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The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed, co-produced, and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is the second installment of Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins, starring Christian Bale and supported by Michael Caine, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Morgan Freeman. In the film, Bruce Wayne / Batman (Bale), Police Lieutenant James Gordon (Oldman) and District Attorney Harvey Dent (Eckhart) form an alliance to dismantle organized crime in Gotham City, but are menaced by an anarchistic mastermind known as the Joker (Ledger), who seeks to undermine Batman's influence and throw the city into chaos.

Nolan's inspiration for the film was the Joker's comic book debut in 1940, the 1988 graphic novel The Killing Joke, and the 1996 series The Long Halloween, which retold Harvey Dent's origin. The "Dark Knight" nickname was first applied to Batman in Batman #1 (1940), in a story written by Bill Finger. The Dark Knight was filmed primarily in Chicago, as well as in several other locations in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong. The film was the first mainstream feature to partially utilize IMAX 70 mm cameras, with Nolan using them for 28 minutes of the film, including the Joker's first appearance. Warner Bros. initially created a viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight, developing promotional websites and trailers highlighting screenshots of Ledger as the Joker. Ledger died on January 22, 2008, some months after he completed filming and six months before the film's release from a toxic combination of prescription drugs, leading to intense attention from the press and movie-going public.

Considered one of the best films of its decade and one of the greatest and most influential films of all time, the film received critical acclaim for its screenplay, visual style, musical score, stunts, mature themes, performances (particularly Ledger's), cinematography, action sequences and direction. The film also set numerous records during its theatrical run. With over $1 billion in revenue worldwide, it became the fourth-highest-grossing film at the time, and highest-grossing film of 2008; At the 81st Academy Awards, the film received eight nominations; it won the award for Best Sound Editing and Ledger was posthumously awarded Best Supporting Actor. In 2020, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", becoming the second superhero film after Superman (1978) to earn the honor. The Dark Knight Rises, the final film in the trilogy, was released in 2012.

Plot

In Gotham City, a gang of masked criminals robs a Mafia-owned bank, each betraying the other for a larger share. The sole survivor, the Joker, reveals himself as the mastermind and escapes with the money. A secret alliance is formed between the vigilante Batman, district attorney Harvey Dent, and lieutenant Jim Gordon to eliminate Gotham's organized crime. Batman's alter-ego, the billionaire Bruce Wayne, publicly supports Dent as Gotham's legitimate protector, believing his success will allow Wayne to retire from vigilantism and be with his childhood friend Rachel Dawes, despite her relationship with Dent.

Gotham's Mafia bosses gather to discuss protecting their organizations from Batman, the police, and the Joker. Their accountant, Lau, conceals their vast cash fortune in an undisclosed location and flees to Hong Kong to avoid extradition, but the Joker interrupts the meeting, claims Batman will capture Lau, and offers to kill Batman for half their fortune. Batman recovers Lau to Gotham to testify, allowing Dent to apprehend the entire Mafia. The organization accepts Joker's offer, and he kills high-profile targets involved in the trial including the police commissioner and judge, but Gordon sacrifices himself to protect the mayor. Joker claims his spree will continue until Batman unmasks. He targets Dent at a fundraising dinner and throws Rachel out of a window, with Batman leaping to her rescue. Wayne struggles to understand the Joker, but his butler Alfred Pennyworth surmises that some people simply want to see the world burn.

Although Batman agrees to unmask, Dent confesses to being Batman and is arrested, setting a trap for Joker. The convoy transporting Dent is attacked by the Joker and his men, but Batman and Gordon, who faked his death, apprehend him, resulting in Gordon's promotion to commissioner. At the police station, Batman interrogates the Joker, who admits he finds the vigilante entertaining and he has no intention of killing him. Having deduced Batman has feelings for Rachel, the Joker forces him to choose between saving her or Dent, who are being held in explosive-rigged buildings. Batman races to save Rachel while Gordon goes after Dent, but they discover the Joker switched their positions. Rachel is killed in the explosion, and although Batman pulls Dent to safety, his face is severely burned. The Joker escapes the jail, kills Lau after learning the Mafia fortune's location, and burns it all.

Wayne Enterprises accountant Coleman Reese deduces Batman's secret identity and attempts to disclose it publicly, but the Joker threatens to blow up a hospital unless Reese is dead within the hour. While the city frantically evacuates hospitals and Gordon struggles to keep Reese alive, Joker meets with a disillusioned Dent, convincing him to take justice into his own hands to avenge Rachel. Dent defers his decisions to his half-scarred, double-sided coin for fairness, killing the corrupt officers and Mafia men who contributed to Rachel's death. As panic grips the city, the Joker reveals he has rigged two evacuation ferries, one filled with civilians and the other prisoners, with explosives and will detonate them both at midnight unless one group blows up the other. To the Joker's disbelief, the passengers ultimately refuse to kill one another, and Batman subdues but refuses to kill him. Before the police take Joker into custody, he gloats that although Batman proved incorruptible, his plan to corrupt Dent, the city's "white knight", has succeeded.

Dent takes Gordon's family hostage, blaming his negligence for Rachel's death. Flipping his coin to decide their fates, Dent shoots Batman, spares himself, and prepares to shoot Gordon's son before he is knocked from the building by Batman and falls to his death. Believing Dent is the hero the city needs, Batman takes the blame for his death and actions, and convinces Gordon to help. In the aftermath, Pennyworth burns an undelivered message from Rachel confessing she chose Dent over Wayne, and Batman destroys the invasive surveillance network that helped him find the Joker. Dent is mourned by the city as a hero, while the police launch a manhunt for Batman.

