Film Super Hero
The Dark Knight Rises
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| The Dark Knight Rises | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Christopher Nolan |
| Produced by |
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| Screenplay by |
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| Story by |
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| Based on | Characters by Bob Kane |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Hans Zimmer |
| Cinematography | Wally Pfister |
| Editing by | Lee Smith |
| Studio | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Release date(s) |
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| Running time | 165 minutes[1] |
| Country |
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| Language | English |
| Budget | $250–300 million ($230 million after tax credits)[2] |
| Box office | $1,042,014,544[3] |
Christopher Nolan was initially hesitant about returning to the series for a second time, but agreed to come back after developing a story with his brother and Goyer that he felt would conclude the series on a satisfactory note.[4] Nolan drew inspiration from Bane's comic book debut in the 1993 Knightfall storyline, the 1986 series The Dark Knight Returns, and the 1999 storyline No Man's Land.[5][6] Filming took place in various locations, including Jodhpur, London, Nottingham, Glasgow, Los Angeles, New York City, Newark, and Pittsburgh. Nolan utilized IMAX cameras for much of the filming to optimize the quality of the picture, including the first six minutes of the film. A variation of the Batplane termed "The Bat", an underground prison set, and a new Batcave set were created specifically for the film. As with The Dark Knight, viral marketing campaigns began early during production to help promotion. When filming concluded, Warner Bros. refocused its campaign; developing promotional websites, releasing the first six minutes of the film and theatrical trailers, sending random pieces of information regarding the film's plot to various companies.
The Dark Knight Rises premiered in New York City on July 16, 2012.[7] The film was released in Australia and New Zealand on July 19, 2012,[8] and in North America and the United Kingdom on July 20, 2012.[9][10] The film received positive reviews and has grossed over $1 billion worldwide. The Dark Knight Rises is currently the tenth-highest-grossing film of all time and the second-highest-grossing film of 2012.
Contents |
Plot
In Gotham City, eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, under powers granted by the Dent Act—legislation inspired by Harvey Dent—the Gotham City Police Department has nearly eradicated organized crime. Batman has disappeared and Bruce Wayne has become a recluse. Police Commissioner James Gordon feels guilty about the cover-up of Dent's crimes, and writes a resignation speech confessing the truth; however, he decides that the city is not ready to hear it. While pursuing criminals in the sewers, Gordon is captured and his speech taken by Bane. Gordon escapes and is found by patrol officer John Blake. While recuperating, Gordon promotes Blake to detective, with Blake reporting directly to him.Wayne Enterprises is nearly bankrupt after Bruce invested in board member Miranda Tate's clean energy project for a fusion reactor, only to shut it down after discovering the reactor core could be used as a nuclear weapon. Blake—who has deduced Batman's identity—and Gordon encourage Batman to return, but Alfred Pennyworth resigns after a failed attempt to dissuade him, including informing Bruce that Rachel Dawes had intended to marry Dent before she died. Bane attacks a stock exchange and bankrupts Bruce, using fingerprints cat burglar Selina Kyle obtained of Bruce to make ruinous trades. Fearing that John Daggett—who employed Bane to aid in a hostile takeover—would gain access to the reactor, Bruce asks Tate to take control of Wayne Enterprises. Bane subsequently kills Daggett when he is no longer of use.
Batman asks Selina to lead him to Bane in exchange for a program that will erase her identity from every database in the world. However, Selina leads him to a trap; Bane agreed to let her live if she brought Batman to him. Bane reveals that he knows Batman's true identity and intends to fulfill Ra's al Ghul's mission to destroy Gotham. Bane then breaks Batman's back and sends him to a foreign prison where the inmates relate the story of Ra's al Ghul's child, who was born in the prison and the only person to escape; Bruce believes that the child is Bane. Meanwhile, using bombs throughout the city, Bane traps most of Gotham's police underground as they searched for him. Isolating Gotham from the rest of the world, Bane tells Gotham's citizens that the weaponized nuclear core will be detonated if any person attempts to leave the city. Bane reveals the cover-up of Dent's crimes and releases the prisoners in Blackgate Penitentiary in a spurious attempt to start a social revolution. The wealthy are given show trials presided over by Dr. Jonathan Crane, and the "convicted" die no matter the sentence.
