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Stephen of Borg

Batman: The Dark Knight

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tonight, they are having the premiere of "Batman: the Psychology of the Dark Knight" hour documentary on the History Channel at 9pm EST. You can see the link here

 

cool thanks for the info, Ghosthunters can wait

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Oscar watchers dampen award hype for Ledger's Joker

 

 

 

When the new Batman movie "The Dark Night" began screenings last month before its U.S. debut on Friday, some moviegoers saw Heath Ledger as an instant Oscar candidate as the deranged villain, The Joker.

 

But Oscar watchers and veteran critics say the joke may be on fans creating mostly Internet-based buzz because an Academy Award for the Australian actor, who died of an accidental drug overdose in January, would be a rare event.

 

Only one actor has won an Oscar after death, Peter Finch for 1976's "Network."

 

"Dark Knight" is the type of comic book, action adventure that Oscar voters generally do not favor and there are many movies to see later this year, the experts said.

 

Still, Ledger's critically hailed performance may bring a nomination for the U.S. film industry's top award, to be presented next on February 22, 2009.

 

"All this Oscar talk is a phenomenon of the Internet age that I like to call 'a wish-fulfillment rumor.' If people say it often enough, they think it will happen," said Leonard Maltin, film critic for TV program "Entertainment Tonight."

 

"That's not to say it might not happen," he said, citing a "great performance" by Ledger. "But I assure you that the people who are spreading all this are neither Oscar voters nor (Hollywood) movers and shakers."

 

Tom O'Neil, a columnist for award-watching Web site The Envelope.com, said "it really looks good" for a nomination but was "a long shot" to win.

 

Hollywood has a long history of seeing big stars -- James Dean, Marilyn Monroe and Bruce Lee among them -- appearing in high-profile films released after their untimely deaths.

 

O'Neil said that when Finch died, Hollywood was in the middle of Oscar season and also in shock. Prior to that, Robert De Niro was sweeping the critics' awards for "Taxi Driver."

 

Veteran Oscar watcher O'Neil also sees parallels between the truncated careers of Ledger and James Dean.

 

"Like Heath, James Dean was a heartthrob star who was considered a serious actor, who died tragically young," O'Neil said. "He was nominated twice posthumously, for "East of Eden" and "Giant," and he lost both times."

 

Even the legendary Spencer Tracy was ignored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which gives out the Oscars, after he died in 1967 just as "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?" was coming. And he was the front-runner, O'Neil said.

 

Tracy's co-star Katharine Hepburn did win best actress for "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?"

 

"That's how reluctant Oscar voters are to hug the dead," O'Neil said. "These awards are all about hugs and there's something creepy about embracing the dead."

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i just got back from seeing dark knight....and im not going to ruin anything...but it's a very good movie, better than the first one. i will hint though, someone close to bruce will die. but you have to see it for yourselves

Edited by Troy

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CNN has a great review of The Dark Knight that you can read here

 

They basically say that what brings the movie down is Eckhart's performance as a bland Harvey Dent. This ain't good news if they plan on having Two Face as the villain of the next movie. I haven't see TDK yet, but I just hope he isn't as bad as the article says, or we are looking at a disappointing third film

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I just got back. It isn't as good as Batman Begins, but it is still awesome. Definitely worth the 8 or 9 bucks.

 

Before you enter the theater, be sure you make a wee-wee and don't buy the jumbo soda. The movie is over 2 and a half hours long not counting the previews.

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CNN has a great review of The Dark Knight that you can read here

 

They basically say that what brings the movie down is Eckhart's performance as a bland Harvey Dent. This ain't good news if they plan on having Two Face as the villain of the next movie. I haven't see TDK yet, but I just hope he isn't as bad as the article says, or we are looking at a disappointing third film

They are way off, Eckhart is amazing in this movie.

 

Major Spoilers below. You definitely do not want to read it if you are planning to see the movie.

 

Click for Spoiler:

He actually becomes Two-Face in this movie (and he won't be back for a sequel, hint, hint) and that is where he really shines. I mean he is second only to Ledger. Especially when you consider the fact that to do the Two-Face make-up he would have had blue screen pieces over his left eye and partially over half his mouth. And as for the look of Two-Face. Let's just say wow. He is fairly good as just Harvey Dent as well.

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Well I'm not spoiling anything by revealing that Harvey Dent eventually becomes Two-Face. This is well-established in the comic books. We also know that Crane / Scarecrow is still at large from Batman Begins as well as being introduced to the Joker. (Is it Joker or The Joker? I guess we could ask the same about Batman or The Batman.)

 

But I don't know who the bad guys will be if there is another sequel, and given the apparent early success of The Dark Knight there probably will be. Nolan gave us a hint and a revelation at the end of Batman Begins but he didn't do this for The Dark Knight.

 

I will spoil one thing, however. There is a brief action sequence in the 2nd half of the movie where Bruce Wayne, not Batman, is the hero.