Cast

• Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman: A wealthy socialite, traumatized as a child by his parents' murder, who secretly operates as the heroic vigilante Batman
• Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth: Wayne's father-figure, trusted butler, and confidant
• Heath Ledger as the Joker: A criminal mastermind and anarchist determined determined to sow chaos and corruption throughout Gotham
• Gary Oldman as James Gordon: One of the few honest officers in the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD) who assists Batman's war on crime
• Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent / Two-Face: Gotham's noble district attorney turned violent vigilante
• Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes: Gotham's assistant district attorney and Wayne's childhood friend, who is torn between her feelings for him and Dent
• Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox: Wayne Enterprises' CEO who supplies Batman's crusade with technology and equipment

The Dark Knight features Eric Roberts, Michael Jai White, and Ritchie Coster as crime bosses Sal Maroni, Gambol, and the Chechen, and Chin Han portrays Lau, a Chinese criminal banker. The GCPD cast includes Colin McFarlane as comissioner Gillian B. Loeb, Keith Szarabajkaand Ron Dean as detectives Stephens and Wuertz, and Monique Gabriela Curnen as rookie detective Anna Ramirez.

The cast also includes Joshua Harto as Wayne Enterprises employee Coleman Reese, Anthony Michael Hall as news reporter Mike Engel, Nestor Carbonell appears as mayor Anthony Garcia, William Fichtner as a bank manager, Nydia Rodriguez Terracina as Judge Surrillo, David Dastmalchian as Thomas Schiff, the Joker's paranoid schizophrenic henchman, and Tom "Tiny" Lister Jr. as a prisoner. Melinda McGraw, Nathan Gamble, and Hannah Gunn portray Gordon's wife Barbara, son James Jr., and his daughter. The Dark Knight featurs several cameo appearances, including Cillian Murphy, who reprises his role as Jonathan Crane / Scarecrow from the previous film, musical performer Matt Skiba, as well as United States Senator and life-long Batman fan Patrick Leahy, who has appeared or voiced characters in other Batman media.

Production

Development

As we looked through the comics, there was this fascinating idea that Batman's presence in Gotham actually attracts criminals to Gotham, attracts lunacy. When you're dealing with questionable notions like people taking the law into their own hands, you have to really ask, where does that lead? That's what makes the character so dark, because he expresses a vengeful desire.

Before the release of Batman Begins, screenwriter David S. Goyer wrote a treatment for two sequels which introduced the Joker and Harvey Dent. His original intent was for the Joker to scar Dent during the Joker's trial in the third film, turning Dent into the supervillain Two-Face. Goyer, who penned the first draft of the film, cited the DC Comics 13-issue comic book limited series Batman: The Long Halloween as the major influence on his storyline. According to veteran Batman artist Neal Adams, he met with David Goyer in Los Angeles, and the story would eventually look to Adams and writer Denny O'Neil's 1971 story "The Joker's Five-Way Revenge" that appeared in Batman #251, in which O'Neil and Adams re-introduced the Joker. While initially uncertain of whether or not he would return to direct the sequel, Nolan did want to reinterpret the Joker on screen. On July 31, 2006, Warner Bros. officially announced initiation of production for the sequel to Batman Begins titled The Dark Knight; it is the first live-action Batman film without the word "Batman" in its title, which Bale noted as signaling that "this take on Batman of mine and Chris' is very different from any of the others".

After much research, Nolan's brother and co-writer, Jonathan Nolan, suggested the Joker's first two appearances, published in the first issue of Batman (1940), as the crucial influences. Christopher had Jonathan watch Fritz Lang's 1933 crime film The Testament of Dr. Mabuse prior to writing the Joker, with the Joker resembling Mabuse's characteristics. Christopher Nolan referred to Lang's film as "essential research for anyone attempting to write a supervillain". Jerry Robinson, one of the Joker's co-creators, was consulted on the character's portrayal. Nolan decided to avoid divulging an in-depth origin story for the Joker, and instead portray his rise to power so as to not diminish the threat he poses, explaining to MTV News, "the Joker we meet in The Dark Knight is fully formed ... To me, the Joker is an absolute. There are no shades of gray to him—maybe shades of purple. He's unbelievably dark. He bursts in just as he did in the comics." Nolan reiterated to IGN, "We never wanted to do an origin story for the Joker in this film", because "the arc of the story is much more Harvey Dent's; the Joker is presented as an absolute. It's a very thrilling element in the film, and a very important element, but we wanted to deal with the rise of the Joker, not the origin of the Joker." Nolan suggested Batman: The Killing Joke influenced a section of the Joker's dialogue in the film, in which he says that anyone can become like him given the right circumstances. Nolan also cited Heat as "sort of an inspiration" for his aim "to tell a very large, city story or the story of a city": "If you want to take on Gotham, you want to give Gotham a kind of weight and breadth and depth in there. So you wind up dealing with the political figures, the media figures. That's part of the whole fabric of how a city is bound together."

According to Nolan, an important theme of the sequel is "escalation", extending the ending of Batman Begins, noting "things having to get worse before they get better". While indicating The Dark Knight would continue the themes of Batman Begins, including justice vs. revenge and Bruce Wayne's issues with his father, Nolan emphasized the sequel would also portray Wayne more as a detective, an aspect of his character not fully developed in Batman Begins. Nolan described the friendly rivalry between Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent as the "backbone" of the film. He also chose to compress the overall storyline, allowing him to develop Dent into a criminal in The Dark Knight, thus giving the film an emotional arc the unsympathetic Joker could not offer. Nolan acknowledged the title was not only a reference to Batman, but also the fallen "white knight" Harvey Dent.

