Wow, I hope not. Morgan Freeman is a talented actor, and not just because of Lucius Fox. How long before the Dark Knight curse rumor is started?


Back to the box office numbers: Can the Dark Knight become only the 4th movie in history (not including inflation) to surpass the $1 billion mark Worldwide?

from Perezhilton.com

'The latest on Morgan Freeman's big car wreck on Sunday night.

- The Jaws of Life had to extricate the actor and his passenger from the scene of the accident.

- He is in serious but stable condition.

- It's been announced that Freeman broke his arm and his shoulder.

Good luck Morgan Freeman. Oh, and his passenger was obviously Miss Daisy. Wtf.

I went to see this one yesterday, and being early afternoon on a Sunday, I was shocked to see a fairly decent sized crowd in there. And what surprised me more was the fact that 80% of them were 50-ish or older. I thought maybe there was a seniors convention or a bus or something, but no. Apparently all these old folks just decided they wanted to go see this movie too. It just seemed kind of odd, I hadn't seen them at any of the other movies this summer, but whatever. 2 weeks after opening, I was shocked to see any kind of a crowd at all. Is it worthy of such a response?

I dunno'. The leads did a great job in this. I really enjoyed Ledgers performance, and feel it does indeed deserve all the acolades and praise it has gotten. Bruiser Bale did a great job too, except Bat-voice which should cost someone thier job. That was fucking annoying. Other than that, Bruce Wayne and Batman were both entertaining and believable onscreen and I wasn't distracted by the new suit once. Rachel was less annoying and slightly more do-able in this. Mrs Cruise is a tad better looking, but the new girl actually has a personality, and is a better actress in the role. Too bad she's BBQ. Harvey Dent was great too, allthough I hate Aaron Eckhart because of the scene in The Core where he turns into a 13 year old girl and cries/screams at the lesbian astronaut. I can't mentally get past that with the guy and I will be annoyed by him forever because of it. That said, he does a good job here. He really goes from one end of the spectrum to the other in this and it's great. Two Face effects were dope. Gary Oldman and Robert Caine were also great, if understated, as well.

Some things which bugged me. The time. About 20-30 minutes too long. At least it felt that way. I know, they had to tie up the plot which had been laid out, blah blah etc, and I'm not sure what the hell should have gone away because it's all relevant to the story. But it just got kind of tiring to watch toward the end. Some of the editing was a little ritalin inspiring too. Occasionally, my eyes got cramped trying to follow some of the action and fight scenes. These are pretty petty criticisms though and didn't really detract from the overall experience.

So, is it worthy? I'd say so. Mostly. I don't think I'd label it "best movie ever", or even of this summer. But it was really good. It will be an awesome DVD movie, as my bladder really was what made me think it was too long, and DVD fixes that. Plus I really enjoyed seeing what was obviously (if you live right next to it and see it all the time) Chicago all over the place. A lot of the terrain looked so familiar it was almost creepy, but cool none the less. But Ledger really made this movie fantastic. I think his performance kept me interested through the whole thing and without it I think this would have just been an "okay" movie. I liked Iron Man better, but for a DC movie, this was fantastic.

FINALLY saw the film, just got back from it actually. All I can say is WOW. I'm in utter awe at such a kick ass film I just watched. Ledger definitely was The Joker and he topped Nicholson's Joker in my opinion. It's so sad that he passed away and if they do have The Joker in the next Batman film it's gonna be very hard find someone to match Ledger's performance.

Over all I give it 5 out of 5 stars and I will definitely buy it on Blu-Ray. Oh I agree that it's definitely better than Batman Begins.

Welcome to the club. IMAX or 35mm?



That's an interesting point. In my neck of the woods, IMAX tickets are $15 a pop.

I saw the flick again Saturday morning. Eckhart's performance really affected me this time around. I think it was the moment during the end when he threatens Gordon's son. The way he delivers that line, "Well, well. We have a winner." as he points a gun to the kid's head really struck me. Also, anyone else catch the paint residue on The Joker's fingers? Nice touch Heath.

35mm. I have never seen a movie in IMAX plus it was expensive as it was for just my dad and I to see it.

Yeah, IMAX adds up quick. I went with two other friends for a nighttime showing opening weekend and it was $51 with the Fandango surcharge. The movie's still badass any way you catch it though. Glad you enjoyed it.

