‘Dark Knight Rises’ $161.8M For All-Time 2D Opening Weekend; $76.1M Friday 3rd All-Time Domestic Debut Day & Best 2D Single Day; $45.2M Saturday, $40.5M Sunday; Tragedy Lowers Grosses For All Movies

Comments (266)

• His comment that he doesn’t want TDKR to “be just a superhero movie” sums up why his Batman films have never really clicked with me. I don’t agree with his belief that it’s necessary for a Batman movie to be dark, bleak and serious in order for it to be good. In my opinion the Avengers was the perfect example of a good superhero movie in that it combined lightness and fun with good writing and characters. I hope that that any forthcoming non-Nolan Batman movies can incorporate a little bit more of the Avengers sensibilities.

  Comment by Non-Hollywood Guy — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 6:05pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Nolan is right, his films are not superhero films, they are a lot better than that and a lot more timely. They are crime dramas that speak about a man and a society that is crumbling by its own corruption. Avengers was a pretty good movie but the film is a happy meal of cool ideals compared to Nolan’s Batman trilogy, which can be compared to a four course dinner of thought and reflection about the world we live in.

    Comment by Tim — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 7:09pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • I second that. Well put

      Comment by charlie — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 8:14pm PDT  Reply to this post

      • I’m no a fan of his other movies, but he’s got it on the nose on this one–a well thought out trilogy and fresh interpretation on the superhero genre.

        He handling it modestly so I say kudos to Nolan–hope the film does well.

        Comment by demopublican — Thursday July 19, 2012 @ 12:16am PDT  Reply to this post

    • I think both are great in their own way, “The Avengers” was fantastic and the Nolan “Batman” films have been superb as well. “The Avengers” is jump out of your seat, adrenaline filled, heart beating, fist pumping, action packed fun. While “The Dark Knight” is provocative, dark, broding, intense crime drama suspense. To me there is no one kind of film is better, because the both exceed exceptionally well at what they set out to do. That’s why people kill me they complain about either film because they’re not more like the other, now that would just be damn boring. ‘The Avengers” can’t be made like TDK, it’s just not that type of film, no more than TDK could be made like “The Avengers”. I happen to enjoy both films for different reasons, and both films are knockouts in my opinion. I’m looking forward to seeing TDKR tomorrow night, hopefully that will be great as well.

      Comment by orlando — Thursday July 19, 2012 @ 12:57am PDT  Reply to this post

    • What a crock of hooey. Nolan’s Batman movies are nothing more than an ode to his ego. As with Inception they’re bloated, overlong, pretentious and self-aggrandizing. It’s Nolan saying “Looky everyone! I be the smartest dude making movies today!” The bottom line is that Batman is a superhero and therefore any movie featuring Batman as the main protagonist is a superhero movie. Nolan can dress it up that sentiment all he wants but as the saying goes, “You can put lipstick on a pig but it’s still just a pig wearing lipstick.”

      Comment by Stacy — Friday July 20, 2012 @ 9:40am PDT  Reply to this post

      • Yes. All Superhero movies should look and feel like the AVENGERS. All of them.

        Dear Lord, as if the massive box office returns don’t point to the huge popularity of Nolan’s films, no less a comic book geek than Kevin Smith has exalted the Dark Knight as the best superhero movie ever.

        What you don’t get, is that as the dominant genre of this decade, much like the Westerns of the 1950s-1070s… Superhero movies can be social commentary, political allegory, or metaphor for something else. They can also be mindless, fun entertainment like the AVENGERS. THEY DON’T ALL HAVE TO HAVE THE SAME STYLE AND TONE. Get it, now?

        Comment by DarkSprite — Friday July 20, 2012 @ 6:13pm PDT  Reply to this post

        • Haha, love how you try to slip that ‘mindless fun entertainment’ line in there. While i can’t say that i agree with that logic, “The Avengers” & TDK are indeed totally different kinds of films, which is cool. It’s differences like these films that help give the comic book film genre versatility and broader ranges, which is the way it’s supposed to be.

          Comment by orlando — Friday July 20, 2012 @ 7:11pm PDT  

        • Um, who the hell are you responding to? Cos the guy before didn’t say all superhero films need the same style and tone. But I’m guessing your capacity for rational thought went out the window as soon as the first flecks of foam formed.

          BTW…you lost me completely when you wheeled out Heavvie Kevvie as the ultimate authority on cinematic greatness.

          This is like the king hell of WTF moments. Death threats on RT. Shootings in cinemas. All connected to a film that’ll be sitting next to Jack and Jill in the bargain bin in 2014. Like Inception today. I mean, who really cares about Inception. I’ve yet to come across anyone who cherishes that con job the same way Star Wars, Mulholland Drive, Die Hard, Alien or some of Jim Cameron’s stuff is cherished today.

          Let’s face it, Nolan’s Batman films are giant con jobs. They pretend to explore serious themes. Just so the audience can feel self-important whilst watching craptastic popcorn blockbusters with the brains of Transformers 3. They say nothing about life or humanity that’s not clichéd, hackneyed or blatantly obvious. Their stories say nothing genuinely new and novel.

          However, there’s one thing about TDKR that’s both new and novel, and truly sad and depressing, and that’s the consumer jihad against dissenters. The violence, anger and hate generated against those who refuse to endorse “Batman the product” are immorality personified.

          Of course Nolan endorses this jihad. Unable to think beyond his own ego, he labels Limbaugh’s interruption “bizarre” whilst identifying with the goons who threaten and abuse those who reject and repudiate Batman the product. A morally courageous man would have rejected Limbaugh’s repugnant attempts to rabble rouse whilst also condemning the calculated savagery and viciousness of his rabid fans.

          However, one suspects that Nolan is luxuriating in the fan jihad, lost in his favorite dream, much like his doppelganger from Inception, Cobb.