During rehearsals, Nolan and cast members were mesmerised by Heath Ledger's interpretation of the Joker. Aaron Eckhart recalled, "Chris looked at me and he said, 'Heath is doing something special.' And we all felt that way... When you have Gary Oldman, who's one of our greatest actors, and he's in awe of what Heath was doing, it showed what a performance Heath was giving."

Casting

bale

Bale said he was confident in his choice to return in the role because of the positive response to his portrayal in Batman Begins. He continued training in the Keysi Fighting Method and performed many of his own stunts, but did not gain as much muscle as in the previous film because the new Batsuit allowed him to move with greater agility. Bale described Batman's dilemma as whether " something that has an end. Can he quit and have an ordinary life? The kind of manic intensity someone has to have to maintain the passion and the anger that they felt as a child, takes an effort after a while, to keep doing that. At some point, you have to exorcise your demons." He added, "Now you have not just a young man in pain attempting to find some kind of an answer, you have somebody who actually has power, who is burdened by that power, and is having to recognize the difference between attaining that power and holding on to it." Bale felt Batman's personality had been strongly established in the first film, so it was unlikely his character would be overshadowed by the villains, stating: "I have no problem with competing with someone else. And that's going to make a better movie."

ledger

Before Ledger was cast in July 2006, Paul Bettany, Lachy Hulme, Adrien Brody, Steve Carell, and Robin Williams publicly expressed interest in it. However, Nolan had wanted to work with Ledger on a number of projects in the past (including unsuccessfully approaching Ledger for the role of Batman in Batman Begins) and was agreeable to Ledger's chaotic interpretation of the character. When Ledger saw Batman Begins, he had realized a way to make the character work that was consistent with the film's tone: he described his Joker as a "psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy". In the film, the Joker has a Glasgow smile, and his trademark chalk-white skin and red lips are makeup rather than the result of chemical bleaching, as in the traditional portrayal of the character. Throughout the film, the Joker states his desire to upset social order through crime, and comes to define himself by his conflict with Batman. To prepare for the role, Ledger lived alone in a hotel room for a month, formulating the character's posture, voice, and personality, and kept a diary, in which he recorded the Joker's thoughts and feelings. While he initially found it difficult, Ledger eventually generated a voice unlike Jack Nicholson's character in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman film. He was also given Batman: The Killing Joke and Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, which he "really tried to read and put it down". Ledger also cited A Clockwork Orange and Sid Vicious as "a very early starting point for Christian and I. But we kind of flew far away from that pretty quickly and into another world altogether." "There's a bit of everything in him. There's nothing that consistent", Ledger said, and added, "There are a few more surprises to him." Ledger was allowed to shoot and mostly direct the videos the Joker sends out as warnings. Each take Ledger made was different from the last. Nolan was impressed enough with the first video shoot that he chose to not be present when Ledger shot the video with a kidnapped reporter (Anthony Michael Hall). On January 22, 2008, after he had completed filming The Dark Knight, Ledger died of an accidental prescription drug overdose, leading to intense press attention and memorial tributes. "It was tremendously emotional, right when he passed, having to go back in and look at him every day ", Nolan recalled. "But the truth is, I feel very lucky to have something productive to do, to have a performance that he was very, very proud of, and that he had entrusted to me to finish." All of Ledger's scenes appear as he completed them in the filming; in editing the film, Nolan added no "digital effects" to alter Ledger's actual performance posthumously. Nolan dedicated the film in part to Ledger's memory.

oldman

Oldman described his character as "incorruptible, virtuous, strong, heroic, but understated". Nolan explained, "The Long Halloween has a great, triangular relationship between Harvey Dent and Gordon and Batman, and that's something we very much drew from." Oldman added that "Gordon has a great deal of admiration for him at the end, but is more than ever now the dark knight, the outsider. I'm intrigued now to see: If there is a third one, what he's going to do?" On the possibility of another sequel, he said that "returning to is not dependent on whether the role was bigger than the one before".

dent

Nolan and David S. Goyer had originally considered using Dent in Batman Begins, but they replaced him with the new character Rachel Dawes when they realized they "couldn't do him justice". Before Eckhart was cast in February 2007, Liev Schreiber, Josh Lucas, and Ryan Phillippe had expressed interest in the role, while Mark Ruffalo auditioned. Matt Damon stated that he was considered for the role, but could not accept due to scheduling conflicts. Hugh Jackman was also considered for the part. Nolan chose Eckhart, whom he had considered for the lead role in Memento, citing his "extraordinary" ability as an actor, his embodiment of "that kind of chiselled, American hero quality" projected by Robert Redford, and his subtextual "edge". Eckhart was "interested in good guys gone wrong", and had played corrupt men in films such as The Black Dahlia, Thank You for Smoking, and In the Company of Men. Whereas Dent is depicted as a crime boss in most characterizations, Nolan chose to portray him as a twisted vigilante to emphasize his role as Batman's counterpart. Eckhart explained, " is still true to himself. He's a crime fighter, he's not killing good people. He's not a bad guy, not purely." For Dent, Eckhart "kept on thinking about the Kennedys", particularly Robert F. Kennedy, who was "idealistic, held a grudge and took on the Mob". He had his hair lightened and styled to make him appear more dashing. Nolan told Eckhart to not make Dent's criminal persona "jokey with slurping sounds or ticks".

rachel

Gyllenhaal took over the role from Katie Holmes, who played the part in Batman Begins. In August 2005, Holmes was reportedly planning to reprise the role, but she eventually turned it down to film Mad Money with Diane Keaton and Queen Latifah. By March 2007, Gyllenhaal was in "final talks" for the part. Gyllenhaal has acknowledged her character is a damsel in distress to an extent, but says Nolan sought ways to empower her character, so "Rachel's really clear about what's important to her and unwilling to compromise her morals, which made a nice change" from the many conflicted characters whom she has previously portrayed.