Edited by Lt. Van Roy

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if didn't see the guy with the cane doin a little lib in the leg when he was goin in the car i think he become the pregin thing or something that got car pulled over that my thinking

 

I saw it and i say it was good and I say my guess there will be another give it time

Edited by Elizabeth

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CNN has a great review of The Dark Knight that you can read here

 

They basically say that what brings the movie down is Eckhart's performance as a bland Harvey Dent. This ain't good news if they plan on having Two Face as the villain of the next movie. I haven't see TDK yet, but I just hope he isn't as bad as the article says, or we are looking at a disappointing third film

They are way off, Eckhart is amazing in this movie.

 

Major Spoilers below. You definitely do not want to read it if you are planning to see the movie.

 

Click for Spoiler:

He actually becomes Two-Face in this movie (and he won't be back for a sequel, hint, hint) and that is where he really shines. I mean he is second only to Ledger. Especially when you consider the fact that to do the Two-Face make-up he would have had blue screen pieces over his left eye and partially over half his mouth. And as for the look of Two-Face. Let's just say wow. He is fairly good as just Harvey Dent as well.

 

watched it yesterday, and I agree that he did great and the article is wrong about that. Took me a little while to get used to the change story of the origin of the Joker, but Ledger eventually won me over. Loved the movie

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LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Batman has sent Spidey packing as king of Hollywood's box-office superheroes.

 

 

Heath Ledger as the Joker and Christian Bale as Batman are breaking box office records with "The Dark Knight."

 

"The Dark Knight" took in a record $155.34 million in its first weekend, topping the previous best of $151.1 million for "Spider-Man 3" in May 2007 and pacing Hollywood to its biggest weekend ever, according to studio estimates Sunday.

 

"We knew it would be big, but we never expected to dominate the marketplace like we did," said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros., which released "The Dark Knight." The movie should shoot past the $200 million mark by the end of the week, he said.

 

Hollywood set an overall revenue record of $253 million for a three-day weekend, beating the $218.4 million haul over the weekend of July 7, 2006, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

 

"This weekend is such a juggernaut," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal, whose musical "Mamma Mia!" debuted at No. 2 with $27.6 million.

 

Factoring in higher admission prices, "Spider-Man 3" may have sold slightly more tickets than "The Dark Knight."

 

At 2007's average price of $6.88, "Spider-Man 3" sold 21.96 million tickets over opening weekend. Media By Numbers estimates today's average movie prices at $7.08, which means "The Dark Knight" would have sold 21.94 million tickets.

 

BOX OFFICE TOP 10

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

 

1. "The Dark Knight," $155.34 million.

2. "Mamma Mia!" $27.6 million.

3. "Hancock," $14 million.

4. "Journey to the Center of the Earth," $11.9 million.

5. "Hellboy II: The Golden Army," $10 million.

6. "Wall-E," $9.8 million.

7. "Space Chimps," $7.4 million.

8. "Wanted," $5.1 million.

9. "Get Smart," $4.1 million.

10. "Kung Fu Panda," $1.8 million.

Revenue totals for "The Dark Knight" could change when final numbers are released Monday.

 

The movie's release was preceded by months of buzz and speculation over the performance of the late Heath Ledger as the Joker, Batman's nemesis. Ledger, who died in January from an accidental prescription-drug overdose, played the Joker as a demonic presence, his performance prompting predictions that the role might earn him a posthumous Academy Award nomination.

 

"The average opening gross of the last five `Batman' movies is $47 million. This tripled that, and for a reason," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers. "A big part of that was the Heath Ledger mystique and a phenomenal performance that absolutely deserves the excitement surrounding it."

 

"The Dark Knight" reunites director Christopher Nolan with his "Batman Begins" star Christian Bale, whose vigilante crime-fighter is taunted and tested by Ledger's Joker as the villain unleashes violence and chaos on the city of Gotham.

 

Overseas, "The Dark Knight" added $40 million in 20 countries where it began opening Wednesday, including Australia, Mexico and Brazil. The film opens in Great Britain this weekend and rolls out to most of the rest of the world over the next few weeks.

 

"The Dark Knight," which cost $185 million to make, also broke the "Spider-Man 3" record for best debut in IMAX large-screen theaters with $6.2 million. "Spider-Man 3" opened with $4.7 million in IMAX cinemas.

 

"Every single show is sold out," said Greg Foster, IMAX chairman and president. "We're adding shows as much as we can, but we're at 100 percent capacity." iReport.com: Did you see 'Dark Knight'?

 

On opening day Friday, "The Dark Knight" also took in more money than previously counted, Fellman said. The film pulled in a record $67.85 million, up nearly $1.5 million from the studio's estimates a day earlier.

 

The previous opening-day record also had been held by "Spider-Man 3" with $59.8 million.

 

Women accounted for most of the audience for "Mamma Mia!", which Universal opened as counter-programming to the male-dominated audience for "The Dark Knight."

 

"With the crowded summer, we knew we would have to find the right weekend, and this seemed like the perfect one considering three-quarters of our audience was female," Rocco said.

 

Based on the stage musical set to the tunes of ABBA, "Mamma Mia!" features Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard, Julie Walters and Christine Baranski.

 

The weekend's other new wide release, 20th Century Fox's animated family flick "Space Chimps," opened at No. 7 with $7.4 million.