          Comment by Eva — Friday July 20, 2012 @ 9:35pm PDT  

        • Eva, your response is pretty over the top. There are still plenty of people who value the movie Inception. And no the Dark Knight Rises will not be in the bargain bins by 2014 just because you happen to not like the film. There haven’t been “shootings in cinemas.” There was ONE shooting in ONE cinema by ONE deranged individual. It’s one two many, but that doesn’t make it the fault of Christopher Nolan.

          Comment by cookmeyer1970 — Sunday July 22, 2012 @ 9:33am PDT  

        • Jeez. Why so angry Eva?

          Comment by woodrow — Sunday July 22, 2012 @ 10:35am PDT  

      • So what’s your point? Are you saying because something is a superhero movie that it’s not worthy of being something special or can become something out of the ordinary? That kind of ignorant attitude is what has held the genre back before this new golden age of Oscar caliber films came to light.

        Comment by Hooey debunker — Sunday July 22, 2012 @ 11:48am PDT  Reply to this post

    • I asked my son what is the Batman attraction. He and his brother have loved him forever and they are now 16 and 20. He said Mom, he is just a guy with gadgets, that had a bad childhood. He is not a superhero as he has no powers, just a guy with gadgets.

      Comment by Tessa — Saturday July 21, 2012 @ 3:19pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • I third that.

      Comment by Tonia — Sunday July 22, 2012 @ 2:33pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • While I see your point, I have to point out that the world Batman/Bruce lives is in is completely different in tone then that of any Avengers related film. If you transplanted the “tones” of Iron Man or The Avengers into Batman if would end up being more like Batman Forever(to a lesser extent) because it just doesn’t fit.

    To me, Nolan’s films have done something that is rarely done, it raised Batman, his character, his world, and his problems out of just being a “Comic Book Film”. It became more. It became something that we would all relate to on some level and ponder on. The moral dilemma’s and plot twists in the Dark Knight alone make your head spin. Because sometimes the world is dark, sometimes we can’t handle it.

    Nolan has raised one of the most well known characters from the ashes and built a beacon to stand tall and remind everyone not just what film-making is about, but what life is about.

    Comment by The Doctor — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 8:05pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • This entire thread shows why Hollywood is so loathed by the rest of the world – while most of mankind grieves for the loss of huiman life, you debate the intricacies of a lame, overdone movie series.

      The violence is Hollywood is the reason young Mr. Holmes snapped. and the blood in Aurora is on the hands of Christopher Nolan, Warner Bros. and whoever wrote this dreck. The violence in movies has caused another mass killing and I hope Hollywood is happy.

      Nolan, Warner Brothers executives and the writers of the Batman movies (and others of its ilk) should be brought up on criminal charges. They killed those 12 people just as surely as the gunman.

      Comment by Lance Leno — Saturday July 21, 2012 @ 6:42am PDT  Reply to this post

      • Good Lord. It’s always someone else’s fault, right? Are you part of the soon-to-be Holmes defense team?

        Holmes pulled trigger. HE killed 12 people, not Nolan or Warner Brothers. The violence in Hollywood is why he snapped?! My God. By that idiotic & ass-backwards logic, ALL of us should’ve turn psycho by now. Violence isn’t new to Hollywood, TV News, Radio, Newspapers, the Internet, or any other media outlet. You sure you’re not part of the defense team? Or are you some mouthpiece of Dershovitz, or Cochran, or Bob Dole?

        Take your “It’s not my fault!” immaturity and grow up. I hope my harsh words don’t make YOU snap. I’d hate for you to blame someone else for YOUR actions…

        Comment by Greg — Saturday July 21, 2012 @ 7:25am PDT  Reply to this post

      • Yes, why are all you terrible people talking about a movie on an entertainment website? The nerve! You should be out there doing something to help the victims like trolling comment boards.

        Comment by Chet — Saturday July 21, 2012 @ 10:55am PDT  Reply to this post

        • WE should get back to prayer in school. Teaching kids that they are not accidents but created by God the giver of life. lets show them DNA. the fingerprint of God. let us reveal the truth. Lets get back to biblical values. all people are created in the image of God. That maked each life special and sacred. Lets teach them the gospel and the good news of salvation. the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. when we ignore God and push him out of society then as the scripture states “as a man sows that will he also reap”

          Comment by stephen — Saturday July 21, 2012 @ 6:22pm PDT  

        • Boycott violence. Boycott those who profit from violence. Boycott Warner Bros and the Dark Knight Rises.

          Comment by Drew — Sunday July 22, 2012 @ 6:12pm PDT  

      • Hollywood isn’t loathed by the rest of the world. The rest of the world loves Hollywood. It’s our fringe right-wing nut jobs who blame movie directors as opposed to gun lobbyists for tragedies like this one that the world pities for their ignorance.

        Comment by NewYorkLiberalJew — Saturday July 21, 2012 @ 12:24pm PDT  Reply to this post

      • Wow, Lance, you’re just as bad as lamestream media, wanting to point the finger at everyone else instead of blaming the one person who should be held accountable for his actions: James Holmes. The blame should rest solely on this man’s shoulders.

        Comment by Andrew — Saturday July 21, 2012 @ 11:02pm PDT  Reply to this post

      • I really hope the FBI has “Lance Leno” on some sort of watchlist; blaming Warner Bros and Christopher Nolan for some psychotic waste of life killing innocent movie-goers? Who do you NOT hate?

        Comment by WOW — Sunday July 22, 2012 @ 2:23am PDT  Reply to this post

      • Why are you even reading and posting on a site about box office then? Regardless, people aren’t even discussing b.o. on this thread. If you hadn’t noticed pretty much every post is about the tragedy with little reference to its financial impact.