Musician Dwight Yoakam was approached for the roles of either the manager or a corrupt cop, but he chose instead to focus on his album Dwight Sings Buck.

Filming

While scouting for shooting locations in October 2006, location manager Robin Higgs visited Liverpool, concentrating mainly along the city's waterfront. Other candidates included Yorkshire, Glasgow, and parts of London. In August 2006, one of the film's producers, Charles Roven, stated that its principal photography would begin in March 2007, but filming was pushed back to April. For its release in IMAX theaters, Nolan shot four major sequences in that format, including the Joker's opening bank robbery and the car chase midway through the film, which marked the first time that a feature film had been even partially shot in the format. Additionally, it was also the first Batman film to use 70 mm film stock. The cameras used for non-IMAX 35 mm scenes were Panavision's Panaflex Millennium XL and Platinum.

For fifteen years Nolan had wanted to shoot in the IMAX format, and he also used it for "quiet scenes which pictorially we thought would be interesting". The use of IMAX cameras provided many new challenges for the filmmakers: the cameras were much larger and heavier than standard cameras, and produced noise which made recording dialogue difficult. In addition, the cameras had short film loads ranging from 30 seconds to two minutes and the cost of the film stock was much greater than standard 35 mm film. Nevertheless, Nolan said that he wished that it were possible to shoot the entire film in IMAX: "if you could take an IMAX camera to Mount Everest or outer space, you could use it in a feature movie." In addition, Nolan chose to edit some of the IMAX sequences using the original camera negative, which by eliminating generation loss, raised the film resolution of those sequences up to 18,000 lines.

Warner Bros. chose to film in Chicago for 13 weeks, because Nolan had a "truly remarkable experience" filming part of Batman Begins there. Instead of using the Chicago Board of Trade Building as the location for the headquarters of Wayne Enterprises, as Batman Begins did, The Dark Knight shows Wayne Enterprises as being headquartered in the Richard J. Daley Center. While filming in Chicago, the film was given the false title Rory's First Kiss to lower the visibility of production, but the local media eventually uncovered the ruse. Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times commented on the absurdity of the technique, "Is there a Bat-fan in the world that doesn't know Rory's First Kiss is actually The Dark Knight, which has been filming in Chicago for weeks?" Production of The Dark Knight in Chicago generated $45 million in the city's economy and created thousands of jobs. For the film's prologue involving the Joker, the crew shot in Chicago from April 18, 2007, to April 24, 2007. They returned to shoot from June 9, 2007, to early September. Noticeably, unlike Batman Begins, less CGI was used to disguise Chicago. Many recognizable locations were used in the film, like the Sears Tower, Navy Pier, 330 North Wabash, the James R. Thompson Center, Trump International Hotel and Tower (which was still incomplete at the time of the film's release), LaSalle Street, The Berghoff, Randolph Street Station, and Hotel 71. An old Brach's factory was used as Gotham Hospital. The defunct Van Buren Street post office doubles as Gotham National Bank for the opening bank robbery. Several sequences, including one car chase, were shot on the lower level of Wacker Drive. The Marina City towers also appear in the background throughout the movie.

Pinewood Studios, near London, was the primary studio space used for the production. While planning a stunt with the Batmobile in a special effects facility near Chertsey, England, in September 2007, technician Conway Wickliffe was killed when his car crashed. The film is dedicated to both Ledger and Wickliffe. The restaurant scene was filmed at the Criterion Restaurant in Piccadilly Circus, London.

The following month in London at the defunct Battersea Power Station, a rigged 200-foot fireball was filmed, reportedly for an opening sequence, prompting calls from local residents who feared a terrorist attack on the station. A similar incident occurred during the filming in Chicago, when an abandoned Brach's candy factory (which was Gotham Hospital in the film) was demolished.

Filming took place in Hong Kong from November 6 to 11, 2007, at various locations in Central, including Hong Kong's tallest building at the time, the International Finance Centre, for the scene where Batman captures Lau. Filming also took place on the Central to Mid-Levels covered escalator. The shoot hired helicopters and C-130 aircraft. Officials expressed concern over possible noise pollution and traffic. In response, letters sent to the city's residents promised that the sound level would approximate noise decibels made by buses. Environmentalists also criticized the filmmakers' request to tenants of the waterfront skyscrapers to keep their lights on all night to enhance the cinematography, describing it as a waste of energy. Cinematographer Wally Pfister found the Chinese government officials —who wanted to limit helicopter activity over the city— a "nightmare", and ultimately Nolan had to create Batman's jump from a skyscraper digitally.

Music

Batman Begins composers Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard returned to score the sequel. Composition began before shooting, and during filming Nolan received an iPod with ten hours of recordings. Their nine-minute suite for the Joker, "Why So Serious?", is based around two notes. Zimmer compared its style to that of Kraftwerk, a band from his native Germany, as well as bands like the Damned. When Ledger died, Zimmer felt like scrapping and composing a new theme, but decided that he could not be sentimental and compromise the "evil projects". Howard composed Dent's "elegant and beautiful" themes, which are brass-focused.

As Zimmer clarified, the main theme of the film (just like Batman Begins and later The Dark Knight Rises) consists in just two notes repeated, representing Batman's pain and guilt. Many times is also reprised in small parts "Molossus", Batman's main action theme in the trilogy.