Ya I did enjoy it. I saw Iron Man in theaters when it came out but before that the last movie I saw in theaters was Superman Returns. That's how rare it is for me to go to theaters these days.

I was surprised by the ticket prices of the IMAX version, but even more so how it's been consistently selling out.

Robert Downey jr burning some bridges:

I'm all with burning bridges. Personally, I say they start with Jeff. The "dude" is way over rated.

Yay Downey's on some good drugs again.

Robert Downey jr burning some bridges:




Riiight, Robert Downey Jr - a movie on the verge of making $500 mill domestic is obviously too high-brow.

Maybe, Mr. Downey, you are dumb.

18 unused posters from http://www.tomasz-opasinski.com



FANTASTIC! sure to see them on the DVD soon

Most of them look amazing.

Regarding the TDK script. Joblo has it in a PDF here.

Great posters.

Although some of them look very Batman Forever/Robin

I just want to point out that TDK for some reason is not doing well in Japan and that the figure below is awesome.



www.cooltoyreview.com Hot_Toys_Official_Images_Of_The_New_Joker_117405.asp

i read that the Dark Knight game being produced by Pandemic was cancelled. But the new game called Arkham Asylum will be released next year. Scans here:

http://kotaku.com/5037545/batman-arkham ... n-pictures

BTW with The Dark Knight now just $100 million away from beating Titanic, do you think it will get the chance?

Nope, definitely slowing down on business. It will top out around $520-530. But nothing wrong with that total in today's world. Besides, when adjusted for inflation and ticket sales, The Dark Knight isn't even close to the all time records. Neither is Titanic for that matter.

Ok so.. hmm, not bad. Not the best either, I mean how this movie is making the money it's making is absolutely incredible. I have to credit it to the fact that there just isn't enough competition out there to contend with TDK. I wonder how Iron Man(or Hulk for that matter) would have done if they had been released after TDK.

It's basically a big city mob/crime drama set against the setting of Gotham city.. that just happens to have a certain Batman in it. Ledger was fantastic as the Joker, I thought his performance might be overrated but the bizarre and crazy nuances he brought to the character were amazing. I was laughing quite a bit during his time on screen. The disappearing pencil trick got the biggest laugh from me and it was a good early taste of his sick wackiness.

Aaron Eckhart's Dent was good and developed. I have to say though, back in the Episode 3 days some people were complaining about Anakin's swift and easy turn to the dark side. I saw the same problem with Dent becoming Two-Face. At least Anakin's turn had more of a basis by which to go by; the saving of his wife's life. Dent got burned and just flipped, although Rachel's death obviously played a large part in his transformation, there are obvious similarities. He flipped that damn coin of his enough!

So basically it was a thinking-man's "comic book movie" or graphic novel, etc. because it focused on the psychology of the characters and of the city itself. How do people react when faced with this or that? What happens when you take Harvey Dent and twist and turn him? Definitely not an action flick, there were very few action sequences and the ones that were there were basically all chases.

Bale as Batman is still a bozo to me, more of a clown than Joker. Then again he's still young and green IMO. In the beginning he wants a new costume so he can turn his head, but when he gets it, does he turn his frickin' head?? I don't think so, then again i've only seen the movie once.

One thing I also did admire about this movie is the scale. You really get a sense of a larger scope to Gotham and the story in general because of the number of characers and storylines. In that regard it also wasn't the typical comic book movie because it did throw a lot at the audience for them to chew on, and that's a good thing I think rather than focus on a core group of characters.

To me it's one of those movies that, when I left the theater, I didn't think much of it but it grew on me immediately because of the importance the filmmakers put on the characters and the story they told.

Maybe audiences really do like this shit and not just because it's practically the only [good] movie out. However, all that said, I still think Iron Man was the more enjoyable movie.

[btw sorry I didn't mean to turn this into a super-mega late review thread!]

TDK has dropped Episode IV to third highest domestic.

Does this thing have anywhere else to open? I'd like to see it end up as the second highest grossing film (domestic and overseas total).

With the cost of a ticket turning people off, with internet piracy, and with how fast these films come to home video, I'm starting to wonder if anything will ever beat Titanic.