Bruce spends months recuperating and retraining himself. He escapes from the prison and enlists Selina, Blake, Tate, Gordon and Lucius Fox to help liberate Gotham and stop the nuclear bomb. During a confrontation between the police and Bane's forces, Batman subdues Bane. Tate comes to Bane's aid, revealing herself to be Ra's al Ghul's daughter Talia. She escaped the prison as a child, returning with her father and the League of Shadows to rescue Bane who had helped her escape. She plans to complete her father's work by detonating the bomb and destroying Gotham. Gordon blocks Talia's remote detonator to the bomb. Selina shoots Bane using the Batpod's cannon before he can execute Batman. Batman gives chase to force Talia to take the bomb to the fusion chamber where it can be stabilized, but she floods the chamber to prevent its disarming before she dies. As Batman uses the "Bat" aircraft developed by Fox to haul the bomb beyond the city limits, Gordon deduces Batman's identity. The bomb detonates over the bay and presumably kills Batman.
Batman is praised as a hero, while Bruce is assumed killed in the riots. After Bruce's funeral, Blake wants to reveal Batman's identity to the world, but Gordon disagrees. The Wayne manor is left to the city to become an orphanage, and Bruce's remaining estate is left to Alfred. Fox discovers the autopilot on the Bat aircraft had been repaired six months earlier. Gordon finds the Bat-Signal repaired. Alfred witnesses Bruce and Selina together in Florence, while Blake inherits the Batcave.
Cast
- A billionaire socialite dedicated to protecting Gotham City from the criminal underworld. Nolan has stated that, due to the eight-year gap between the events of The Dark Knight and those of The Dark Knight Rises, "he's an older Bruce Wayne; he's not in a great state."[12] Bale employed a mixed martial arts discipline called the Keysi Fighting Method, but due to Bruce's current state and Bane's style, the method had to be modified.[13] Bale has stated that The Dark Knight Rises will be the final film in which he plays Batman,[14] Bale describes the character's arc as finally confronting the pain of loss that he has deferred for years by fighting criminals balanced against the need to internalise that pain lest he give into his emotions and become the killer the city already believes him to be. Bale also acknowledged that Batman is not a flawless individual, stating that "he's not a healthy individual, this is somebody that is doing good, but he's right on the verge of doing bad. He's got that killer within him that he's desperately not trying to let off his leash. And that's what I always return to."[15] Bale clarifies that "He doesn't want to forget [his parents [sic] deaths]. He wants to maintain that anger he felt at that injustice. But equally he wants to present this very vacuous, soulless persona to Gotham, so that hopefully no-one will suspect him but will just think he's a spoiled bastard."[16] Bale felt bitter about leaving the franchise, clarifying that it was like "saying goodbye to an old friend."[17]
- Bruce's trusted butler and confidant. Alfred has acted as a father figure to Bruce, and continues to aid Bruce on his missions as well as supplying him with useful advice. Alfred is unable to accept Bruce's desire to revive his Batman persona, even going so far as to resign from his position to impress the seriousness of Bruce's position upon him. Christopher Nolan emphasised the emotional bond between Alfred and Bruce, stressing its importance in the previous films and predicting that the relationship will be strained as it never has before.[13]
- Commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department, and one of the city's few honest police officers. Gary Oldman described the character's work in cleaning up Gotham City as having left him world-weary and slightly bored,[19] likening Gordon to a soldier who leaps at the chance to be on the front lines.[13] Gordon feels guilty over his role in covering up the death of Harvey Dent to the point where he is prepared to resign from his position as Commissioner over it, but refrains from doing so when he senses that Gotham is about to come under threat.