Design

Effects

The film introduces the Batpod, which is a recreation of the Batcycle. Production designer Nathan Crowley, who designed the Tumbler for Batman Begins, designed six models (built by special effects supervisor Chris Corbould) for use in the film's production, because of necessary crash scenes and possible accidents. Crowley built a prototype in Nolan's garage, before six months of safety tests were conducted. The Batpod is steered by shoulder instead of hand, and the rider's arms are protected by sleeve-like shields. The bike has 508-millimeter (20-inch) front and rear tires, and is made to appear as if it is armed with grappling hooks, cannons, and machine guns. The engines are located in the hubs of the wheels, which are set 3½ feet (1,067 mm) apart on either side of the tank. The rider lies belly down on the tank, which can move up and down to dodge any incoming gunfire that Batman may encounter. Stuntman Jean-Pierre Goy doubled for Christian Bale during the riding sequences in The Dark Knight. The Batpod was highly unstable for riding, and Goy was the only stuntman who could manage to balance the bike, even commenting that he had to "nearly un-learn how to ride a motorcycle" to manage riding the Batpod. Bale did insist on doing shots on the Batpod himself, but was prohibited by the team fearing his safety.

Nolan designed Dent's scarred appearance in the film as one of the least disturbing, explaining, "When we looked at less extreme versions of it, they were too real and more horrifying. When you look at a film like Pirates of the Caribbean—something like that, there's something about a very fanciful, very detailed visual effect, that I think is more powerful and less repulsive." Framestore created 120 computer-generated shots of Dent's visage. Nolan felt using make-up would look unrealistic, as it adds to the face, unlike real burn victims. Framestore acknowledged they rearranged the positions of bones, muscles and joints to make the character look more dramatic. For each shot, three 720-pixel HD cameras were set up at different angles on set to fully capture Aaron Eckhart's performance. Eckhart wore markers on his face and a prosthetic skullcap, which acted as a lighting reference. A few shots of the skullcap were kept in the film. Framestore also integrated shots of Bale and Eckhart into that of the exploding building where Dent is burned. It was difficult simulating fire on Eckhart because it is inherently unrealistic for only half of something to burn.

Costumes

Costume designer Lindy Hemming described the Joker's look as reflecting his personality, in that "he doesn't care about himself at all"; she avoided designing him as a vagrant, but still made him appear to be "scruffier, grungier", so that "when you see him move, he's slightly twitchier or edgy". Nolan noted, "We gave a Francis Bacon spin to . This corruption, this decay in the texture of the look itself. It's grubby. You can almost imagine what he smells like." In creating the "anarchical" look of the Joker, Hemming drew inspiration from such countercultural pop culture artists as Pete Doherty, Iggy Pop, and Johnny Rotten. Ledger described his "clown" mask, made up of three pieces of stamped silicone, as a "new technology", taking less than an hour for the make-up artists to apply, much faster than more-conventional prosthetics usually requires. Ledger also said that he felt he was barely wearing any make-up.

Hemming and Ledger's Joker design has had an impact in popular and political culture in the form of the Barack Obama "Joker" poster, and has since become a meme in its own right.

Designers improved on the design of the Batsuit from Batman Begins, adding wide elastic banding to help bind the costume to Bale, and suggest more sophisticated technology. It was constructed from 200 individual pieces of rubber, fiberglass, metallic mesh, and nylon. The new cowl was modeled after a motorcycle helmet and separated from the neck piece, allowing Bale to turn his head left and right and nod up and down. The cowl is equipped to show white lenses over the eyes when the character turns on his sonar detection, which gives Batman the white-eyed look from the comics and animation. The gauntlets have retractable razors which can be fired. Though the new costume is eight pounds heavier, Bale found it more comfortable and not as hot to wear. The depiction of Gotham City is less gritty than in Batman Begins. "I've tried to unclutter the Gotham we created on the last film", said production designer Nathan Crowley. "Gotham is in chaos. We keep blowing up stuff, so we can keep our images clean."

Release

Marketing and anti-piracy

Nolan had become aware of alternate reality game (ARG) development company, 42 Entertainment, from their campaign for the Nine Inch Nails album, Year Zero. He wanted a marketing campaign that would include online and real-world experiences with an initial focus on countering the negative reception of Ledger's casting and control the public release of the first Joker image before any photos could leak from the set. After reading the script, and with inspiration from The Long Halloween, The Killing Joke, and Arkham Asylum, 42 Entertainment were inspired to spread the ARG out over specific periods, although their ideas to use Joker-ized Santas at Christmas, coffins filled with chattering teeth on Mother's Day (mocking Wayne's deceased mother), and actors dressed as Batman positioned on rooftops were nixed by Warner Bros due to safety concerns.

Beginning May 2007, the ARG began with campaign posters for Harvey Dent, and Joker playing cards secreted inside comic books at stores around the U.S. bearing the slogan "I believe in Harvey Dent," which led people to a website where they could submit their e-mail address, with each submission revealing another pixel of a concealed Joker image. It took about 97,000 e-mail addresses and 20 hours to unveil the full picture, and the response was positive. For the San Diego Comic-Con, the 42 Entertainment team customized eleven-thousand $1 bills to display the Joker's image and the slogan "Why So Serious?," which lead to a website with a GPS location and time. Their plan to throw the bills from a balcony above the attendees was cancelled due to safety concerns, so the bills were covertly distributed to attendees. 42 Entertainment expected a few thousand people to turn up at the location but received 650,000, who took part in various activities including calling a number taken from an overhead plane, and donning Joker makeup to commit disruptive acts with planted actors. Other events included fans taking photos of characters on signs to form a ransom note, submitting photos of themselves dressed as the Joker (photos were submitted from fans around the world at locations including the Taj Mahal, Brandenburg Gate, and Eiffel Tower), and a marketing tie-in requiring fans to recover Nokia phones baked into Joker-themed cakes which, in turn, led to a pre-release screening of the film's bank-heist opening.