Apparently the next installment of Nolan's Batman Begins is going to be called Batman Begins Forever.

splashpage.mtv.com /dark knight exclusive michael caine says johnny depp is the riddler philip seymour hoffman is the penguin/

[hr]
‘DARK KNIGHT’ EXCLUSIVE: Michael Caine Says Johnny Depp Is The Riddler, Philip Seymour Hoffman Is The Penguin
Published by Casey Seijas on Monday, September 8, 2008 at 12:58 pm.

Johnny DeppIt’s one of the biggest — and most hotly debated — questions in fandom…which actors (and characters) will director Christopher Nolan enlist as a villain for his third “Batman” film? Rumors have abounded since the release of “The Dark Knight,” and Nolan has remained fiercely tight-lipped. But now, has one of his main players revealed some of the biggest casting news of the decade?

In an interview with MTV News conducted just hours ago at the Toronto Film Festival, Michael Caine — there to promote “Is There Anybody There?” — seemed to confirm rumors that the next installment of the “Batman” film franchise will feature two very well-known names playing the roles of The Riddler and the Bumbershoot Bandit, The Penguin. “They’ve already got them in mind,” said Caine, when asked who he’d like to see take up arms against the Caped Crusader. “It’s Johnny Depp as The Riddler. And The Penguin is Philip Seymour Hoffman. I read it in the paper.”

So Caine is like the rest of us, reading gossip in the tabloids, right? Except for one thing…according to the actor, he confirmed the news through the studio itself.

“When Christopher [Nolan] said we were going to do ‘The Dark Knight’ next, I didn’t what that meant in Batman terms,” related Caine, who plays Bruce Wayne’s loyal butler, Alfred Pennyworth. “I said, ‘What’s the story?’ and he said The Joker. I said, ‘Oh, s–t! How are you going to top Jack [Nicholson]?’ He said, ‘Well, I’ve cast Heath Ledger. And I went ‘Ha! I couldn’t top Jack, but if anyone could, maybe Heath could.’ And he did.

“I was with [a Warner Bros.] executive and I said, ‘Are we going to make another one?’ They said yeah. I said, ‘How the hell are we going to top Heath? And he says ‘I’ll tell you how you top Heath — Johnny Depp as The Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin.’ I said, ‘S–t, they’ve done it again!’” [Laughs]

While rumors of Depp and Hoffman have been hot topics around the upcoming film for quite some time, this is the first instance of one of the film’s stars speaking about the news, as well as Caine citing an albeit unnamed WB executive.

Meanwhile, when asked if he’s spoken to Nolan about the news or the next installment’s script, Caine made mention of Nolan’s vacation, and hinted that, “No. He’s gone. He’ll come back with a script sometime.”

UPDATED: PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN RESPONDS, DENIES RUMOR.

[hr]

[hr]

‘Dark Knight’ Update: Philip Seymour Hoffman Responds To Casting Rumor, ‘I Don’t Know If I’d Be A Good Penguin’
Published by Casey Seijas on Tuesday, September 9, 2008 at 4:00 pm.

Philip Seymour HoffmanYesterday, we reported that “Dark Knight” castmember Michael Caine claimed that as far as he knew, the villains for the next “Batman” film had been cast with Johnny Depp landing the role of The Riddler, and Philip Seymour Hoffman playing The Penguin. Today at the Toronto Film Festival, we went right to the source and asked Hoffman directly if he indeed had been cast as The Penguin.

“No one has talked to me about it ever — never,” replied Hoffman. “It happened, like, five years ago, too. It was a rumor back then and it’s still a rumor. [laughs] It’s just in the press. It’s funny.”

To further cement this issue, Hoffman added that he’d never met Nolan (”Maybe I did or met him in passing?”), and that his interest in comic book movies is purely on a fan level, and he intended to keep it that way.

“I’m such a fan of those movies,” related Hoffman. “Comic book movies in general I look forward to — I am a real cheerleader for them. I want them to do well because those are terrific stories. As a kid I was a big comic book collector. What [Nolan]’s doing is taking it in a whole other exciting great place. I’m more a fan, so the interest of being in it isn’t that great. It’s more the interest in wanting to see the next one. It’s probably better that way.”

When further pressed for his level of interest in the role if Warner Bros. approached him about the role, Hoffman said, “I don’t know. I think I’m more interested in seeing someone else do it. I don’t know if I’d be a good Penguin to be quite honest. [laughs]

[hr]

splash.mtv.com /dark knight update philip seymour hoffman responds to casting rumor i dont know if id be a good penguin/

I don't want Depp anywhere near this.