- Selina Kyle is a cat burglar described as "an associate" of Bane[22] who establishes a relationship with Batman that "takes some of the somberness away from his character."[13] Kyle is pursuing a "clean slate", a computer program rumoured to be able to erase a person's criminal history, when she crosses paths with Bruce Wayne. Hathaway auditioned not knowing what role she was being considered for, admitting that she had one character in mind, but only learned that the role was Selina Kyle after talking with Christopher Nolan for an hour.[23] Hathaway described the role as being the most physically-demanding she had ever played, and confessed that while she thought of herself as being fit she had to redouble her efforts in the gym to keep up with the demands of the role. Hathaway worked out five days a week for the role, including rigorous exercise and stunt training followed by an hour and a half of dance. She explained, "I've always thought that skinny was the goal, but with this job I also have to be strong."[24][25][26] Hathaway trained extensively in martial arts for the role, and looked to Hedy Lamarr—who was the inspiration for the Catwoman character—in developing her performance.[22]
- A terrorist leader intent on destroying Gotham City. He was originally a member of the League of Shadows, before being excommunicated. The character was chosen by Christopher Nolan, even though he was unfamiliar with Bane's back-story, because of his desire to see Batman tested on both a physical and mental level.[27][12] According to costume designer Lindy Hemming, the character wears a mask that supplies him with an analgesic gas to relieve pain he suffers from an injury sustained "early in his story".[12] Bane has been described as "a terrorist in both thought and action"[12] and is "florid in his speech, [with] the physicality of a gorilla".[13] Hardy stated that he intended to portray the character as "more menacing" than Robert Swenson's version of the character in Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin and that in order to do so, his portrayal entailed creating a contradiction between the voice and the body. Hardy gained 30 pounds (14 kg) for the role,[28] increasing his weight to 198 pounds (90 kg).[28] Hardy based the character's voice on several influences, which include his intellect, Caribbean heritage, and Bartley Gorman.[29][30] Hardy describes Bane's fighting style as "[...] brutal. Brutal. He's a big dude who's incredibly clinical, in the fact that he has a result-based and oriented fighting style. It's not about fighting. It's about carnage. The style is heavy-handed, heavy-footed, it's nasty. Anything from small-joint manipulation to crushing skulls, crushing rib cages, stamping on shins and knees and necks and collarbones and snapping heads off and tearing his fists through chests, ripping out spinal columns. He is a terrorist in mentality as well as brutal action."[12]
- Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate:
- A member of the Wayne Enterprises executive board who encourages a still-grieving Bruce Wayne to rejoin with society and continue his father's philanthropic works.[31] Cotillard denied speculation that she would be playing a dual role as Miranda and Talia al Ghul, stating that her character is a completely original creation,[32] though the final cut of the film revealed this to be misdirection. Tate was described as providing Bruce with a much-needed sense of hope at the behest of Alfred and Lucius Fox.[13] Child actress Joey King portrays a young Talia in flashbacks.[citation needed]
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake:
- A young police officer whose instincts lead him to believe that there is trouble on the horizon. Seeing something of himself in Blake, Commissioner Gordon promotes him to detective.[31] Blake represents the idealism that Gordon and Bruce Wayne once held, but soon lost in their battle against crime in the city.[13] The film reveals his legal name is Robin John Blake, a reference to Batman's sidekick in the comics, Robin.[33]
- Fox runs Wayne Enterprises on behalf of Bruce Wayne and serves as his armorer, providing him with high-tech equipment. His position as President of Wayne Enterprises allows him to discreetly develop cutting-edge technology and weaponry, even as Wayne Enterprises starts losing money.
Several members of the Pittsburgh Steelers make cameo appearances as members of the fictional Gotham Rogues football team in the film, including Ben Roethlisberger, Hines Ward, Troy Polamalu, Willie Colon, Maurkice Pouncey, Mike Wallace, Heath Miller, Aaron Smith, Ryan Clark, James Farrior, LaMarr Woodley, and Casey Hampton,[51][52] and former Steelers head coach Bill Cowher as the head coach of the Rogues.[53] Pittsburgh mayor Luke Ravenstahl, a kicker in college, appears as the kicker for the Rogues' opponents, the Rapid City Monuments.[54] In 2008, the Rooney family sold a minority stake in the team to Thomas Tull, the CEO and president of Legendary Pictures, which is producing The Dark Knight Rises.[55] United States Senator Patrick Leahy, who also made a cameo appearance in The Dark Knight, returned for another cameo appearance in The Dark Knight Rises,[56] as a Wayne Enterprises board member. Thomas Lennon, who had a cameo as a doctor in Memento, once again has a cameo as a doctor. India Wadsworth plays the wife of Ra's al Ghul and the mother of Talia.[57]
Production
Development
"The key thing that makes the third film a great possibility for us is that we want to finish our story [...] rather than infinitely blowing up the balloon and expanding the story [...] Unlike the comics, these things don't go on forever in film and viewing it as a story with an end is useful. Viewing it as an ending, that sets you very much on the right track about the appropriate conclusion."