        Comment by cookmeyer1970 — Sunday July 22, 2012 @ 9:37am PDT  Reply to this post

      • Spot on comment insightful one. Couldn’t have said it better myself

        Comment by doutingtomss — Sunday July 22, 2012 @ 4:38pm PDT  Reply to this post

      • What’s wrong with you, Lance?

        12 people are dead. The LAST thing they need is people like you attaching it to an agenda.

        Bet you feel really good about yourself, don’t you, taking the fictional moral high ground?

        Comment by Stef — Sunday July 22, 2012 @ 5:36pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • Saw TDKR at an afternoon matinee at a multiplex here in the sticks. Happened wifey was free then.

      Theater was about 50% full. Don’t get me wrong — this is a very good movie. But it’s not as good as TDK. I enjoyed it, recognize the effort that went into it, and realize any movie anybody would make as a sequel to a giga-blockbuster like TDK was going to suffer in comparison.

      IMO, the problem is the story itself. In BB, we saw the conflict within Bruce Wayne; the main story though, was Batman versus Ra’s al Ghul. The conflict in TDK within Bruce Wayne gets superseded by the conflict Bruce Wayne has with Harvey Dent over Rachel at the same time Batman’s fighting the Joker. In TDK, IMO, it’s those two conflicts that shape the movie, and turned it into something special.

      In TDKR, we have “Batman playing Hamlet doing Inception.” This time, the conflict within Bruce Wayne can’t be ignored, or rationalized away. That’s a difficult subject to depict on film, let alone wrap into what is in essence, a “war movie.” So, we’re left with birth (BB), death (TDK), and resurrection (TDKR). It’s complete and satisfying, as a whole, but TDKR just isn’t as…dramatic.

      As I said, I liked the movie. I want to see it again. But I had the same feeling I had when the credits rolled on Inception.

      Comment by Sam Damon — Saturday July 21, 2012 @ 5:25pm PDT  Reply to this post

      • “The conflict in TDK within Bruce Wayne gets superseded by the conflict Bruce Wayne has with Harvey Dent over Rachel at the same time Batman’s fighting the Joker. In TDK, IMO, it’s those two conflicts that shape the movie, and turned it into something special.”

        Sorry Sam Damon,

        But in my opinion that feeble, poorly drawn, passionless love triangle is one of the major weaknesses of TDK (a movie I find tedious and overrated) along with its bloated, overly complicated plot. Nolan is tries hard to make a complex narrative filled with interconnected plot strands and characters like HEAT (the movie he admits was his inspiration), but he fails miserably; he includes subplots that are pointless — Is there really any reason why Jim Gordon has to pretend he’s dead? HEAT had fascinating secondary and minor characters, all of which are memorably drawn. TDK has NO interesting or memorable characters beyond the Joker. There isn’t a single relationship in that movie to care about. Batman Begins, on the other hand, has numerous intriguing characters and performances in addition to the main characters (Dr. Crane/Scarecrow, the corrupt cop Flass, Carmine Falcone, Ra’s Al Ghul, even Joe Chill made an impression) and a taut plot that weaves them all together. Batman Begins deserves the praise. TDK is all hype and Ledger’s tragic death.

        Comment by fanboys ruin everything — Monday July 23, 2012 @ 11:44am PDT  Reply to this post

  • He didn’t say Batman has to be dark, just that his vision was. And it’s resulted in a wildly successful, award winning trilogy. The key is having your own vision. How much of a disaster would the Avengers have been if when it became clear that none of Marvel’s stand alone movies could come close to touching the Dark Knight’s success someone at Marvel has gone, “wow we better make this one really dark like Batman!”?

    If comic book films are to survive they must have uniqueness. Seriously comparing Avengers and Dark Knight Rises is like comparing Young Frankenstein and Taxi Driver. Terrific movies, but far too different for any sensible person to compare.

    Comment by Katherine — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 8:15pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • >comparing Avengers and Dark Knight Rises is like comparing Young Frankenstein and Taxi Driver

      I was just thinking that it’s interesting to compare Christopher Nolan’s vision of a New York crime fighter in Batman to Scorsese’s vision of Travis Bickle.

      Avengers and TDKR are both films for kids but one is for kids who know they are kids and the other is for kids who think they’re adults. Comparing them doesn’t seem strange at all.

      But comparing TDKR to TAXI DRIVER is more interesting.

      Comment by markLouis — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 9:04pm PDT  Reply to this post

      • If you want to follow that line of thinking, I suggest you read Frank Miller’s script for ‘Batman: Year One’. That film (which would have been directed by Darren Aronofsky) IS ‘Taxi Driver’. Miller’s conception of Bruce Wayne is a lower-class psychotic who writes letters to his dead father, becomes obsessed with a prostitute (Selina Kyle) and beats criminals to within an inch of their lives. If you want to see the line where ‘dark’ becomes ‘too dark’, that’s it.

        Comment by Alan — Thursday July 19, 2012 @ 12:31am PDT  Reply to this post

        • Frank Miller’s Batman being in line to Travis Bickle is an interesting concept. I’ve always compared Batman to Paul Kersey, Charles Bronson’s character in Death Wish. I think people forgot Batman use to carry a Colt .45

          Comment by Me and My Girlfriend — Saturday July 21, 2012 @ 5:23am PDT  

      • Did you just say TDKR is for kids? I almost chocked on the water I was drinking with that comment!

        Comment by Nathan Rose — Thursday July 19, 2012 @ 11:32am PDT  Reply to this post

        • >Did you just say TDKR is for kids? I almost chocked…

          Like all good third chapters TDKR evokes the first chapter. The start of BB is a brutish thug calling himself the Devil picking a fight with Bruce Wayne and Wayne saying something like, “You’re not the Devil. You’re practice.” Now TDKR is an extended fist-fight, a kind of three hour tough-guy competition, between the ultimate brutish thug Bane and Bruce Wayne pounding and pounding on each other.

