The Dark Knight Trilogy

Facts

Batman Begins

Following a rejected Batman origin story reboot Joss Whedon pitched in December 2002, Warner Bros. hired Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer to script Batman Begins. The duo aimed for a darker and more realistic tone, with humanity and realism being the basis of the film. The film was primarily shot in the United Kingdom and Chicago, and relied on traditional stunts and scale models with minimal use of computer-generated imagery. Christian Bale starred as Batman, Liam Neeson starred as Ras al Ghul, and Cillian Murphy as The Scarecrow. Katie Holmes also starred in the movie as Bruces love interest, Rachel Dawes, a role created for the film. A new Batmobile (called the Tumbler) and a more mobile Batsuit were both created specifically for the film.

Batman Begins (running time 140 minutes) opened on June 15, 2005, in the United States and Canada in 3,858 theaters. The film was a box office success, grossing $48 million in its opening weekend, and eventually grossing over $372 million worldwide. The film as well received critical acclaim, with critics noting that fear was a common motif throughout the film, and remarking that it had a darker tone compared with previous Batman films. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography and for three BAFTA awards. It was also listed at No. 81 on Empires "500 Greatest Movies of All Time".

The Dark Knight

Christopher Nolan reprised his duties as director, and brought his brother, Jonathan, to co-write the script for the second installment. The Dark Knight featured Christian Bale reprising his role as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Heath Ledger as The Joker, and Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent/Two-Face. Principal photography began in April 2007 in Chicago and concluded in November. Other locations included Pinewood Studios, Ministry of Sound in London and Hong Kong. On January 22, 2008, after he had completed filming The Dark Knight, Ledger died from a bad combination of prescription medication. Warner Bros. had created a viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight, developing promotional websites and trailers highlighting screen shots of Ledger as the Joker, but after Ledgers death, the studio refocused its promotional campaign. The film made use of IMAX Cameras throughout the film. Most notably during the bank heist, the hospital explosion, and the SWAT Caravan scene, where one of only three IMAX Cameras at the time, was destroyed in a crash.

The film received critical acclaim upon its release on 18th July 2008 (running time 152 minutes), and set numerous records during its theatrical run. With over $1 billion in revenue worldwide, it is the sixteenth-highest-grossing film of all time, unadjusted for inflation. The film received eight Academy Award nominations; it won the award for Best Sound Editing and Ledger was posthumously awarded Best Supporting Actor.

The Dark Knight Rises

Nolan wanted the story for the third and final installment to keep him emotionally invested. "On a more superficial level, I have to ask the question," he reasoned, "how many good third movies in a franchise can people name?" He returned out of finding a necessary way to continue the story, but feared midway through filming he would find a sequel redundant. The Dark Knight Rises is intended to complete Nolans Batman trilogy. By December 2008, Nolan completed a rough story outline, before he committed himself to Inception. In February 2010, work on the screenplay was commencing with David S. Goyer and Jonathan Nolan. When Goyer left to work on the Superman reboot, Jonathan was writing the script based on the story by his brother and Goyer. Tom Hardy was cast as Bane and Anne Hathaway plays Selina Kyle. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was cast as John Blake, and Marion Cotillard was cast as Miranda Tate. Filming began in May 2011 and concluded in November. Nolan chose not to film in 3-D but, by focusing on improving image quality and scale using the IMAX format, hoped to push technological boundaries while nevertheless making the style of the film consistent with the previous two. Nolan had several meetings with IMAX Vice-President David Keighley to work on the logistics of projecting films in digital IMAX venues. The Dark Knight Rises featured more scenes shot in IMAX than The Dark Knight. Cinematographer Wally Pfister expressed interest in shooting the film entirely in IMAX.

Upon release, The Dark Knight Rises (running time 165 minutes) received widespread critical acclaim and was a huge success at the box office, going on to outgross its predecessor and become the eleventh-highest-grossing film of all time grossing over $1.08 billion. However, unlike its predecessors, the film was not nominated for any Oscars during its year of eligibility at the 85th Academy Awards, much to the surprise of film industry insiders.