—Christopher Nolan, confirming his involvement in The Dark Knight Rises.[58]
It was not until February 9, 2010, that it was announced that Nolan had "cracked" the story of a sequel to The Dark Knight and was committed to return to the project.[67] Shortly afterward, it was announced David S. Goyer and Jonathan Nolan were working on a screenplay.[68] Goyer would leave the project during pre-production to begin work on Man of Steel; Jonathan continued writing the script based on the story by his brother Chris and Goyer.[18] Chris Nolan said that his brother's original draft was about 400 pages.[69] The film's storyline has been compared with the Batman comic book series' story arcs Knightfall (1993), which showcased Bane; The Dark Knight Returns (1986), in which Batman returns to Gotham City after a ten-year absence; and No Man's Land (1999), which depicts a Gotham cut off from the rest of the world overrun by gangs.[5][6] The nickname "the Dark Knight" was first applied to Batman in Batman #1 (1940), in a story written by Bill Finger.[70][71] Nolan confirmed the Joker would not return in the third film, and dismissed rumors that he considered using unused footage of Heath Ledger from The Dark Knight.[72] The Dark Knight Rises reunited Nolan with many of his past collaborators, including cinematographer Wally Pfister, production designer Nathan Crowley, editor Lee Smith, costume designer Lindy Hemming, special effects supervisors Paul Franklin and Chris Corbould, and composer Hans Zimmer.[73]
Filming
Filming was scheduled to start in May and conclude in November 2011.[85] Principal photography commenced on May 6, 2011, in Jodhpur, India at the Mehrangarh Fort[86][87] before moving to Pittsburgh, where it operated under the working title Magnus Rex to reduce the visibility of the production.[88][89] Shooting locations within the city included Heinz Field, the site of an American football game,[90] with members of the Pittsburgh Steelers playing the Gotham Rogues football team. More than 11,000 extras were used to depict the shot sequence.[13][51][52] Filming in Pittsburgh also took place at the Mellon Institute and Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.[89] A letter sent out to residents and business owners detailing road closures revealed that the streets of the city would be featured "as the start of [the] film".[91] 9-1-1 operators were told to expect an increase in calls related to gun shots and explosions in the film's production.[92] The Pittsburgh leg of production wrapped after three weeks on August 21, 2011, before moving on to Los Angeles and New York.[93] The Trump Tower replaced the Richard J. Daley Center as the location for the headquarters of Wayne Enterprises.[94] In November 2011, shooting shifted to Newark, New Jersey.[95][96] Newark City Hall and Military Park were among the locations used for filming.[97] Other shooting locations include London and Glasgow, the latter of which was used for "additional exterior filming".[98] Principal photography concluded on November 14, 2011.[99]
Production photos from filming in Pittsburgh showed a second Tumbler chassis after the first was destroyed, indicating that a new Batmobile would be in the film, following the destruction of the first in The Dark Knight.[100] Further set photos revealed a "new vehicle" being transported to Wabash Tunnel, prompting speculation as to its nature.[101] In June 2011, Autoblog confirmed the presence of the new Lamborghini Aventador on the film set.[102]
Several accidents occurred during the production of the film. While filming at Wollaton Hall, a tractor-trailer crashed into the main entrance, though no one was injured.[103] A stuntman parachutist later crashed through the roof of a home in Cairngorm Gliding Club, Feshiebridge in Scotland, and became wedged there after a failed landing during a skydiving stunt; he was not seriously injured.[104] While filming scenes in Pittsburgh, Hathaway's stunt double crashed into an IMAX camera while filming a sequence that required her to ride a Batpod down a flight of stairs during a riot. There were no injuries, but the camera was destroyed.[105] A second accident took place in Pittsburgh when the truck carrying the then-unidentified vehicle later termed "The Bat" went off-course and crashed into a lighting array, damaging the model of the aircraft. Production was delayed while the model was repaired.[106]