          Who else but a child would call it high art to craft a metaphor of the Devil—the Judeo-Christian opponent of God, a fallen angel of light and beauty who destroys human souls through subtle guile, seduction and brilliant lies—as a brutish thug we confront in fist-fights?

          Compare it—just for a similarly physical confrontation for instance—to PROMETHEUS with Shaw and her companions desperate to understand the Engineers and then confronting what they have barely started to understand.

          I said TDKR was for children who think they are adults.

          Comment by markLouis — Thursday July 19, 2012 @ 1:12pm PDT  

  • Batman doesn’t NEED to be dark and gloomy, Nolan just wanted to make a set of superhero movies that were dark and gloomy and that reflected a lot more than just a guy dressing in a bat costume and fighting crime. We got the comedic Batman in the 60s, we got the “quirky dark” from the Burton versions, we got the “soft PG-13″ versions from Schumaker, it was time to tell the story for a more adult audience. There’s room for the Avengers and the X-Men and the Spider-Men that range from lighter to a good middle ground, Nolan’s Batman is just something different and totally merited. That said, I’m actually really curious to see where they take the franchise next. It’s clear that they’re going to make more Batman films after making so much money with Nolan, and it’s definitely going to be different.

    Comment by Prax — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 8:29pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Very well put, NHG. I agree with you 100%. I enjoy watching Nolan’s take on Batman, but his real-world, stripped-down approach to the character takes most of the fun and sense of wonder I felt with Tim Burton’s two Batman films. I appreciate seeing a darker tone after the Batman & Robin turdfest, but Nolan’s vision feels like a well-made crime-drama stuffed inside a cape and cowl. Conversely, Avengers remained true to its comic book roots, giving ample doses of action, drama, and fun in equal measure. THAT is what I want in my silverscreen comic book heroes. I like Nolan’s Batman, but I wanted to love it like I did Burton’s.

    Comment by Sean — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 10:00pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • I agree, while i think Nolan has done a very good job with the ‘Batman’ series, he seems to look down on the comic book genre for some reason. Like an elitest type of attitude saying i’m too good for any fantasy silly elements so i’ll work extra hard to ground this film in reality. Nothing wrong with that, just remember that’s the world ‘Batman’ was created from, where he comes from, no matter how you direct your film. Now i say this because i have been a ‘Batman’ fan for all these decades i’ve been around, way before any of these films ever existed, not just some johnny come lately fan when Nolan started directing these films.

    Comment by orlando — Thursday July 19, 2012 @ 12:40am PDT  Reply to this post

    • @orlando-

      You are either lying or uninformedt. Any real fan of Batman “for all these decades” would know that there has never been one single version of Batman, that most of the time he has been more dark than ‘fun,’ and that comic books themselves have evolved beyond their humble origins in wonderful ways. The only way you might not be a liar is if you were referring to the tv show, which has very seldom resembled the comic books, in which case you would be completely uninformed. Maybe both?

      You are the only elitist here, buddy, with the obnoxious and uninformed caricature of comic books Upon which you’ve yoked your, ah, argument.

      Comment by BS Detector — Sunday July 22, 2012 @ 11:48am PDT  Reply to this post

      • Nah my man, i grew up in the hood, so ain’t nothing elitest about me. I’m well informed, let me make this very clear to you, the dark elements of ‘Bats’ are very cool. If you read my comments correctly i said that Nolan has done a damn fine job with his version of the ‘Batman’ films, clearly the best versions on the big screen i have seen. I’m just saying from where i see it, Nolan does not seem to embrace the Comic Book film genre, hell he has’nt even shown up at one Comic Con or any convention to at least thank the fans for all their support and maybe shake a few hands, do you understand what i’m saying ‘B$ Detector’, which is what i’m detecting from you potna.

        Comment by orlando — Sunday July 22, 2012 @ 10:36pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • No snark or disrespect at all intended in the following…You probably don’t read the Batman comics. I’m a lifelong comics reader (starting at 7, on through the 70s, 80s and 90s) and I’ve read many of the seminal issues, including THE LONG HALLOWEEN, THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, KNIGHTFALL, NO MAN’S LAND, A DEATH IN THE FAMILY, THE KILLING JOKE and many of the dark tomes Nolan has drawn from. Nolan is not superimposing a style that contradicts the material, but rather enhances it. The comics have always been bleak, other than their campy/sci-fi turn in the 50s and 60s. Nolan and his team have elevated the material. The Nolan bros. & Goyer screenplays have been much more layered, nuanced and psychologically gripping than pretty much any Batman comic has ever been. Marvel has their particular “brand” of hero, whereas DC has theirs. And Nolan’s Batman is spot on. Maybe it’s not your cup of tea, but his take does not detract at all from the source material. If you like your heroes “light” then Batman is definitely not the one.

    Comment by J.J. — Thursday July 19, 2012 @ 7:58am PDT  Reply to this post

    • Holy load of crap, Batan. How short a memory do all the “life-long comics readers” actually have?

      The period of time, generally beginning with the publishing of Batman: The Dark Knight and the Watchmen, kicked off within the entire comics industry an era affectionally known as “the grim era” — or a play on traditional comic era naming, “The Dark Age” — which culminated in the entire implosion of the comics industry around 1996 as people finally realized that beyond the initial popularity of a minority of high quality ground-breaking stories, the comics companies were literally in a race to the bottom to outdo the violence and grittiness in the stories they were telling. And DC was the one company most attached with the phenomenon, reimagining many, many of its classic characters as violent and flawed psychopathic anti-heroes. What’s interesting is their application of these themes to Batman, which they most certainly did (the clawed murderous Azrael-as-Batman), most especially with the Knightfall series which had Bane break Batman’s back and exists as the key climactic data-mined plot element for Nolan’s TDKR. No doubt the other companies like Marvel capitalized on the craze with the Punisher and Wolverine; and Image as a company was founded on the ideals, so I’m not unfairly dogpiling all of this on DC. But DC was most prolific in expanding the themes to every single also-ran superhero from its entire publishing history. In hindsight, most everyone — except that one fan of Lobo somewhere who still pines for those stories — agrees it was a bad thing for DC and the industry to go this route; there were some good sellers, and some classic stories, but it nearly destroyed the entire industry with a flood of violent and dark crap where it didn’t belong within superhero stories.