Batman: Gotham Knight

The third in the line of DC Universe Original Animated Movies by Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Premiere, it is a DVD anthology composed of six short films: "Have I Got a Story for You," "Crossfire," "Field Test," "In Darkness Dwells," "Working Through Pain," and "Deadshot." Each short was done by a different Japanese studio. All are self-contained, but form a loosely interconnected story. This film is intended to take place between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, being released on DVD a few weeks before the latter. David S. Goyer, who wrote "In Darkness Dwells" for this film, also co-wrote all 3 live-action films.

The Dark Knight Coaster

This is a Six Flags theme park ride inspired by the 2008 film. Costing $7.5 million, the ride is an indoor Wild Mouse coaster that puts guests through the premise of being stalked by the Joker. Prior to getting on the coaster, riders enter a pre-show room where they view a specially-made TV broadcast of a press conference hosted by Gotham City district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). One of the reporters asks about the Joker cards found at recent crime scenes. Almost immediately, The Joker himself hijacks the TV broadcast and his messages (such as "HA HA!") appear all over the walls of the room.

Starring cast and characters

For a detailed list including recurring characters, please see List of Batman films cast members.

Box office performance

The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises are two of only 22 movies to gross over $1 billion worldwide.

Home media

The DVD of Batman Begins was released on October 18, 2005, in both single-disc and two-disc deluxe editions and also released on VHS and UMD Video formats. In addition to the film, the deluxe edition contained featurettes and other bonus materials. The edition contained a small paperback booklet, the first Batman story, featured in Detective Comics No. 27, as well as Batman: The Man Who Falls and an excerpt from Batman: The Long Halloween. Batman Begins achieved first place in national sales and rental charts in October 2005, becoming the top-selling DVD of the fourth quarter of 2005. The DVD grossed $11.36 million in rental revenue. The DVD held its position at the top of the sales chart for a second week, but fell to second place behind Bewitched on video rental charts. The film had brought in $167 million in DVD sales by August 2006. Batman Begins was released on HD DVD on October 10, 2006.

The Dark Knight was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in North America on December 9, 2008. Releases include a one-disc edition DVD; a two-disc Special Edition DVD; a two-disc edition BD; and a Special Edition BD package featuring a statuette of the Bat-pod. The BD/iTunes version presents the film in a variable aspect ratio, with the IMAX sequences framed in 1.78:1, while scenes filmed in 35 mm are framed in 2.40:1. The DVD versions feature the entire film framed in a uniform 2.40:1 aspect ratio. Disc 2 of the two-disc Special Edition DVD features the six main IMAX sequences in the original 1.44:1 aspect ratio. Additional IMAX shots throughout the film that are presented in 1.78:1 on the Blu-ray release are not, however, included in the DVDs special features. In addition to the standard DVD releases, some stores released their own exclusive editions of the film. The DVD and Blu-ray Disc editions were released in Australia on December 10, 2008. Releases were in the form of a one-disc edition on DVD; a two-disc edition on DVD; a two-disc edition including a Batmask on DVD and BD; a two-disc Batpod statuette Limited BD Edition; a two-disc BD edition; and a four-disc Batman Begins/The Dark Knight pack on DVD and BD. As of December 19, 2008, the DVD release is the top selling film in the Australian DVD Charts In March 2011, Warner Bros. offered The Dark Knight for rent on Facebook, becoming the first film ever to be released via digital distribution on a social networking site.

The Dark Knight Rises was released on November 28, 2012 in Hong Kong and New Zealand. On December 3, it was released in the United Kingdom, and on December 4, it was released in the United States. It is available on Blu-ray, DVD, and as a Digital download

Coinciding with the release of The Dark Knight Rises, a box set of The Dark Knight Trilogy was released: "Designed by world-renowned graphic designer Chip Kidd, The Art and Making of The Dark Knight Trilogy tells the complete behind-the-scenes story of these influential films. Based on in-depth interviews with Nolan and all of the films key cast and crewincluding co-writers David S. Goyer and Jonathan Nolan, cinematographer Wally Pfister, and morethis slimmed down version of the original reveals the creative process behind the epic Dark Knight Trilogy, accented by beautiful artwork and never-before-seen set photography".