From chud.com:

[hr]
"IN WHICH I RETIRE FROM THE BATMAN 3 RUMOR MILL"
By Devin Faraci

I don't know when it happened, but I feel like MTV getting into the movie scoop business was a bad thing. It's not that I don't like these guys - I have enjoyed my time spent in the company of MTV's journalists at different events - and it's not like they don't break legitimate stories all the time, but they have access dumb sites like CHUD don't have, and they use that access to get totally bizarre quotes from celebrities who are just pulling things out of their asses.

Which leads me to their latest story, that Johhny Depp and Phillip Seymour Hoffman are 'in' as The Riddler and The Penguin in Batman 3. The source: Michael Caine, well known as being the creative powerhouse behind this franchise. His source? A newspaper. And a Warner Bros exec... who even in the quoted response is obviously speculating.

“I was with [a Warner Bros.] executive and I said, ‘Are we going to make another one?’ They said yeah. I said, ‘How the hell are we going to top Heath? And he says ‘I’ll tell you how you top Heath — Johnny Depp as The Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin.’ I said, ‘S–t, they’ve done it again!’”

Caine even says in the interview that Nolan is 'gone' - on his long post-The Dark Knight vacation - so there isn't even a villain decided upon, let alone casting done. I mean, Johnny Fucking Depp himself shot this nonsense down last week. At any rate, the mysterious exec talking to Caine is just spitballing ideas.

Maybe it's me. Maybe it's fun to get utterly bullshit stories like this and use them to drive bogus traffic to your site. Maybe for people trapped in offices this sort of nonsense is a nice diversion, but to me it's endlessly irritating. I imagine for many of you it's the same, like when you're at the water cooler and that dumb new secretary tell you - somebody who knows a thing or two about movies - that the Riddler is in the next Batman because she saw it in the local Pennysaver and you patiently try to explain that no, Christopher Nolan hasn't even worked on a script yet. It's just bad, bogus info.

The only thing interesting is how much of an echo chamber there is here - Caine is reading shit in the papers that came from shit on the internet and now he's stoking it back on the internet, like its confirmation. Sometimes these echo chambers get so loud that they come true - Hollywood doesn't care where an idea came from, just that they can make a buck on it - but usually all they do is obscure reality.

With that in mind I'm stepping out of it. Until something more reliable than 'Michael Caine read it in the paper' comes up, I'm done linking to sheer bullshit stories about Batman 3. I'd rather give up the hits that these stories bring - and these fuckers are hit magnets - than continue to feed this endless loop of absolute bullshit. I call on other webmasters to prove that they care more about informing their readers than lining their pockets with ad impressions and do the same - lay off the nonsense stories, the stories without decent sourcing, the blatant bullshit Oh Don Piano riffs of actors who won't know what's happening in the next film until they see a script, the crass speculation and the blatant lies. Prove that you have some standards and create a scenario where your readers can turn to you for truth, not for unfounded rumor on the level of 'Obama is a Muslim.'

[hr]

I always worry about the third film in a franchise. This is where the wheels often seem to come off. It usually starts with bad casting.

And as far as comic book films go, I think we can agree that too many villains is usually a no-no.

nevermind. repost

Yes, but are the Nolan's involved; and if not them, who?

sorry, I didn't see DP's post above and posted a whole new topic which was then added here and taken down and now I look dumb because it was a shit story to begin with. Carry on.

Well, I'd rather go Selina than Riddler and/or Penguin. Also, I'm not convinved Harvey's gone for good.

Don't recast for Joker. Bring back Aaron and cast a good Selina. We need some maturing and exploration of Bruce's character. A good female lead can help to make this happen.

No no no no, this sounds shitty already.

They started something big and important with TDK, they should continue it with the third one, but WITHOUT CHRISTIAN BALE.

1) Recast Batman as someone older, bigger, more grizzled with graying hair. Think the Comedian from the Watchmen movie.

2) Borrow numerous elements from Miller's Dark Knight Returns, massive gangs of roaming punks with a devout allegiance to the Joker, have him be their messiah(think al Qaeda) while he is the shadowy, rarely seen Osama Bin Laden as they tear apart the city on their [continued] effort to make Gotham eat itself while hunting Batman. Turn it into the Road Warrior meets Batman meets Blade Runner, with huge floating derigables launching rockets pewpew.