Shortly before Christmas of 2011, Christopher Nolan invited many of Americas most prominent directors, including Edgar Wright, Michael Bay, Bryan Singer, Jon Favreau, Eli Roth, Duncan Jones and Stephen Daldry, to Universal CityWalk's IMAX theatre for a private screening of the first six minutes of The Dark Knight Rises, which had been shot on IMAX film and edited from the original camera negative. Nolan, feeling that the use of film stock in cinema is currently being phased out due to the introduction of digital cinematography and projection, used this screening to make a case for the continued use of film, which he asserts still offers superior image quality to any digital format, and warned the filmmakers that unless they continued to assert their choice to use film in their productions, they may eventually lose it as an option.[107][108] Nolan explained; "I wanted to give them a chance to see the potential, because I think IMAX is the best film format that was ever invented. It’s the gold standard and what any other technology has to match up to, but none have, in my opinion. The message I wanted to put out there was that no one is taking anyone’s digital cameras away. But if we want film to continue as an option, and someone is working on a big studio movie with the resources and the power to insist [on] film, they should say so. I felt as if I didn’t say anything, and then we started to lose that option, it would be a shame. When I look at a digitally acquired and projected image, it looks inferior against an original negative anamorphic print or an IMAX one."[107]
Design
Costume design
The Batsuit consisted of 110 separate pieces, each of which had to be replicated dozens of times over the course of the production. The base layer was made of a polyester mesh that is utilized by the military and high-tech sports manufacturers because of its breathability and moisture-wicking properties. Molded pieces of flexible urethane were then attached to the mesh, to form the overall body armor plating. Carbon fiber panels were placed inside the sections on the legs, chest and abdomen. The cowl was sculpted from a cast of Bale's face and head to become a perfect fit for Christian Bale. The suit remained unchanged for the film since The Dark Knight.[13]
In creating Selina Kyle's catsuit, two layers of material were used, with the outer layer being polyurethane coated spandex, embossed with a hexagonal pattern. The catsuit also consisted of elbow-length gloves, a utility belt, and thigh-high boots with spike heels.[13]
Production design
Concept artist Tully Summers commented on Nolan's style of cinematography when asked about the difference between his designs for this film and fantasy-based designs for Men in Black 3: "The difference for me was Christopher Nolan's visual style. One of the things that makes his Batman movies so compelling is their tone of plausibility. He will often prefer a raw, grittier design over one that is very sleek and product design pretty. It's sort of a practical military aesthetic. This stuff is made to work, not impress shoppers. The Dark Knight Rises is a war film."[112] Producer Emma Thomas stated this Batman film has a different visual aesthetic from the first two Nolan-directed features, explaining that "it's meant to be winter in Gotham, so that right there is going to lend a whole different look to the film."[113]The film introduces a vehicle that has been compared with the Batplane, dubbed "the Bat". In designing the Bat, Nathan Crowley approached it as if it were an actual military project, emphasising the need for it to "fit into the same family" as the Tumbler and the Batpod. The final version of the Bat takes its design cues from the Harrier Jump Jet, Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey and the Boeing AH-64 Apache.[13] Chris Corbould described the Bat's size and shape as presenting a major challenge for filming given Christopher Nolan's emphasis on practical effects over computer-generated imagery. In order to make the Bat "fly", it was variously supported by wires, suspended from cranes and helicopters, and mounted on a purpose-built vehicle with hydraulic controls to simulate movement.[13][114][115]
When designing the Batcave set, Crowley and fellow production designer Kevin Kavanaugh hit upon the idea of flooding the Batcave and having Batman's equipment, the Batsuit and a supercomputer rise from the water.[13] Another set was designed at Cardington as an "underground prison", a rough-hewn labyrinth of stone cells in a vast abyss with a 120 foot (37 m) vertical shaft leading to the surface. Exteriors above the prison were filmed in Jodhpur, India, chosen because the "forbidding landscape added to the desolation".[13]
Music
Main article: The Dark Knight Rises (soundtrack)
In an interview in October 2010, composer Hans Zimmer confirmed that he would be returning to score The Dark Knight Rises. James Newton Howard was offered to return and write the score with Zimmer as he did for Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, but he chose not to because he noted that the chemistry established between Zimmer and Nolan during the making of Inception would make him seem like a "third wheel".[116] Zimmer included several cues from the earlier scores, but explains that he wanted to go in a "completely different direction" for Bane's theme. While the theme accompanying Selina Kyle is deliberately ambiguous, the musical thread spanning throughout the trilogy was composed exclusively for Bruce Wayne.[13]The film features a prevalent Moroccan chant of the phrase deshi basara (Arabic: تيجي بسرعة), which translates to "rise, rise, up, up" (both words are repeated in a sentence).[117][118] In November 2011, Zimmer crowdsourced online audio recordings of the chant to be used in the film's score.[119][120] When asked about the chant for clarification, Zimmer said, "The chant became a very complicated thing because I wanted hundreds of thousands of voices, and it's not so easy to get hundreds of thousands of voices. So, we Twittered and we posted on the internet, for people who wanted to be part of it. It seemed like an interesting thing. We've created this world, over these last two movies, and somehow I think the audience and the fans have been part of this world. We do keep them in mind."[121]
