[311] Adlakha wrote Dent is framed as a religious icon, his campaign slogan being "I believe in Harvey Dent", and his eventual death leaves his arms spread wide like Jesus on the Cross. It was the first superhero film to gross over $1billion, the highest-grossing film of 2008 worldwide, the fourth film to earn more than $1billion, and the fourth-highest-grossing film of its time behind Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ($1.066billion), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($1.119billion), and Titanic ($1.842billion). ", "Heath Ledger Golden Globe Nod Boosts Oscar Momentum", "No Joke: Ledger Earns Posthumous Oscar Nod", "The History Of Comic Book Movies at the Oscars", "Everyone Who Has Won A Posthumous Oscar", "Why So Serious? The crew was described as excited as this scene depicted the first meeting between Batman and the Joker. [256] Ledger received the award for Best Villain at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards,[257] and at the 35th Saturn Awards, The Dark Knight won awards for Best Action or Adventure Film, Best Supporting Actor (Ledger), Best Writing (Christopher and Jonathan Nolan), Best Music (Howard and Zimmer), and Best Special Effects (Corbould, Nick Davis, Paul J. Franklin, Timothy Webber). [41] Influenced by films such as The Godfather (1972) and Heat (1995), and maintaining Batman Begins's tone, their finished script bore more resemblance to a crime drama than a traditional superhero film. 2008 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan, This article is about the 2008 film. After submitting the draft to Warner Bros., Jonathan spent a further two months refining it until Christopher had finished directing The Prestige. Unprejudiced. WebFans were exhausted by director Joel Schumacher's colorful aesthetic and the cartoonish villains played by Arnold Schwarzenegger (Mr. The dialogue Johnathan considered most important, "you either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain", came late in development. In the film, Batman is forced out of his self-imposed retirement following the events of The Dark Knight; he allies with Selina Kyle / Catwoman to take on Bane, a physically imposing revolutionary allied with the League of Shadows that is featured in Batman Begins. The windows in both settings were covered in green screen material, allowing Gotham City visuals to be added later. Howard and Zimmer composed the score without seeing the film because Christopher wanted them to be influenced by the characters and story rather than fitting specific on-screen elements. [253][254][255] At the 14th Empire Awards, The Dark Knight received awards for Best Film, Best Director (Christopher Nolan), and Best Actor (Bale). Goyer developed an outline for two sequels, but Christopher remained unsure how to continue the Batman Begins narrative while keeping it consistent and relevant, though he was interested in utilizing the Joker in Begins's grounded, realistic style. In 2008, Ebert wrote; "[The Dark Knight], and to a lesser degree Iron Man, redefine the possibilities of the 'comic-book movie'". [233], Bale's reception was mixed; his performance was considered to be alternately "captivating" or serviceable, but ultimately uninteresting and undermined by portraying an immovable and generally unchanged character who delivers Batman's dialog in a hoarse, unvarying tone. [310][311][318] Dent is motivated to do good because he identifies himself as good, not through trauma like Batman, and has faith in the legal system. [70][71] Gyllenhaal approached Rachel as a new character and did not reference Holmes's previous performance. [ab] The film benefited from repeat viewings by younger audiences and had broad appeal, with 52% of the audience being male and an equal number of those under 25 years old, and those of 25 or older. [220][223][233] Ebert surmised the entire cast provided "powerful" performances that engage the audience, such that "we're surprised how deeply the drama affects us". [390][391] In 2020, Time Out named it the seventy-second-best action movie ever made. This raised its total box office to $533.3million before it left theaters on March 5 after 33 weeks, making it the highest-grossing comic-book, superhero, and Batman film; the highest-grossing film of 2008; and the second-highest-grossing film ever (unadjusted for inflation), behind the 1997 romantic drama Titanic ($600.8million). [au] This change is seen as responsible for the first Best Picture nomination of a comic book adaptation, Black Panther (2018). [35][77] Chicagoan authorities had been supportive during filming of Batman Begins, allowing the production to shut stretches of roads, freeways, and bridges. [k] Ledger's casting in August 2006 was criticized by some industry professionals and members of the public who considered him inappropriate for the role; executive producer Charles Roven said Ledger was the only person seriously considered, and that Batman Begins's positive reception would help alleviate any concerns. Once Dent experiences a significant traumatic event in the loss of Rachel and his own disfigurement, he quickly abandons his noble former self to seek his own form of justice. I'm just ahead of the curve. [s][t] For The Dark Knight, Pfister chose to combine the "rust-style" visuals of Batman Begins with the "dusk"-like color scheme of The Prestige (cobalt blues, greens, blacks, and whites), in part to address over-dark scenes in Batman Begins. [be] The film has been referenced in a variety of media including television shows such as Robot Chicken, South Park, and The Simpsons. [418][419][420] The Dark Knight Rises was a financial success, surpassing the box office of The Dark Knight,[421] and was generally well received by critics but proved more divisive with audiences.