Have Gotham all go to complete shit in the third one the way Dent was turned to the dark side in TDK. All the colorful pretty parks, pretty buildings utterly destroyed and laid waste during the course of the movie as the hunt for Batman literally tears the city apart.

You think TDK was dark? Make the third one a total rated R civic fuck-fest.

And in the end when they finally catch Batman, someone steps in to save the day. Some guy with a red cape and boots.

Which sets it up for the 4th one. The one in which Batman and Superman combine forces and of course have something like a 30 minutes fight against each other.

No, seriously.

Great idea for a furry fanfic , but...

Roaming bands of punks? Road Warrior-style carnage? Huge floating derigables launching rockets pewpew?

Will this whole enterprise still be considered a reboot if they hire Joel Schumacher again?

Just imagine the darkest color palette painting all the grit, drama and amazing action for almost 2 hours, and then the bright red and blue guy returns to save the day like a breath of fresh air.

It can be done, and without it being an ode to Joel. Just take what was started and hinted at in TDK, combine with Miller's Dark Knight Returns.

Oh and open the movie with Batman being chased by Joker's followers across rooftops against a full moon accompanied by this piece of music.

The Goddamned BATMAN

See! Derigables!

And put that bugger on horesback like in TDKR, what a drastic change that would be from his super-technologically advanced shit- take it back to square 0.



So basically the above would be the next movie
while the below would be the 4th, essentially breaking up TDKR.

What. The. Fuck.

j/k but I don't think a lot of that would coalesce well with this live-action series unless you plan on completely dropping the style that's been developed so far. Personally, I really enjoy Nolan's more low-key, smaller-scale Batman drama. All that bombast would take away from the performances which I see as the primary draw of these films.

EDIT: ...the action's a big part of it, too. But there sure was an incredible amount of talk about Ledger/Joker.

He's done. End of story and I think it's safe to say this is the only bit of confirmed news about the next flick.

Am I the only one that doesn't want to see another villain proper in the next flick? I mean after Ledger what can any other actor do with any of the villains in the canon? I think the end of "The Dark Knight" pretty much set up a sequel under Chris' direction to be more Bat-centric than anyone is speculating and I think that's the best way to approach a three-quel in this series of flicks, using the next film as an excuse to really explore the idea of the Batman in a world that both hates and needs him.

Then it is most likely over. Nowhere to go but down.

Nowhere to go but being RE-RELEASED IN THEATERS!!

re-release

The most intriguing element to that is whether or not it'll be enough to carry TDK past Titanic.

If the Nolan’s are not involved with the new film, then all bets are off. I’m sure the Studio wouldn’t mind bringing back Two-face. Personally, I feel his story had reached its appropriate arch in TDK.

That better include an IMAX roll out as well.

Bringing back Two-Face would be an instant turn-off. It'd be typical Hollywood fare -- which would be the polar opposite of what made TDK (and to some extent Begins) a breath of fresh air.

Speaking of 50 cent face, if they bring him back can they add lots of drool cause that mofo was dry as hell in TDK to have half his jaw exposed. He should have been fighting to keep back the saliva.

Incidentally, I like the older-Batman approach. I remember reading a book of Batman short stories ... this was years ago ... (it may have been this book) in which a short story approached what kind of challenges an older batman would face. Even if it weren't commercially viable, such a movie would certainly be a fitting conclusion to a Nolan-made trilogy.

Ummm...

Did you not see the Scarecrow in the movie?

Did you not hear Gordon clearly say that Crane was still alive at the end of Begins? And Crane wasn't even as integral to the thematic and symbolic story of Begins as Dent was in TDK. Bringing back Ra's Al Ghul would have the same effect as bringing back Two-Face. The let's-make-it-seem-like-the-bad-guy-is-dead-in-one-film-then-bring-him-back-to-life-in-the-next is something I consider to be weak and lazy, particularly in film (it works only slightly better in other media) ... it'd be in direct contrast to the fresh approach Nolan is taking the franchise (especially in TDK) and it would be a huge turn off for Bats 3.

Scarecrow's cameo in TDK seemed like it was done for comic effect, to show the ridiculous effect that Batman is having on other ordinary citizens. It's like a superficial recap of the last story, except with multiple Batmen. I don't think doing it again for the third movie would work. It'd be too redundant.