      Getting back more directly to your point, most interesting that nearly all the stories you cite, and I agree they are all thematic — if not outright — source material for TDKR are NOT historic Batman stories, but rather nearly all from this time period:
      The Long Halloween, 1996-1997
      The Dark Knight Returns, 1986
      Knightfall, 1993
      No Man’s Land, 1999
      Kiling Joke, 1988
      A Death in the Family, 1988

      It’s like Nolan has only focused on one of the worst (comic-industry-wise) 10-year periods in a 70-year old character whose ranged in everything from a simple crime-fighter to a UFO, alien-fighter with a Batmite sidekick. Sure, The Dark Knight Returns and Killing Joke are great, great things. But, there cannot be any more heartless, gimmicky “event” — symbolizing the worst of that era from which these stories are taken from — than A Death in the Family, a story that allowed comic readers to dial a 1-900 number to determine whether Batman’s fan-hated current version Robin-replacement sidekick got brutally murdered, butchered with a crowbar.

      The one key thing in all of this is the reason why Nolan simply doesn’t get it:

      Does everyone understand that the entire thesis of Knightfall — and the intent of its writers — was to REPUDIATE the then in-vogue style of violence in superhero comics and demonstrate that the TRADITIONAL SUPERHERO Batman was the best?

      Nolan’s TDKR movie takes the darkness and violence as its theme, discards the traditional superheroic themes that makes Batman who he is, and completely misses the point that its precisely not the violence and darkness that defines the Batman. There’s a reason why no publisher wrote stories anymore like the one Nolan’s told with TDKR. It’s like he’s the only one still stuck in 1993.

      Look, Nolan made a damn fine, poem to violence for violence’s sake, because in his mind he held paramount the idea that the supervillain needed to test the Batman as physically as the others tested him mentally. I get that. But, he clearly misses the essence of both the Batman as well as the very stories he data-mined to tell his version. His apologists who style themselves “life-long comics readers” should remember to keep that era of history, and the moral of Knightfall, in mind. If Nolan were such the masterful movie visionary, then one would think that instead of simply having the Batman, plot-wise, overcome the brutality of Bane but still confined within the artistic style of the dark and brutal theme, that he could have also shown the triumph of the traditional superhero over the Bane darkness thematically and artistically, as well.

      But, wait, maybe I was too quick to judge. I just saw the other day that DC’s recently brought Lobo back. The original Image creators all finally made up and recently had a reunion. Marvel’s retitled X-Men, Wolverine and the X-Men.

      Maybe Nolan’s on to something here. Maybe instead of moving forward, America’s finally drug itself back the place it was, culturally, where we were 20 years ago, where the worst, darkest, most violent was the coolest. Great for him to nail the zeitgeist. But, I do hope it’s something that is gotten over quicker than the last time it was considered hot.

      Comment by So I'm Not All That Big a Fan of the Grim Era — Saturday July 21, 2012 @ 9:20am PDT  Reply to this post

      • Although the person that you were correcting mentioned primarily the stuff published from the “grim” era, you too have a very short memory. Batman has been a darker comic from the beginning. Yes, early on, his image started become a bit lighter as he became more popular and the addition of Robin to attract more children. But the silliness that people remember from the Adam West show didn’t really kick in until that Canadian kid started shooting at people and blamed comics. That’s when the hammer went down on the tone of comics.

        But the silly era of Batman only lasted about 20 years. When the TV show went off the air, the comic started to revert to a darker grimmer tone. Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams (circa late-1960s to early 1980s) run on the Batman series cemented the dark tones back into the comics. Doug Moench and Gene Colan (circa 1982 to 1986) then cemented the gritty tones of the original Batman even further in their run. During the runs of these runs, there were already such adult and dark themes as incest, suicide, mass murder, assassination, etc.

        And I’ll just touch lightly on the implosion of the comic industry in the 1990s really quick. The implosion happened because the two companies were pushing too much product at the time with poor quality. The X-Tinction Agenda is probably the best place to point to in both the high demand for customers to buy series they didn’t like with the low quality of writing and art at the time (although both companies had many many examples).

        Also, it was during this time that the luster for one of the darkest anti-heroes was watered down. Wolverine was the dark brooding sociopath who couldn’t keep his temper in check. However pretty early in the “grim” era, he began to be toned down to a father figure type character that turned alot of comic fans off.

        Comment by JoJo Dog — Sunday July 22, 2012 @ 12:50am PDT  Reply to this post

  • yeah, nolan didnt say anything about necessity, he had a vision and he stayed true to it…batman doesnt have to be dark, and no one’s gonna force you to go see tdkr