[bq]. The score was recorded at Air Studios, London. [313] Author Andrew Klavan said Batman is a stand-in for then-U.S. president George W. Bush and justified the breaching of "boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that [Batman] will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past". The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan from a screenplay he co-wrote with his brother Jonathan. [123][124] The 127-day shoot concluded on November 15, on time and under budget. [34], The first scene filmed was the bank heist, which was shot in the Old Chicago Main Post Office over five days. [218] The film has a score of 84 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 39 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Their efforts are derailed by the Joker, an anarchistic mastermind who seeks to test how far Batman will go to save the city from chaos. [67], Describing his role as GCPD sergeant James Gordon, Oldman said Gordon is the "moral center" of The Dark Knight, an honest and incorruptible character struggling with the limits of his morality. [48][49][50] Because the new Batsuit allowed him to be more agile, Bale did not increase his muscle mass as much as he had for Batman Begins. [ad], The Dark Knight was released in Australia and Taiwan on Wednesday, July 16, 2008, and opened in twenty markets by the weekend. As panic grips the city, the Joker reveals two evacuation ferries, one carrying civilians and the other prisoners, are rigged to explode at midnight unless one group sacrifices the other. [101][112] A scene of Batman surveying the city from a rooftop edge was filmed atop Willis Tower, Chicago's tallest building. [al], Ledger's performance received near-unanimous praise with the caveat that his death made the role both highly-anticipated and difficult to watch. At the police station, Batman interrogates the Joker, who says he finds Batman entertaining and has no intention of killing him. [81][98], Filming took place in the lobby of One Illinois Center, which served as Wayne's penthouse apartment; bookcases were built to hide the elevators. A sequel, The Dark Knight Rises, concluded The Dark Knight trilogy in 2012. The owners refused permission to film a stunt in which Batman suspends a SWAT team from the building, so this was filmed from the fortieth floor of a separate building site. There was also a perceived limit on financial success for Batman films; the 1989 installment remained the franchise's highest-grossing release. [af][ag] Rereleases have further raised its box-office take to $1.006billion. [305][306] The Dark Knight Coaster, an indoor roller coaster, opened in May 2008 at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey. [175][176][184], The Dark Knight broke more records, including for the highest-grossing opening week ($238.6million), and for three-, four-, five-, six-, seven-, eight-, nine-, and ten-day cumulative grosses, including the highest-grossing non-holiday Monday ($24.5million) and non-opening Tuesday ($20.9million, as well as the second-highest-grossing non-opening Wednesday ($18.4million), behind Transformers ($29.1million). [81][94] To avoid attention, filming in Chicago took place under the working title Rory's First Kiss but the production's true nature was quickly uncovered by media publications. [10][66] Eckhart's performance was influenced by the Kennedy family, particularly Robert F. Kennedy, who fought organized crime with a similarly idealistic view of the law. David Wolinsky on Google+ The products discussed here were [120] Nearby residents contacted emergency services believing the explosion was a terrorist attack. ", "The 50 Greatest Movie Villains Of All Time, Ranked", "50 Greatest Superhero Movie Performances of All Time", "The 15 Best Movie Villains of the 21St Century, Ranked", "50 Best Superhero Movie Performances of the Last 50 Years, From Ben Affleck To Zendaya", "The Secret to the Joker's Pencil Trick Is That There Is No Pencil", "11 Things You Never Knew About The Dark Knight", "Top Movie Movements: #95 "Why so serious? The Batman: Everyone Who Played The Dark Knight On The Big Screen, Ranked By Mat Elfring and Mason Downey on February 28, 2022 at 12:03PM PST For [108] A former Brach's candy factory on Cicero Avenue scheduled for demolition was used to film the Gotham General Hospital explosion in August 2007. During the interrogation scene, Ledger asked Bale to actually hit him, and although he declined, Ledger cracked and dented the walls by throwing himself around. [av] A separate, limited-edition Blu-ray disc set came with a Batpod figurine. [415] The Dark Knight was also voted the greatest superhero movie by readers of Rolling Stone (2014),[416] and as one of New Zealand's favorite films (2015). [160][161][162] Globally, fans photographed letters on signs to form a ransom note. [34][151] John Caglione Jr designed Joker's "organic" makeup to look as though it had been worn for days; this idea was partly based on more of Bacon's works. [310][311], The Dark Knight focuses on the moral and ethical battles faced by the central characters, and the compromises they make to defeat the Joker under extraordinary circumstances. [175][176] The Dark Knight's premiere took place on July 14, in IMAX in New York City. They wanted it to resonate with and reflect contemporary audiences. Warner Bros. Pictures prioritized a sequel following the successful reinvention of the Batman film series with Batman Begins. Ledger died from an accidental drug overdose in January 2008, leading to widespread interest from the press and public regarding his performance. Anthony Ruivivar: The "Southland" star is the latest actor to voice Batman in the newest animated series, "Beware the Batman," which began airing on Cartoon Based on the DC Comics superhero, Batman, it is the sequel to Batman Begins (2005) and the second installment in The Dark Knight Trilogy. [174], The Dark Knight was expected to sell well based on high audience anticipation, positive pre-release reviews, and a record $3.5million in IMAX pre-sales. While the police evacuate hospitals and Gordon struggles to keep Reese alive, the Joker meets with a disillusioned Dent, persuading him to take justice into his own hands and avenge Rachel. He used brass instruments for both moral ends but warped the sound as Dent is corrupted. [210] The Atlantic wrote Iron Man's legacy in launching the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) could not have happened without the financial and critical success of The Dark Knight, which made comic book adaptations a central focus of film studios. The sequel, The Dark Knight Rises, suffered upsets during filming. [bk], The Dark Knight remains popular with entertainment industry professionals, including directors, actors, critics, and stunt actors, being ranked 57th on The Hollywood Reporter's poll of the best films ever made,[357] 18th on Time Out's list of the best action films,[388] and 96th on the BBC's list of the 100 Greatest American Films.