Movie Chronicles » Batman: The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight premieres on HBO, Friday June 13th

FofR — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 08:40:32 +0000

The Dark Knight shall be premiering on HBO this Friday, and with it are two different previews, each set to The Pixies track, “Where is my mind?”.

42 Entertainment’s Why So Serious Campaign

FofR — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:34:47 +0000

Alternate Reality Branding have a page and three videos surmising 42 Entertainment’s 2008 activities, specifically the Dark Knight Why So Serious viral marketing campaign.

Highlights include over 10M unique participants across 75 different countries through ‘eventizing’ the web, for instance the use of cell phones ringing from within cakes in Bakery stores. All in all it kept The Dark Knight in the news and alive and well on the internet for over a year, leading up to the July ‘08 release.

Campaign Overview Video

Comic-con Event Video

Harvey Dent campaign video

Found via /Film and FSR

Nolan’s Inception dated July 26th 2010

FofR — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 20:49:48 +0000

Just to provide you with a bit of context for The Dark Knight sequel, Warner Bros. have announced that Chris Nolan’s next movie, “Inception”, will be released on July 26th 2010. This falls in direct competition with Marvel’s Thor movie.

Heath Ledger wins Best Supporting Actor, Dark Knight picks up 2 Oscars

Batman — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 07:27:50 +0000

The results are in for the 2009 81st Academy Awards - Heath Ledger has won the Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his portrayal of the Joker. The Dark Knight also picked up another award for Best Sound Editing. In The Dark Knight’s six other nominations it often lost out to either the Curious Case of Benjamin Button or Slumdog Millionaire, the latter of which won 8 in total including Best Picture and Best Director.

Full results list after the break…

Best picture: Slumdog Millionaire
Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Frost/Nixon; Milk; The Reader

Best director: Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
Also nominated: Stephen Daldry - The Reader; David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon; Gus Van Sant - Milk

Best actor: Sean Penn - Milk
Also nominated: Richard Jenkins - The Visitor; Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon; Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

Best actress: Kate Winslet - The Reader
Also nominated: Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married; Angelina Jolie - Changeling; Melissa Leo - Frozen River; Meryl Streep - Doubt

Best supporting actor: Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Also nominated: Josh Brolin - Milk; Robert Downey Jr - Tropic Thunder; Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt; Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road

Best supporting actress: Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Also nominated: Amy Adams - Doubt; Viola Davis - Doubt; Taraji P Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler

Best original screenplay: Milk
Also nominated: Happy-Go-Lucky; Wall-E; In Bruges; Frozen River

Best adapted screenplay: Slumdog Millionaire
Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Doubt; Frost/Nixon; The Reader

Best animated feature film: Wall-E
Also nominated: Bolt; Kung Fu Panda

Best animated short film: La Maison en Petits Cubes
Also nominated: Lavatory - Lovestory; Oktapodi; Presto; This Way Up

Best foreign language film: Departures - Japan
Also nominated: Revanche - Austria; The Class - France; The Baader Meinhof Complex - Germany; Waltz With Bashir - Israel

Best documentary feature: Man on Wire
Also nominated: The Betrayal; Encounters at the End of the World; The Garden; Trouble The Water

Best documentary short subject: Smile Pinki
Also nominated: The Conscience of Nhem En; The Final Inch; The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306

Art direction: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Also nominated: Changeling; The Dark Knight; The Duchess; Revolutionary Road

Costume design: The Duchess
Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Australia; Milk; Revolutionary Road

Make-up: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Also nominated: The Dark Knight; Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire
Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Changeling; The Dark Knight; The Reader

Best live action short film: Spielzeugland (Toyland)
Also nominated: Auf der Strecke (On The Line); Manon on the Asphalt; New Boy; The Pig

Visual effects: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Also nominated: The Dark Knight; Iron Man

Sound editing: The Dark Knight
Also nominated: Iron Man; Wanted; Slumdog Millionaire; Wall-E

Sound mixing: Slumdog Millionaire
Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; The Dark Knight; Wanted; Wall-E

Film editing:Slumdog Millionaire
Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; The Dark Knight; Frost/Nixon; Milk

Best original score: Slumdog Millionaire
Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Defiance; Milk; Slumdog Millionaire; Wall-E

Best original song: Jai Ho - Slumdog Millionaire
Also nominated: Down To Earth - Wall-E; O Saya - Slumdog Millionaire

Dark Knight breaks $1bn, Oscars Night

Batman — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 00:24:23 +0000

On the eve of Oscars night 2009 The Dark Knight’s total international earnings soared past the one billion mark, one of only four films to ever do so (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Titanic and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King being the others). The re-release in IMAX locations finally tipped The Dark Knight over the final elite boundary.