    Comment by lacapra — Thursday July 19, 2012 @ 8:53am PDT  Reply to this post

  • I have to start this by saying, I was a huge fan of Batman as kid, and while I was still a kid I got to see Tim Burton’s Batman movies, and I loved them. I was a teen when they re-booted them in the mid 90′s, and did not see Batman Forever, and Batman and Robin cause I thought they just didn’t look right, and I was busy doing other things. When they re-booted Batman again in 2005, as an adult in my 20′s, I felt I had moved on from Batman and did not see either Batman Begins or The Dark Knight. Now I am 31 and thought, what the heck, I should go see the “last” one in the trilogy, so I watched all the Batman movies on Wnds and Thurs, so I would be ready on Friday to see Dark Knight Rises. I thought BM Forever was funny and pretty good, but did not like Val as Batman. BM & Robin was kind of a mess, but has good moments. Batman Begins was kind of boring with nothing really happening to keep my focus and paused it several times before I finshed it, I also did not care for Christian’s Batman performance, but I see where he was trying to go with it. The Dark Knight was good, but only because of the Joker. Even then, the movie was about an hour to long, and the movie seemed like it was edited down to get the PG-13 rating. It was like I was watching a horror film edited for TV. TDKR’s was good, but also about an hour to long. I did not think Bane was very scary, mostly because I could not understand him. Catwoman was also I think a mis-cast role. Another thing about TDKR’s is that I was not fooled by it, I figured out what the mis-direction was about the Bane and “the woman” as each scene unfolded (wait, it that a little “girl”). So overall my grades are Tim BM: A-. Joel BM: C+. Nolan: I want to give it a B, but since all three were way to long, I’m gonna say C-. Go ahead haters, tell me where I’m wrong.

    Comment by justin — Saturday July 21, 2012 @ 1:59am PDT  Reply to this post

    • Ha, so since the movies, in your opinion was to (it’s actually too) long, you give the movies a c-? Ha, that’s laughable. The movies deserve at least a B due to the excellent acting, cinematography and interesting plots.

      Comment by Justin Poppiti, Esq. — Sunday July 22, 2012 @ 10:40am PDT  Reply to this post

  • Superhero movie or not, the tackiest thing I have seen this weekend is the Colorado flag with Batman underneath. Anyone who posts this to their Facebook –

    I’m looking at YOU Adam Marshall

    – half not an ounce of self-awareness or tact. Sorry, whether these tragic victims were huge Batman fans who went opening night and loved the franchise, I doubt that they want their deaths to be wrapped in some Shepard Fairey-style plot for a graphic artist to make a name for themselves. I doubt they want their death being more about Batman being sad, or just being tied in to Batman at all. It was a movie, they may be a fan, they may be a fan of the Dodgers and have season tickets and Dodger bedsheets, but they’re gruesome and senseless murder does not need to be “Shared” or “Liked” on Facebook.

    Get a clue.

    Comment by dl — Saturday July 21, 2012 @ 11:15am PDT  Reply to this post

  • The Avengers sucked man, it had very little story and was such a kiddie film that I felt like I was watching power rangers. TDKR was great and was very adult themed.

    Anyone that says Avengers was just as good or better than TDKR needs help imo.

    One scene from TDKR that haunts me and had more horror in it than that of the whole Avengers film was the scene where those police officers get hanged from choopers in the air.

    No Marvel film can top that scene

    Comment by Jason — Saturday July 21, 2012 @ 1:52pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • Well stated and absolutely accurate, IMO.

      Comment by David — Saturday July 21, 2012 @ 10:06pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • Nah man, “The Avengers” did’nt suck, it was EPIC. Everyone has thier opinion, i saw TDKR friday night and thought it was good but not great. I’m someone who thought “The Avengers” was superior to TDKR, and trust me on this homeboy, i don’t need no help, haha.

      Comment by orlando — Sunday July 22, 2012 @ 1:58am PDT  Reply to this post

    • RAIDERS and STAR WARS didn’t have that kind of darkness either. Different movies, different tones, different intentions – all quality pieces of work. Your comparison is baseless.

      Comment by DDD — Sunday July 22, 2012 @ 10:08am PDT  Reply to this post

      • Exactly, so what some people are saying is that if a film is not dark, dense and grounded in reality it’s not a great film, people need to bounce up out of here with those rediculous comments. If that we’re truly the case than like you said, you’re saying films like RAIDERS, STAR WARS or for that matter ET, BACK TO THE FUTURE, LORD OF THE RINGS, SPIDER-MAN 2, JAWS, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, ALIEN(S) etc are’nt great either.

        Comment by orlando — Sunday July 22, 2012 @ 10:49pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • The Avengers is not that good of the film. The Dark Knight Rises is far better. Difference is that Nolan knows how to write and direct movies while Whedon depends on his ineffective jokes to produce a response.

    Based Joss Whedon’s poor The Cabin in the Woods screenplay, his The Avengers movie essentially performed good just because of the super hero element rather than his directing and writing abilities. Consolidating the top Marvel super heroes is a giveaway to generate high movie box office results. The story conveys very little in the end.

    Many times in The Avengers, the movie seemed lost. It had to make something happen to advance the plot. Agent Phil Coulson’s scene is a poor motivational factor.

    Comment by BoxOfficeWeekend — Saturday July 21, 2012 @ 7:01pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • I don’t know why you people (yes you people) have the delusion that a higher box office means a better movie. It is a very American way of looking at it.

    I mean can’t we just agree that both movies are going to do extremely well financially, both are well directed with scripts perfectly suited for their source material and audiences seem happy with both?

    Are we going to start debate on what is better? Apples or Oranges?

    Batman is about a boy who has his parents murdered in front of him and how he rises from that tragedy. Spiderman loses his parents and his uncle… it is supposed to be dark. Please look at source material.

    Avengers is really an ensemble action comedy with a Norse God, a super soldier from World War 2, an alcoholic ego in a tin rocket suit, and a guy who turns green when he is angry. They hired Joss Whedon for a reason.

    These may superhero movies but that are completely different genres . Also last time Batman was similar to Avengers, it was called Batman & Robin.

    It is obvious Avengers will bring in a higher gross long run regardless of this tragedy. Avengers a four-quadrant movie with four-quad appeal. Batman has a lot of fans but I did not see the place full of ten year olds at my screening of Dark Knight Rises.