Following Ledger's death in January 2008, the campaign was pivoted in March to focus on Dent's election, inspired by the ongoing 2008 United States presidential election, with campaign signs, stickers, and "Dentmobiles" visiting U.S. cities, designed to raise the character's public recognition, which Warner Bros. considered low. The campaign concluded in July with displays in New York City and Chicago of the Bat-Signal, which was eventually defaced by the Joker. The campaign was considered very successful by the studio and industry professionals.

Warner Bros. spent six months on attempts to prevent pre-release leaks of the film. Copies of the film had a chain of custody strategy to track who had access, and varired or staggered delivery methods to ensure transport was unpredictable. Spot checks also took place at theaters around the world looking for people attempting to record the film, even distributing night-vision goggles to theater staff in Australia to help, and caught at least one person in a Kansas City screening, which led police to a stockpile of hundreds of DVDs. Warner Bros. considered the strategy a success, delaying the first pirated copy from releasing until 38–48 hours after the film's earliest release in Australia. The first copy was available by the Friday, but was considered a poorly-lit camcorder version. $6.1 billion to piracy in 2005. Teams scanned pirate networks for illicit copies.

Context

Compared to the previous year's $9.7 billion box office, 2008's was expected to underperform due to the large focus on comedies expected to undermine each other through direct competition and films with dark tones such as The Dark Knight being released during a time in which the United States was suffering from rising living costs and election fatigue. There was also a lack of sequels which generally performed well, with three of the previous year's four highest-grossing films being sequels, while 2008 offered a total of four blockbuster sequels: The Dark Knight, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull which was the only one expected to easily pass the $300 million marker.

Based on high audience anticipation and positive early previews, including $3.5 million in IMAX presales alone, The Dark Knight was expected to open above Iron Man's $102.1 million but well below Spider-Man 3's $151.1 million, released in 2007. Factors expected to work against its performance were its lengthy runtime, limiting the number of times it could be shown per day, competition from counterprogrammed films such as Mamma Mia!, which surveyed well with women of all ages, and family comedy Space Chimps, as well as a perceived ceiling on Batman films as the 1989 installment remained the franchise's highest-grossing.

The Dark Knight's premiere took place on July 14, in New York City at an IMAX theater. The event closed down an entire block of the Broadway area, and featured a live performance of the film's score by Howard and Zimmer. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ledger's performance received several mid-screening ovations, and Warner Bros. executives struggled to mantain a balance during the afterparty between celebrating the film's successful response and commemorating the actor.

Box office

The Dark Knight received a wide release in the United States (U.S.) and Canada on July 18, in a record 4,366 theaters across an estimated 9,200 screens simultaneously. It earned $158.4 million during the weekend, an average of $36,282 per theater, breaking Spider-Man 3's opening weekend record, and making it the number 1 film ahead of the debuting Mamma Mia ($27.8 million) and Hancock ($14 million) in its third weekend. It set further records that weekend for the highest-grossing single-day ($67.2 million on the Friday), Sunday ($43.6 million), midnight opening ($18.5 million, from 3,000 midnight screenings), and IMAX opening ($6.3 million from about 94 locations), as well as the second-highest-grossing Saturday ($47.7 million), behind Spider-Man 3, and overall contributing to the highest-grossing weekend on record ($253.6 million). The film had a broad appeal, with 52% of the audience skewing male and an even split of those under and over 25 years old.

During the following week it also broke records for the highest-grossing opening week ($238.6 million and 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, 7-, 8-, 9-, and 10-day cumulative grosses, including the highest-grossing non-holiday Monday ($24.5 million) and non-opening Tuesday ($20.9 million, as well as the second highest-grossing non-opening Wednesday ($18.4 million), behind Transformers ($29.1 million). It retained the number 1 position in its second weekend with a total gross of $75.2 million, ahead of the debuting Step Brothers ($31 million), giving it the highest-grossing second weekend ever and a cumulative gross of $313.8 million. By its eighteenth day of release, it's gross surpassed $400 million, making it the fastest to reach that figure, and it retained the number 1 position in its third ($42.7 million) and fourth ($26.1 million) weekends, ahead of the debuts of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor ($40.5 million) and Pineapple Express ($23.2 million), before falling to second place in its fifth with a gross of $16.4 million behind the release of Tropic Thunder ($25.8 million). The Dark Knight remained in the top-ten highest-grossing films for ten weeks in total, becoming the fastest film to earn $500 million by its 45th day of release. The film was appearing in less than a hundred theaters when it received a relaunch in late January across about 300 theaters to draw attention to it during nominations for the 81st Academy Awards. This raised its total box office figure to $533.3 million when it left theaters on March 5, after 33 weeks, making it the highest-grossing comic book, superhero film, and Batman film, the highest-grossing film of the year, and the second highest-grossing film ever (unadjusted for inflation), behind the 1997 romantic drama, Titanic ($600.8 million).