The figures break down as:

Domestic: $533,090,262 53.3%
Foreign: $467,991,898 46.7%

What a day to be comparing the $1bn making Dark Knight with films such as Titanic and Return of the King - movies that swept the Academy Awards up in stunning fashion - each grabbing 11 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director; making the Academy’s 2009 Best Picture and Best Director Dark Knight snubs even more galling. As it is, all our chips lie on the Best Supporting Actor where we are all crossing our fingers and hoping that Heath Ledger can pick up that much deserved posthumous Oscar award for his stunning portrayal as The Joker.

Other categories include: Art Direction, Cinematography, Film Editing, Makeup, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects. The Dark Knight could win a total of 8 awards, which would be a grand enough sweep minus the big two, although this is predicted as very unlikely.

Christopher Nolan to direct “Inception”

Batman — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 21:32:00 +0000

As expected, and in following the Batman Begins to The Dark Knight journey, Christopher Nolan is taking some time out from Batman to pursue another movie - “Inception”. Do not fret, The Prestige was filmed between the first two Batman movies and this certainly does not rule Nolan out from a third movie. What’s more, Warner Bros. are producing “Inception”, keeping everyone happy.

“Inception” is billed as “a contemporary sci-fi actioner set within the architecture of the mind”, with an original screenplay by Nolan it plans to begin shooting this summer with a summer 2010 release in mind.

Bearing this news in mind, the earliest point at which production on The Dark Knight sequel might begin is Summer 2010, and with production taking approximately 14 months it could be late 2011 or Summer 2012 before the caped crusader returns to theaters.

Heath Ledger BAFTA Acceptance speech

Batman — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:18:42 +0000

The BBC have put up the BAFTA acceptance speeches, below is the speech made on behalf of Heath Ledger on winning Best Supporting Actor:

Heath Ledger wins Best Supporting Actor BAFTA

Batman — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 22:34:21 +0000

The British movie awards have just ended, Slumdog Millionaire swept up the majority of the awards whilst The Dark Knight picked up just the one - Heath Ledger posthumously awarded Best Supporting Actor:

Supporting actor
Robert Downey Jr - Tropic Thunder
Brendan Gleeson - In Bruges
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Brad Pitt - Burn After Reading
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt

View the full results at the BBC.

Batman sequel due in 2011

Batman — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:11:15 +0000

New Jersey’s Courier Post spoke to Batman Begins and The Dark Knight executive producer Michael Uslan. He expects the third Chris Nolan Batman movie to make an appearance in 2011. This seems logical to us, following a similar time frame as Begins to Knight - it gives the creative team a chance to flesh out some ideas whilst allowing Nolan to have a break from the franchise for a year or so, perhaps to work on other projects (such as The Prestige).

Uslan will be onboard as executive producer for the “Dark Knight” sequel, which he estimates will be [in] theaters by 2011. As for the identity of the next round of Batman’s supervillains and love interests, Uslan remains tight-lipped. “It’s one of those deals where if I told you, I’d have to kill you,” he says with a chuckle.

Heath Ledger wins “Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role” at Screen Actors Guild Awards

Batman — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:02:01 +0000

Last night was the 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, usually seen as a very good indication of who the Oscar winners shall be. Heath Ledger’s The Joker pulled through fending off competition from the likes of Downey Jr. and Josh Brolin:

Outstanding Actor In A Supporting Role

Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Phillip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt
Dev Patel - Slumdog Millionaire
Robert Downey Jr. - Tropic Thunder
Josh Brolin - Milk
WINNER: Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight

The signs are looking good, and given TDK’s Best Picture and Best Director snubs, all our chips and Heath Ledger’s are in on this one.

TDK also brought home a second award from the SAGs for “Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture“.