Marketing
In May 2011, the film's official website was launched, introducing a viral marketing campaign similar to the one used to promote The Dark Knight. When the website was opened, an encrypted audio file played the noise of what has been described as chanting. When the audio file was decrypted, it gave a hashtag "#TheFireRises". For every person who commented on Twitter with the hashtag, a pixel was removed from the webpage, eventually revealing the first official image of Bane.[122]
Continuing a method used with The Dark Knight whereby the opening sequence of the film was attached to IMAX prints of I Am Legend seven months before release,[135] a six-minute prologue of The Dark Knight Rises was attached to 70mm IMAX prints of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, again approximately seven months before release.[136] Critical reaction to the prologue was positive,[137][138][139] with one critic commenting that "no one gets to make a film on this kind of scale anymore. Except for Christopher Nolan," though a round-up of reviews highlighted the way many critics found Tom Hardy's dialogue very difficult to hear.[140] Addressing the issue in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Nolan said "I think when people see the film, things will come into focus. Bane is very complex and very interesting and when people see the finished film people will be very entertained by him."[141]
In January 2012, six months prior to the film's release, tickets for midnight IMAX showings in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles went on sale and sold out immediately. Purchased tickets surfaced for sale online for over $100, compared with their original price of $17.50.[146]
The film novelization, written by award-winning author Greg Cox and published by Titan Books, was released alongside the film on July 24, 2012.[151]
Warner Bros. partnered with Mountain Dew to do a cross-promotion that included a special paint scheme on the #88 Chevrolet Impala owned by Hendrick Motorsports and driven by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.[152] On June 17, 2012, the car won the 2012 Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway.[153] On July 4, 2012, the studio signed a deal with Formula One team Lotus F1 to have the film's logos appear on the Lotus E20s driven by Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean at the 2012 British Grand Prix.[154] Räikkönen and Grosjean went on to finish the race in fifth and sixth place respectively.[155] Warner Bros. had previously followed a similar promotion at the 2008 British Grand Prix, when the now-defunct Toyota F1 carried a livery to promote The Dark Knight.[156]
Two digital comic books entitled Batman Origins[157] and The Dark Knight: Prologue[158] were released exclusively for Nokia Lumia devices. A special movie application has also been released, featuring trailers, wallpapers, movie schedules and Batman trivias.[159] Limited editions of the Lumia 710, Lumia 800 and Lumia 900 were also released featuring a laser-etched Batman logo.[160][161][162]
Release
On July 6, 2012, Warner Bros. held a special IMAX screening of the film for more than one hundred reporters and critics. However, technical issues with the computer device synchronising the sound and picture forced the studio to postpone the screening by a day.[163] The Dark Knight Rises premiered on July 16 at the AMC Lincoln Square Theater in New York City, New York.[7] The film was released in Australia and New Zealand on July 19,[8] and was later released in North America and the United Kingdom on July 20.[9][10]Box office
