Batman : The Dark Knight Blog

Kung Fu Rodeo has posted some excellent previews of The Gotham Knight anime, thanks to Juno for the heads up.

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The official Harvey Dent website, “ibelieveinharveydent.com” has been updated to include a new message and some text entry boxes for your email and phone number,

“We have the power to change Gotham City, soon you’ll find out how”

On doing so you get a quick confirmation email reading:

Citizens of Gotham! The future of our city rests in your hands! Alone, we are helpless against the thugs and killers menacing our city. Together, we have the power to take back Gotham. In just a few days, you’ll find out how. Please click … to verify your e-mail address. Keep an eye on http://www.ibelieveinharveydent.com and get ready to join a movement that will transform our city!

It looks like the second major viral marketing campaign shall be focusing around Harvey Dent, rather than the Joker, which falls in line with the rumors we have heard concerning the third Dark Knight trailer.

Via Hollywood Chicago and with thanks to Austin

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The third Dark Knight trailer is set to land in the next few weeks - how, when and where is not quite certain yet. It is widely rumored to revolve around Batman and Harvey Dent, with much less of a focus on The Joker.

Dark Horizons have recently heard that a slot before the feature film “10,000 BC” is the most likely candidate for the first trailer showing - and that premières on March 7th. We’ll keep our fingers crossed.

As an aside, the article also linked to the MTV blog which has a video with one of the new Batman toys, Bruce Wayne’s Lamborghini Murcielago.

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ComingSoon have posted a second gallery of images from the Mattel toy show, this time revealing The Joker action figure and freeing others from their restrictive child-proof packaging. Looks like their are two versions of the Joker toy - a Heath Ledger lookalike and a stylised kids representation. Also included are some close-ups of the Batmobile, Bruce Wayne’s Murcielago and Batpod auto-mobile toys.

Thanks to Ghell again for the very fast heads up!

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First stop - people taking pictures should know how to focus the subject. Rant over, moving on, Dark Horizons has got the scoop on the Mattel Two Face toy for The Dark Knight, this constitutes our very first look at the Two Face character, aka Harvey Dent portrayed by Aaron Eckhart - even if it is in the form of a toy.

Below are some photos snuck out from a restricted press event at the recent Toy Fair in New York showing off the Two-Face tie-in action figure from “The Dark Knight”. The photo displays the look of the Two-Face form of Harvey Dent (Eckhart)

Spoiler pictures after the break! Thanks to Juno and Ghell for sending this in.

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We saw a glimpse of these a couple of weeks ago, before the pictures were pulled from websites. Now Coming Soon are back with a full gallery of action figures and play time auto-mobiles. Whilst there is one Joker henchman figure, there is a distinct lack of Joker figures, possibly to respect the memory of Heath Ledger.

Mattel will be going whole hog with dozens of toys that start rolling out around May 1. There are maybe a dozen different variations of Batman in different outfits, including a “battle cape,” “stealth wing” and “Firefly Batman” (possibly inspired by the comic book villain). Noticeably absent from the display were any figures for his new arch-nemesis the Joker, probably out of respect for the family and friends of Heath Ledger, though we did get to see a few pictures. Mattel was even more secretive and careful about having any pictures of their figure for Two-Face on display, but one was listed in the materials as part of the first wave of action figures, as well as there being a new Scarecrow figure, confirming his appearance in the sequel. Instead of any of these, they had a “Gotham City Thug,” one of the Joker’s clown-faced henchmen, on display. Even more interesting were some of the vehicles on display including a look at the Batcopter and the Batpod, which is the new Batcycle, and something called the “Treadator, Ultimate Pursuit ATV” (that’s “all-terrain vehicle”), which we may have to wait and see if it’s actually a vehicle from the movie. The new “Dark Knight” toys also include a Zipline Gun and a Disc Shooting Jet, fairly typical toys customized for the movie, but the most interesting new toy might be the “Interactive Bat” which hopefully, we’ll be able to see in action on Tuesday.

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Here is our first look at the six part straight to DVD anime that fills in the gaps between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Far from a teaser trailer, this is a ten minute “premiere” with a lot of background on the Batman character and the thoughts behind its creation.

Thanks Ghell!

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By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY
LOS ANGELES — With just a few months to market one of the biggest films of the year, Warner Bros. faces the task of selling The Dark Knight without Heath Ledger — and the appearance that it is exploiting the actor’s unexpected demise.

The movie is hardly the first to suffer a star’s death before its release. But few come freighted with the same expectations of the Batman franchise, one of the most successful in Hollywood.

MORE: A star’s death can be a boost or a hurdle for a film

Before Ledger’s death by accidental overdose, director Christopher Nolan said Knight centered largely on Ledger’s character, The Joker. An early poster of the movie features Ledger in his ghoulish makeup, scrawling in blood-red lettering: “Why so serious?”

Warner Bros. has announced no plans to change the film’s content and says the movie is still set for release July 18. On the studio’s Dark Knight website, most of the marketing materials have been removed in favor of a memorial page and a link to a single trailer.