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Yet Spiderman solid more tickets during their opening weekend. :notworthy:

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But did spiderman sold out of tickets when it was the midnight showing but the dark knight did

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Holy gargantuan grosses, Batman! Hollywood has just ridden to the most lucrative moviegoing weekend in film history on the cape of The Dark Knight. Christopher Nolan's gritty Batman sequel raked in $155 million between Friday and Sunday, outselling the previous top weekend grosser, 2007's Spider-Man 3, by more than $4 million and driving the movie business to a record $253 million weekend.

 

 

The Dark Knight's unprecedented box-office might is "mind-boggling for us," says Dan Fellman, president of domestic distribution for Warner Bros. Pictures. (TIME and Warner Bros. are both subsidiaries of Time Warner.) The film benefited from a unique mix of factors beyond the usual superhero movie hype, including a buzzed-about performance by the late Heath Ledger as the Joker, perfectly pitched marketing, agile distribution and gas prices that have made a night at the movies an attractive alternative to a summer road trip. It also helps that The Dark Knight, as most critics and audiences attest, is a very good film.

 

As early as last summer, months before Ledger's sudden death in January, Warner Bros. sensed that Nolan was filming something that might transcend mere fanboy fodder. With Batman Begins, in 2005, the director successfully rebooted the troubled franchise, but this time around his decision to go darker — and The Dark Knight is as mordant a superhero movie as there has ever been — dovetailed with the popular mood. "We saw the dailies coming in and we knew we had an incredible movie," says Fellman. Though Christian Bale's Batman is The Dark Knight's star, it was Ledger's knife-wielding anarchist around whom the studio built an early viral marketing campaign, featuring the villain prominently in posters, trailers and on the web site WhySoSerious.com.

 

After Ledger's death, curiosity about his performance — not always driven by the best of impulses — only grew. "It added to a certain mystique about the film," says Steve Mason, box-office analyst at FantasyMoguls.com. While Warner Bros. was anxious about appearing to capitalize on interest in Ledger's death as The Dark Knight's release date approached, it resumed showcasing Ledger in trailers. "The performance is so good, had they not highlighted it, it would have been a mistake," says Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office analysis firm Media By Numbers. In the end, Fellman says, "[Ledger] certainly is part of our great success."

 

In the weeks before opening, Bat-ticipation was ratcheted so high that Dark Knight screenings were selling out online as fast as theaters could add them. The AMC South Barrington in Chicago planned to show the movie on six screens and ended up ordering more prints in order to play it on 18. A planned Friday midnight showing at Hollywood's Cinerama Dome sold out so quickly, its adjoining theater, the ArcLight, added 13 midnight screenings. Those midnight shows broke another record, earning $18.5 million, to beat out Star Wars, Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith's 2005 record of $16.9 million. And those numbers don't include the hardy fans who stayed up for the 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. shows. Tickets to see the film on giant IMAX screens, which accounted for a record $6 million of the weekend's gross, also went fast, inspiring some ticket-holders to scalp them on eBay for as much as $80 a pop.

 

When it came to breaking box-office records, Batman wasn't flying solo. Universal's Mamma Mia! earned $27.6 million to snare the best opening for a musical, narrowly beating out last summer's Hairspray and helping propel the record weekend sales across the industry.

 

As for The Dark Knight, its future looks bright. Most blockbusters are built on first-weekend hype that quickly falls off as new films arrive in theaters, but audiences are spreading good word-of-mouth and, in some cases, returning to see the film on IMAX screens. Whether there'll be enough returns to put The Dark Knight in all-time box-office territory remains to be seen. But Hollywood appears to have its box-office superhero for 2008

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With Spider Man 3 people said "I want to see it some time this weekend. Opening day would be nice but it isn't that important." With The Dark Knight people said "We are seeing this the first day even if I have to stay up until 3 AM the night before to do it."

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I just got back. It isn't as good as Batman Begins, but it is still awesome. Definitely worth the 8 or 9 bucks.

 

Based on first impressions, I agree. The Joker ruled, the Harvey Dent arc was fantastic and all the other themes I expected were present but overall, it didn't have that special something that makes for a good movie going experience like BB did.

 

 

I loved the soundtrack to BB, it is present but plays subtly in the background in an almost subliminal way but in TDK it's screaming for attention; I could sometimes hardly hear the dialogue over its raucous noise. It's possible the sound volume at my screening could have been misset though. I am going to see it again elsewhere so I'll see about that...

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anyone else notice the Bond references? Batman sending a signal for the airplane to come by and grab him (like the end of Thunderball) and the knife in the Joker's shoe (like Rosa Klebb on From Russia with Love)

 

I've read the director is a Bond fan, so it was probably done in honor of those movies

Edited by TheKryptonian

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It was a longer movie, and toward the end you start to wonder how much longer it can go, but I still liked it better. I just think they introduced The Joker too early. Now they need to top that for the next movie and that will be hard to do. Nolan should have kept that character in the background and had the big battle as the last movie.

 

One thing I liked was there were some scenes where Bruce Wayne, not Batman, was the hero.

Edited by Lt. Van Roy

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