Hours before the midnight release, several box office analysts suggested as much as a $198 million opening weekend.[164][165][166] However, in the wake of the mass shooting during a midnight screening of the film, Warner Bros. decided to not report further box office figures for the movie until Monday July 23, 2012.[167][168] As a result, other distributors also delayed the release of their official estimates as well.[169] The shooting is also speculated to have hurt the ticket sales as E! Online reported that a North Carolina audience member had stated that "this theater was kinda empty".[170] Some reports released on July 21, 2012 said that rival studios estimated that the film grossed $75 million to $77 million on its opening day.[171][172][173] Warner Brothers shortly after released a statement to ABC News stating that they delayed the release of their estimates for the opening day total of the film "out of respect for the victims and their families," and added "Warner Bros. Pictures will not be reporting box office numbers for The Dark Knight Rises throughout the weekend. Box office numbers will be released on Monday."[174]The Dark Knight Rises has earned $437,782,482 in North America, and $603,400,000 in other countries, as of September 9, 2012, summing up to a worldwide total of $1,041,182,482.[3] Worldwide, it is the twelfth-highest-grossing film of all time[175] and the second-highest-grossing film of 2012.[176] It had a worldwide opening weekend of $248.9 million.[177] The film set a worldwide IMAX opening-weekend record with $23.8 million (previously held by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2)[178] and also broke the record for the fastest movie to make over $50 million in IMAX theatres. IMAX CEO Richard L. Gelfond explained this by claiming, "Audiences are clearly seeking out and embracing the film the way it was meant to be seen – in IMAX."[179] On the 2012 Labor Day weekend, it became the third film distributed by Warner Bros. and the thirteenth film in cinematic history to cross the $1 billion mark.[180] The film also became the second movie (after Avatar) to reach $100 million in worldwide IMAX grosses.[181]
- North America
- Markets outside North America
Critical response
The Dark Knight Rises has received mostly positive reviews from critics. The film received an 87% approval rating from critics on aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, an average rating of 8/10 from 283 critics.[199] Metacritic, another review aggregator, assigned the film a weighted average score of 78 (out of 100) based on 45 reviews from mainstream critics, considered to be "generally favorable reviews".[200] The Telegraph granted the film a maximum score of five stars, stating that it is "a superhero film without a superhero," comparing it with The Godfather Part II and praising Hardy's performance as well as the film's intricate plot and narrative.[201] IGN gave it a 9 out of 10, noting similarities in tone and theme to Batman Begins over the trilogy's second installment The Dark Knight, but also describing Bane as "that bit less interesting to watch" than Ledger's Joker, despite praising his "menacing voice" and "body language-driven performance".[202] The Guardian scored the film four out of five stars, calling it a film of "granite, monolithic intensity", yet also calling it a "hammy, portentous affair".[203] Andrew O'Hehir of Salon writes "if The Dark Knight Rises is a fascist film, it's a great fascist film, and arguably the biggest, darkest, most thrilling and disturbing and utterly balls-out spectacle ever created for the screen".[204] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars, stating "the film begins slowly with a murky plot and too many new characters, but builds to a sensational climax."[205] Film critic Richard Roeper gave the film an "A", calling it "a majestic, gorgeous, brutal and richly satisfying epic", and citing the final scenes of the picture as "the best five minutes of any film this year."[206]The Daily Mail's Chris Tookey said that the film was bloated and overly long as well as criticizing the sombre tone and lack of humor, despite praising the film's visually impressive set pieces.[207] CNN's Tom Charity called this a "disappointingly clunky and bombastic conclusion to a superior series" and even went so far as to call it Nolan's worst film.[208]
In reaction to fan backlash to some of the negative reviews, Rotten Tomatoes chose to disable user commentary for the film leading up to its release.[209] Some fans had threatened violence against critics while others threatened to take down the websites of movie critics who had given the film a negative review.[210]
Indian critic Mayank Shekhar says on his website theW14.com,"It grabs you by the eyeballs. No surprises there. The spectacle is designed to mildly jolt your senses. You get blown by it. Nolan (Inception, The Prestige) certainly knows his job. The film conclusively proves you don’t need thick, fat 3D glasses resting over your crumbling nose to be sucked into a netherworld." [211]
Shooting in Aurora, Colorado
Main article: 2012 Aurora shooting
"I would not presume to know anything about the victims of the shooting but that they were there last night to watch a movie. I believe movies are one of the great American art forms and the shared experience of watching a story unfold on screen is an important and joyful pastime. The movie theatre is my home, and the idea that someone would violate that innocent and hopeful place in such an unbearably savage way is devastating to me. Nothing any of us can say could ever adequately express our feelings for the innocent victims of this appalling crime, but our thoughts are with them and their families."
