were at The Dark Knight because they wanted to be, not because their boyfriend won the coin toss.
The Entertainment Weekly article, and others, seem to think that women went to see TDK for one of two reasons:
1. “Rubberneck curiosity” over Heath Ledger’s death.
2. Christian Bale and Heath Ledger are extremely attractive male actors.
I’ll give you point number two…indeed Bale and the late Ledger are among the hottest men in Hollywood (which feels a little creepy to say about Heath since he passed away. However, his death doesn’t change the fact that I fell in love with him in 10 Things I Hate About You and so did millions of other women my age.) I’m sure, also, that there are some people who know nothing about Batman, never saw Batman Begins (the shame!), and are only there because they’re curious about Heath Ledger’s last role.
But let’s be honest. With the price of movie tickets being what they are, how many people go to see a movie they have no interest in just out of morbid curiosity? The fact is, this film was destined to be huge. A year ago yesterday we covered the first inkling that The Dark Knight was going to have one of the most interesting and intense marketing schemes ever created. Fanboys (and girls, dammit) have been waiting since the moment Batman Begins ended to see The Joker brought to life. The sequel to the best Batman movie ever made (yes, I said it and I mean it) was never going to be a quiet little movie.
People are stunned by the records The Dark Knight has been breaking, but some of us saw this coming. The intense viral marketing had fans in a tizzy long before Heath Ledger’s death, and many of us were already vowing to see the movie multiple times before we had even seen the first trailer. It’s the faith we have in Christian Bale and Christopher Nolan (as well as the writers and the rest of the cast) after seeing the amazing job they did with Batman Begins that brought us to the theaters knowing we were about to see the best movie of the year. Despite being female, going to see TDK wasn’t about Christian Bale’s looks or Heath Ledger’s death. It was about seeing my favorite superhero, played by one of my favorite actors, and presented by one of my favorite directors.
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Exactly a year later to the day from when we followed the first (of many) crazy viral marketing scemes from the Dark Knight camp (see: http://www.moviesnobs.net/the-dark-knight-viral-marketing), we find that the movie’s broken yet another record.
The Dark Knight now holds the record for highest grossing first ten days.
That brings the records to:
- Highest grossing opening weekend
- Fastest movie to hit $200 million
- Highest grossing first 7 days
- Highest grossing first 10 days
And I’m sure they’ll keep coming.
As of now, unofficial estimates for the second weekend are roughly $75.8 million, bringing the movie’s total to $314 million.
And, for the record, it’s still #1 on IMDb’s Top 250 (now with 135,000+ votes.) That’d despite 4,171 people voting a 1 for the film. (3.1% of the overall votes.) I’m convinced those people are Godfather fans who are trying to bring The Dark Knight down out of the #1 spot. Keep trying, it’s not going to work.
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For those of you that haven’t seen The Dark Knight yet, stop reading. Get up. Go to the movies. Now.
For those of you that have seen it, continue reading for an interesting revelation about the end of the movie.
Continue Reading The Ending of The Dark Knight - Spoilers! »
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Actor Christian Bale has turned himself into London Police early this morning, in conjunction with accusations that he beat his mother (61) and sister (40).
Bale’s mother and sister filed a complaint with London Police on Sunday night. London Police declined to arrest Bale on Monday, as he was promoting The Dark Knight around town.
As of this morning, Bale has turned himself into authorities, and the case is pending further action.
My day just got a little bit sadder. I’d hate to think that Batman’s a woman beater.
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Update, the official numbers are even better than the estimates. The actual total for the weekend was just shy of $158 million, which means that The Dark Knight beat Spider-man 3 by an even bigger margin.
According to estimates released at 2PM EST, The Dark Knight has taken in just over $155 million, which puts it just ahead of Spider-man 3’s opening weekend record, by $4.2 million.
And the day’s not yet over, either!
There’s been a steady decrease in sales since Friday (Friday: $67.5 million, Saturday $48 million, so far Sunday $39.4 million), but well enough to set a new record (assuming estimates come back as correct.)
Another notable fact is that the budget for The Dark Knight was only $180 million, compared to Spider-man 3′s $258 million. Also notable, The Dark Knight has surpassed The Godfather on IMdB’s Top 250 movies, and now currently resides at number 1. While none of the Spider-man films even grace the top 250. Coincidence? I think not.
Congratulations to all those involved with The Dark Knight, a true success. I’m anxiously awaiting the next movie, and will gladly fork over my $10 to see it.
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Release Date 10/3/2008 