    Comment by MikeyGorman — Sunday July 22, 2012 @ 7:00am PDT  Reply to this post

  • Everyone has a right to their opinion and everyone has individual taste, but what I like about Nolan’s Batman films is that like the great Science Fiction writers, he uses the genre to examine and comment on social, political and personal issues. “Planet Of The Apes” (1968) examined racial prejudice for example, and Ray Bradbury’s “Martian Chronicles” was rife with parallels to the plight of Native Americans after the European settlers came in and other Colonial take-overs in history. But hey – if you like your Superhero Movies to be just fun escapism, I can’t argue with that. My all time fav is “Superman The Movie”.

    Comment by Johnny Maritato — Sunday July 22, 2012 @ 9:36am PDT  Reply to this post

• I don’t think Dark Knight has a shot at passing Avengers. It’s going to be a monster, no doubt about that, but Avengers is a superhero movie for kids while Dark Knight is a superhero movie for adults. Kids don’t embrace the dark gritty world of Nolan’s Batman and want to see it over and over on the scale they do the bright, shiny, happy world of Marvel’s movies.

  Comment by lethargic — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 6:07pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • I would disagree that it was just kids that went to see the Avengers multiple times. I’m 26 and I saw it 3 times at the cinema. My girlfriend went twice as did several of my friends. I do agree that the reason so many people went see the Avengers multiple times was that it was such a fun and enjoyable film. Like you say I’m not sure that TDKR will have the same effect.

    Comment by Non-Hollywood Guy — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 6:57pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • I agree, “The Avengers” will be the year’s biggest hit and i think TDKR will be the year’s second biggest hit. TDKR will be a huge hit without a doubt. The last time i can recall comic book films being the two biggest hits of the year was 2008 with TDK & “Iron Man”. I belive TASM will up in the top 5 or 6 biggest money makers of 2012 as well.

    Comment by orlando — Thursday July 19, 2012 @ 1:04am PDT  Reply to this post

    • There is a chance that TDKR only gets to the very high $300 millions and has a multiple below 2.5. Hunger Games had a comparable opening and finished around $400 million, and might finish with a higher domestic gross. Hard to say how movie-going patterns might change in the short term from the Colorado incident. Also, The Hobbit comes out in December, and if it’s a quality film I would expect it to have a strong $100+ opening and a high multiple (~4-4.5)from strong holiday weekly grosses (similar to Avatar). And assuming half the people see it in 3-D, you can add another 15-20% to a normal gross. I wouldn’t be surprised if TDKR ends up ranked fourth among 2012 openers.

      Comment by Stefan — Sunday July 22, 2012 @ 11:24pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Christopher Nolan is a genius. I respect his talent and had no intention of comparing the Dark Knight to the glossy (no offense – cause I love them) Avengers.

  Rest easy Mr. Nolan. You’re stories and your fight for film, will save Hollywood in the years to come.

  Thank you.

  Comment by Gazza — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 6:16pm PDT  Reply to this post

• My local AMC theater has sold out of 13 midnight showings(non IMAX) and two Dark Knight Marathon’s(one IMAX and one non IMAX). I frankly would not at all be surprised if The Dark Knight Rises made north of 220 million dollars this weekend.

  Comment by Dave — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 6:33pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Good call, Dave.

    Comment by chris — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 7:06pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • I’m with Dave.

    The Avengers was great. No doubt. Seeing news footage of Grandmothers saying how much they loved it made me go see and love it.

    However, this sequel has been this highly anticipated since Batman Begins. And MORE SO after The Dark Knight. People that love gritty crime drama, like my dad, will see this and will never go to see the Avengers…

    So yeah… over $200

    Comment by the black chick... — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 8:25pm PDT  Reply to this post

• I think just cause it’s longer and won’t get as many plays means it won’t pass Averngers.

  Comment by Don — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 7:17pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Avengers was a 3D film with that added surcharge, it’s ridiculous to compare or to even say that this movie needs to beat it to be good. It doesn’t matter how big you open, it matters what you end up in the end — and this is sure to be one of the biggest films of all time.

  Comment by jake — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 7:28pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Agree.

    This is comparing apples to oranges.

    1) The demographics are different.
    2) The Avengers did huge 3D and Imax numbers which TDKR will not have.

    So , at the end of the day, these comparisons are not on a level playing field, but it doesn’t matter as they are both HUGE box office winners.

    Comment by FTCS — Thursday July 19, 2012 @ 11:45am PDT  Reply to this post

    • FOLLOW UP COMMENT:

      Just returned from an Imax screening. Obviously, TDKR is already huge and may break records.

      Sorry to say that none of us were overwhelmed. The film has lots of good stuff, but it is long, meandering, repetitive and just not very special. No matter what people say…there are no surprises. Everything is telegraphed.

      I had certainly hoped for more…not in volume…but in quality.

      Nevertheless…here comes the money.

      Comment by FTCS — Thursday July 19, 2012 @ 11:05pm PDT  Reply to this post

      • I saw TDKR this morning. What’s most surprising is that people here at a movie site seem to be completely pretending they’ve never seen other movies. Er, umm, yeah, the James Bond movie THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH was pretty good, I really liked Sophie Marceau as Elektra. And, uh, yeah, remember how funny it was in the AUSTIN POWERS films when Dr. Evil’s son ridiculed and mocked his father for engaging in the dumbest most ludicrous clichéd error imaginable by not killing Austin Powers when the hero was defeated and helpless? Really. I mean, really?

        Comment by markLouis — Friday July 20, 2012 @ 12:59pm PDT  Reply to this post

        • look can we just say either we like the movie or we didn’t,I saw this movie tkd yesterday and left the showing feeling like I had seen the best movie of the year, or at least until the next ironman. I go to movies to enjoy them not to analize their place in history. I’m a action movie buff especially the marvel & batman series. Keep em coming and i’ll keep watching not to psycoanalize but, to enjoy. GREAT MOVIE!