But soon the studio will have to sell its film — and decide how much Ledger’s role will be a part of the campaign.

“Whenever the persona of a screen icon is mixed with reality in the media, it’s a tricky problem,” says Peter Guber, the former head of Columbia Pictures and producer of the first Batman film in 1989. “The media often tailgate behind the story, and it becomes bigger than the movie.”

Knight, Guber says, may benefit from the passage of time and by Ledger’s role as villain: “In today’s world, the media digestion and regurgitation of information is so rapid that even the bad news passes out of the ether quickly. The fact that it’s not being released until July is a big benefit to the studio.”

Also, Guber says, “if this had been Batman who died, you’d have a bigger problem. It can be even more depressing if your hero triumphs in the movie, but you know in real life he’s gone.”

Analysts say that the studio may be best served by focusing on other stars.

“They’ll probably step up the plan have to shift the trailers to other characters, like Harvey Dent,” the district attorney played by Aaron Eckhart, says Anne Thompson of Variety.

The studio also “will have to be very gentle in how they present the movie,” she says. “But fans will turn out not only for the movie, but to see the last performance by this great actor.”

Guber says the key is laying low. “Just let it be for a while. If you can’t make it better, don’t make it worse. This wasn’t something that happened on the set. It’s life and death. Things go on.”

Contributing: LuzElena Avitia

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How will Warner Bros. sell a summer blockbuster marked by tragedy?
By Kim Masters

Knight’s Tale: Despite persistent rumors that Heath Ledger had not finished recording all his lines for the upcoming Batman movie, Warner Bros. insists that director Christopher Nolan got what he needed while filming.

Warner has kept largely mum about how it will manage its big investment in The Dark Knight after Ledger’s sad and untimely death. The studio is still figuring out what to do not just with the film but with products like T-shirts and toys. In fact, the studio has set a big meeting for today to discuss those merchandising questions.

Warner plans to release the movie as planned in July. Usually, after filming is completed, actors do looping sessions—that is, they record and perfect their lines in a studio. It would be unusual for Nolan to have all the sound that he wants at this early stage but a producer—not associated with this project—tells us that it’s not impossible. “I can’t think of a movie where there were no looped lines whatsoever, but I can think of movies where a main character was not looped,” he says.

On a big-budget franchise picture like The Dark Knight, he adds, looping would be the norm. “When you are doing a movie like Batman, as opposed to The Savages, you loop,” he explains. “You are a perfectionist because you have the money to do it and the studio gives you whatever you want. You go through 17 takes of Heath Ledger saying, ‘I’m the Joker,’ and if it isn’t just right, you loop it.”

Warner could use a voice artist if needed—and there are rumors that the studio will do that. If so, the studio’s denials would be understandable: Warner wouldn’t want the public to be listening for variations in the voice when the movie is released. But the producer assures: “With a good voice artist, you would never know the difference.”

Indeed, when Spartacus was rereleased in 1991, the studio wanted to insert the deleted seduction “snails and oysters” scene between Tony Curtis and Laurence Olivier. The footage was there, but the sound was not. Curtis was available to redo his lines; Olivier’s part was seamlessly performed by Anthony Hopkins.

A Warner executive acknowledges that another actor may at least have to provide a Joker voice for such things as a planned theme-park attraction. Some marketing efforts—like an idea that involved calls to fans’ cell phones—may be scrapped.

Dozens of licensing agreements have been in place for months, but another studio source says that relatively few involve Ledger’s image. Many Batman-associated products are aimed at children aged 5 to 9, so, this executive says, Warner was proceeding with a degree of caution even before Ledger’s demise because of the intensity of the Joker’s character in the film. For some products, the cartoon image of the Joker was already being used. And Ledger did photo shoots so that his likeness could be used on certain products such as T-shirts.

Now Warner has to figure out what to do with products bearing that likeness. “You don’t want people to think you’re exploiting his death,” the source explains. “But his character is part of the movie, and he was on board with wanting to do this with his character.” And if Warner doesn’t release the merchandise, “The pirates would come out of the woodwork, and then it’s completely out of control.”

Meanwhile, Warner is likely to alter some of its marketing campaign, which featured Ledger’s image in the early going. A source close to the project says the plan all along was to start with the Joker and then segue to the image of Aaron Eckhart as Two-Face. In the film, Two-Face is in a love triangle with Rachel Dawes, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. It was clever to cast Gyllenhaal in the role vacated by Katie Holmes. Both have similar kewpie-doll faces, so it’s not a grating change. And Gyllenhaal brings more weight to the part. That’s one less thing to worry about in a blockbuster that’s already carrying a lot of weight.

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DVDTown got in first on this one, with thanks to Ghell who sent this in.

According to a just held press conference Warner Bros. has some new exciting Batman releases on its way.

Batman Begins: Limited Collector’s Edition Gift Set [that’s a mouthful] will arrive on DVD and Blu-ray. The Batman Anthology box will also be released on Blu-ray.

Again, all titles should arrive this fall and will probaly be released alongside the latest Batman installment “The Dark Knight.”

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