Outside of the U.S. and Canada, The Dark Knight was first released on Wednesday, July 16, 2008, in Australia and Taiwan. It was released in a total 20 markets by the weekend, earning about $40 million combined, just behind Hancock ($44.8 million), which was playing in nearly four times as many countries, and making it the highest-grossing opening for a superhero film in Australia. The film was released in a total sixty-two countries by the end of August, although Warner Bros. declined a Chinese release, blaming "a number of pre-release conditions that are being attached to The Dark Knight as well as cultural sensitivities to some elements of the film." The film earned about $469.7 million outside of the U.S. and Canada, its largest grossing coming from the United Kingdom ($89.1 million), Australia ($39.9 million), Germany ($29.7 million), France ($27.5 million), Mexico ($25 million), South Korea ($24.7 million), and Brazil ($20.2 million), and making it the second-highest-grossing film, behind Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Worldwide, the film earned $1.003 billion, making it the highest-grossing film of the year, the fourth film to earn more than $1 billion, and the fourth-highest-grossing film of its time, behind Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ($1.066 billion), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($1.119 billion), and Titanic ($1.842 billion). Subsequent re-releases have further raised its box office total to $1.006 billion.

Reception

Critical response

The Dark Knight received critical acclaim on release. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a RT data approval rating from the aggregated reviews of RT data critics, with an average score of RT data. The consensus reads, "Dark, complex and unforgettable, The Dark Knight succeeds not just as an entertaining comic book film, but as a richly thrilling crime saga." The film has a score of 84 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 39 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Several publications called The Dark Knight the best comic book hero adaptation ever made, with Roger Ebert saying that, alongside Iron Man, it had redefined the potential for superhero films, in part by combining comic book tropes with real world events. Although some appreciated its portrayal of a complex moral tale about the effects of vigilantism and terrorism on contemporary society, others took issue with the dark, grim, intense, and self-serious tone that removed from it any elements of fun or fantasy. Zacharek and David Edelstein criticized a perceived lack of visual storytelling, with exposition used to explain events not shown on screen, as well as other aspects of the plot being difficult to follow amid the fast pace and loud score. Nolan's action direction was criticized, especially during fast-paced fight scenes where it was difficult to see what is occurring, although the opening bank heist setpiece was roundly praised as among the film's best.

Ledger's performance received near-unanimous praise from reviewers, who acknowledged the actor's unexpected death had made the role both highly-anticipated and difficult to watch. The New York Times's Manohla Dargis, among others, described Ledger as realizing the character so convincingly, intensely, and viscerally that it draws the audience in, making them forget about the actor behind the makeup, with The Village Voice writing that the performance would have made the actor a legend even if he had lived. Other reviews contrasted him favorably with previous well-received Joker actor, Jack Nicholson, describing his macabre humor and malevolence as outshining Nicholson's "magnificent" performance. Reviews generally agreed the Joker was The Dark Knight's best written character, through which Ledger commanded scenes from the entire cast, even "charisma blaster" Eric Roberts, to create one of the most "mesmerizing" cinematic villains ever. Critics considered the memorable performance to be simultaneously scary and unsettling, while being mesmerizing, artful, and forceful, without ever becoming too much. Even so, Salon.com's Stephanie Zacharek lamented that his performance was not in service to a better film.

Reception to Bale was more mixed, with some reviews considering his performance "captivating" or serviceable, but ultimately uninteresting and undermined in portraying an immovable character, mostly unchanged since Batman Begins, who delivers dialogue as Batman in a hoarse, unvarying tone. Eckhart's performance was generally well-received by reviewers who appreciated his portrayal of the charismatic Dent and his transformation into a sad, bitter "monster," although Variety considered the character's subplot to be the film's weakest point. Stephen Hunter believed the character was underwritten and Eckhart incapable of portraying the role as intended. Gyllenhaal was seen by several reviewers as an improvement over Holmes, although others believed it was still difficult to care about the character, and that the actress, while more talented than her predecessor, was miscast. Peter Travers praised Oldman's skill in making a virtuous character interesting, and he, among others described Caine's and Freeman's performances were described as effortless. http://web.archive.org/web/20081015235917/http://movies.ign.com/articles/884/884876p2.html

Accolades and awards

The Dark Knight appeared on several lists recognizing the best films of 2008, includes those compiled by Ebert, The Hollywood Reporter, and the American Film Institute, as well as being the year's most pirated film with about 7 million illegal downloads.

At the 13th Satellite Awards, The Dark Knight received one award for Sound Editing or Mixing (Richard King, Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo). This was followed by four wins at the 35th People's Choice Awards: Favorite Movie, Favorite Cast, Favorite Action Movie, and Favorite On-Screen Match-Up (Bale and Ledger); as well as Best Action Movie and Best Supporting Actor (Ledger) at the 14th Critics' Choice Awards. Howard and Zimmer were also recognized for Best Motion Picture Score at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards. Ledger won the film's only other awards at the 15th Screen Actors Guild Awards, 62nd British Academy Film Awards, and 66th Golden Globe Awards, for Best Supporting Actor.

Even before The Dark Knight's release, industry discourse was focused on Ledger potentially receiving an Academy Award nomination for the 81st Academy Awards the following February, which would make him only the seventh person to receive a nomination posthumously, and, if he were to be nominated, if it the decision would be influenced by his passing or his performance. It was also considered that comic book films were generally ignored by Academy voters. Even so, he was considered a favorite to be nominated and win based on praise from critic groups and his Golden Globe win. Ledger went on to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, making him only the second performer to win an award posthumously, and The Dark Knight the first comic book adaptation to win a major Academy award. The Dark Knight also won an award for Best Sound Editing (Richard King), and a further six nominations for Best Sound Mixing (Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo, and Ed Novick), Best Visual Effects (Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber, and Paul Franklin), Best Makeup (John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O'Sullivan), Best Film Editing (Lee Smith), Best Cinematography (Wally Pfister), and Academy Award for Best Production Design (Nathan Crowley and Peter Lando).

At the 14th Empire Awards, The Dark Knight received awards for Best Film, Best Director (Nolan), and Best Actor (Bale). Ledger received the award for Best Villain at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards, and for 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 (Davis, Corbould, Webber, and Franklin).