          Comment by james garrison — Saturday July 21, 2012 @ 7:15am PDT  

  • You’re right, different films different scenarios like 3D surcharges as you mentioned, different running times, opening different months, the beggining of one series, the ending of another, ‘bright’,'fun’and’exhillerating’, ‘dark’,'dense’ and’compelling’, and so on. TDKR will open huge, at least 165M and possibly as high as 185M in my opinion. TDKR could very well end up being one of the top 5 biggest grossing films of all time when it’s said and done.

    Comment by orlando — Thursday July 19, 2012 @ 1:16pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • If you had to make me an executive producer on one of the two films, I’m still going to be happy at the end of the day.

    Comment by Geoff — Thursday July 19, 2012 @ 9:21pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • You’re right about that, i would’nt mind being the executive producer of either film beause i know both are going to be hugely successful.

      Comment by orlando — Sunday July 22, 2012 @ 10:53pm PDT  Reply to this post

• One other, admittedly tiny, factor working against TDKR is that many adults don’t have that gotta-see-it-right-away mindset that kids do, and will likely wait a while until the crowds die down. I’m not even gonna start thinking about going until mid-August.

  Comment by cadavra — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 7:31pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • People tend to forget how big a difference the weather can make. The Northeast endured a lot of rain on TDK’s opening weekend, but this weekend, we’re scheduled for clear skies.

    Comment by DK — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 9:04pm PDT  Reply to this post

• I live in a cowtown (Albuquerque) and the local Century Rio 24 is offering it up on all 24 screens with start times between 12:01 and 12:40. No IMAX there or anywhere in this hole, just a knockoff XD screen. As of tonight, 16 of the 24 are sold out. I’ll be at the 12:06 show, theatre 11. Just look for the guy with the missing lower right leg.

  Oh, and I am a 40-year old guy with 3 kids. Why do I have to choose between The Dark Knight and The Avengers? Cant I love them both?

  Comment by Brian G. — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 8:02pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • I know plenty of 30+ adults who will be joining the scrum of people heading out to see TDKR. Singletons and parents alike. Since this trilogy began 7 years ago, the audience has grown with it. (By the way, I’m totally picturing you as a character on BREAKING BAD. Sorry, I am drunk on pop culture.)

    Comment by Johnny Ringo — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 9:04pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • Thanks Johnny! You know they film Breaking Bad around Albuquerque and even filmed a scene down the street from my house. And I have yet to see one episode of it. Go figure.

      I am excited for tonight! My wife wants to see it but wants to go when there is like 10 people in the theater in September. She doesn’t understand that to me, being with the people that are really into seeing it as soon as they can. One other thing, in 2008 my wife decided after a month she wanted to see The Dark Knight. I will never forget her saying to me when Mr. Fox appeared on the screen, “Morgan Freeman is in this?” And she also said, “Is that Gary Oldman?” She was stunned that so many great actors would be in the movie. It goes to show that you put great actors in great roles (Caine, Freeman, Oldman, Ledger, and Eckhart) that play to their strengths, you get a movie like The Dark Knight. I hope Tom Hardy pulls off Bane.

      Comment by Brian G. — Thursday July 19, 2012 @ 11:25am PDT  Reply to this post

• You have to ask, “Why didn’t Amazing Spider-Man get this kind of buzz?” The answer is the picture itself failed to attract the fans and more discerning moviegoers. The people who did see ASM are the last to clue in to whether a picture is good or not, and they bought their tickets based on their past familiarity with the Raimi movies. But now even that audience knows that Spider-Man is no longer a premier franchise. Moving forward with a sequel would be riskier than it might appear at first blush, Sony. Do the smart thing, and sell the rights to the character back to Marvel Studios.

  As for The Dark Knight Rises – I’ll be there watching one of the very first showings. And probably watching it several more times next week. What Nolan has accomplished here is truly amazing.

  Comment by The Watcher — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 8:11pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Stop making generalizations. A lot of people disliked all of Raimi’s movies. And TASM was better than Spiderman 1 and 3.

    Comment by B- — Thursday July 19, 2012 @ 4:18am PDT  Reply to this post

    • Yes, so many people disliked Raimi’s movies, all 3 of the original Spider-Man films outgrossed ASM in each of their opening weekends. And they didn’t have 3D prices to boost their numbers, either.

      Comment by The Watcher — Friday July 20, 2012 @ 9:45pm PDT  Reply to this post

      • Because equating Box Office Gross with Quality is as smart as believing your opinion is absolute fact.

        Comment by B- — Sunday July 22, 2012 @ 4:25am PDT  Reply to this post

        • Come now. The question here is whether Sony should sell the rights to Spider-Man back to Marvel Studios. The facts, in terms of box office numbers, speak for themselves. Sony KNOWS they left money on the table with this reboot, in a summer where The Avengers and Dark Knight Rises are breaking box office records.

          Sony should sell the rights to Spidey back to Marvel, now. Get out while the getting’s good.

          Comment by The Watcher — Sunday July 22, 2012 @ 10:13am PDT  

• Ia scares me that people think avengers was a good/great movie. It was so cheesy. Iron man was the only good character portrayed. Scarlett’s johanssen…lol? I won’t watch amazing spider garbage when it’s free on HBO.

  Nolan and his team are the best. End of story. Hopefully they do Mr. Hughes next!

  Comment by Blah blah — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 8:32pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Go lay down Nolanite. The Avengers was at the very least a good movie. Theres a reason why The Avengers is the 3rd biggest money maker of all time. Great word of mouth and repeat business based on a fun and entertaining movie. And that scares you? LOL. Spider garbage? You admitted that you wont even watch it. You have such valid opinions. What a tool.

    Comment by Dan — Friday July 20, 2012 @ 8:35pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Haha, man envy is a bitch. Well let me scare you here by saying this, “The Avengers” was a great film period, and i’ll close that book on you dude. Cheesy is good if it’s a fine quality of cheese pal.

    Comment by orlando — Saturday July 21, 2012 @ 9:04pm PDT  Reply to this post