Warner Bros. stated that it was deeply saddened by the shooting, and announced the cancellation of the Paris, Mexico, and Japan premieres of The Dark Knight Rises,[220][221] and suspended the marketing campaign for the film in Finland.[222] Several broadcast networks also suspended television ads for the film in the United States because of the tragedy.[223] The trailer for Gangster Squad, another Warner Bros. movie which was included in the screening of The Dark Knight Rises, has been removed as it contains a scene which shows gangsters shooting submachine guns at moviegoers through the screen, similar to the shooting in Aurora.[224] Director Christopher Nolan released a public statement calling the shooting "unbearably savage".[212] Other stars of the film released statements expressing their condolences, with star Christian Bale paying a personal visit to the survivors and the memorial in Aurora.[225]
Commentary
Writing in Salon, David Sirota, a progressive[226] political commentator compared The Dark Knight Rises and the game Call of Duty to 1980s popular culture reflecting the political period of the time, accusing them of perpetuating a conservative agenda: "Just as so many 1980s pop culture products reflected the spirit of the Reagan Revolution’s conservative backlash, we are now seeing two blockbuster, genre-shaping products not-so-subtly reflect the Tea Party’s rhetorical backlash to the powerful Occupy Wall Street zeitgeist."[227] An article in Variety reported Chuck Dixon, the co-creator of the Bane character, as saying that Bane is "far more akin to an Occupy Wall Street type if you're looking to cast him politically."[228] Catherine Shoard of the center-left[229] British publication The Guardian claimed the film "is a quite audaciously capitalist vision, radically conservative, radically vigilante, that advances a serious, stirring proposal that the wish-fulfilment of the wealthy is to be championed if they say they want to do good."[230] Writing in USA Today, Bryan Alexander called Bane "the ultimate occupier" and reported that Christian Bale was amazed that the script had "foreseen" the Occupy movement.[231]Nolan has denied the film criticizes the Occupy movement and insists that none of his Batman films are intended to be political: "I've had as many conversations with people who have seen the film the other way round. We throw a lot of things against the wall to see if it sticks. We put a lot of interesting questions in the air, but that's simply a backdrop for the story. What we're really trying to do is show the cracks of society, show the conflicts that somebody would try to wedge open. We're going to get wildly different interpretations of what the film is supporting and not supporting, but it's not doing any of those things. It's just telling a story. If you're saying, 'Have you made a film that's supposed to be criticizing the Occupy Wall Street movement?' – well, obviously, that's not true."[232]
Alternatively, politically conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh alleged that the film was biased against 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney due to Bane's name being a homophone for Bain Capital, the financial service company Romney used to head.[233][234][235] In response, Nolan said that the comments were "bizarre",[236] while Dixon and Freeman said that the comments were "ridiculous".[235][237] Similarly, comparisons between Bane and Bain have also been made by bloggers on both sides of the political spectrum,[235] with Democratic adviser Christopher Lehane noting the similarities between the narratives of the film and the presidential campaign.[238][235]
Home Media
The Dark Knight Rises is scheduled to be released on Blu-ray, DVD, UltraViolet and Digital Download on December 7, 2012Source : Wikipedia
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