Post-release

Home media

The Dark Knight was released on DVD and Blu-ray disk in December 2008. The release came with a Batman-themed slipcover, revealing a "Jokerized" version of the same underneath, and contained featurettes on Batman's equipment, the psychology used in the film, six episodes of the Gotham Tonight news program, and a gallery of concept art, posters, and Joker cards. The Blu-ray disc version additionally offered interactive elements during the film about how a particular scene was filmed. A separate limited edition Blu-ray disc set came with a Bat-Pod figurine. The Dark Knight sold 3 million copies across both formats on its launch day across the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom, with Blu-ray discs accounting for about 25%–30% or 600,000 units. Released during the advent of the Blu-ray disc format, it was considered a success, breaking Iron Man's record of 250,000 units sold and indicating the format was growing in popularity.

In 2011, it also became the first major studio film released for rent via digital distribution on Facebook. A 4K resolution, overseen by Nolan, was released in December 2017, as a set containing a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray disc version, and digital download, as well as special features from previous releases.Cite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name (see the help page).

Other media

Merchandise for The Dark Knight was produced by Mattel and included items such as statuettes, action figures, radio-controlled Batmobile and Bat-pod models, replica costumes, sets of Batarangs, a limited-edition Grappling Launcher replica, board games, puzzles, and a special-edition UNO card game. The Dark Knight Coaster, an indoor dark roller coaster, opened in May 2008, at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey. Built at a cost of $7.5 million, the 1,213 ft (370 m) long attraction places riders an imitation of Wayne Central Station in Gotham City as they move through areas vandalized or controlled by the Joker.

A direct-to-DVD animated film, Batman: Gotham Knight, was released in July 2008. Directed by Bruce Timm, and with veteran Batman actor Kevin Conroy voicing the titular hero, Gotham Knight presents six vignettes, each animated in a different artistic style, that take place between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. A planned tie-in video game, Batman: The Dark Knight, was cancelled due to various development issues.

Themes and analysis

• Joker an ideological deviant, referred to as a terrorist, comelled only by the love of violence and chaos, chilling indifference, set sa mountain of money ablaze just to show its a war fought on principle.

• https://www.ign.com/articles/christopher-nolan-the-dark-knight-war-on-terror

According to David S. Goyer, the primary theme of The Dark Knight is escalation. Gotham City is weak and the citizens blame Batman for the city's violence and corruption as well as the Joker's threats, and it pushes his limits, making him feel that taking the laws into his own hands is further downgrading the city. Roger Ebert noted, "Throughout the film, devises ingenious situations that force Batman, Commissioner Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent to make impossible ethical decisions. By the end, the whole moral foundation of the Batman legend is threatened."

Other critics have mentioned the theme of the triumph of evil over good. Harvey Dent is seen as Gotham's "White Knight" in the beginning of the film but ends up becoming seduced to evil. The Joker, on the other hand, is seen as the representation of anarchy and chaos. He has no motive, no orders, and no desires but to cause havoc and "watch the world burn". The terrible logic of human error is another theme as well. The ferry scene displays how humans can easily be enticed by iniquity, and how that could lead to potential disaster.

The Dark Knight is described as a neo-noir film by some authors.

Mystery writer Andrew Klavan, writing in The Wall Street Journal, compared the extreme measures that Batman takes to fight crime with those U.S. President George W. Bush used in the War on Terror. Klavan claims that, "at some level" The Dark Knight is "a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war". Klavan supports this reading of the film by comparing Batman—like Bush, Klavan argues—"sometimes has to push the boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that he will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past." Klavan's article has received criticism on the Internet and in mainstream media outlets, such as in The New Republic's "The Plank". Reviewing the film in The Sunday Times, Cosmo Landesman reached the opposite conclusion to Klavan, arguing that The Dark Knight "offers up a lot of moralistic waffle about how we must hug a terrorist—okay, I exaggerate. At its heart, however, is a long and tedious discussion about how individuals and society must never abandon the rule of law in struggling against the forces of lawlessness. In fighting monsters, we must be careful not to become monsters—that sort of thing. The film champions the anti-war coalition's claim that, in having a war on terror, you create the conditions for more terror. We are shown that innocent people died because of Batman—and he falls for it." Benjamin Kerstein, writing in Azure, says that both Klavan and Landesman "have a point", because "The Dark Knight is a perfect mirror of the society which is watching it: a society so divided on the issues of terror and how to fight it that, for the first time in decades, an American mainstream no longer exists."

U.S. President Barack Obama used the film to help explain how he understood the role and growth of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS). "There's a scene in the beginning in which the gang leaders of Gotham are meeting ... These are men who had the city divided up. They were thugs, but there was a kind of order. Everyone had his turf. And then the Joker comes in and lights the whole city on fire. ISIS is the Joker. It has the capacity to set the whole region on fire. That's why we have to fight it."

Legacy

Cultural influence

The Dark Knight is considered a highly influential and often imitated work that not only re-defined the superhero/comic book film genre, but many films that came after it.

• remains a movie other superhero movie directors try to live up or rebel against.
• supercharged the superhero genredozens of movies tried to emulate or expand on its brilliance.
• previous comic book films much closer to the comic books that bore them such as batman 1989 and spiderman.
• original comic book films in the early 2000s very much rooted in their comic book origins.
• Dark knights realistic take, taken further than batman begins.
• tackling meaningful issues.
• films likle logan taking issues on aging but then the f4 reboot and dawn of justice, panned for gritty and dark tones.
• Works by being less a superhero movie and more of a crime film, THR Richard Newby logan a western

Richard Newby of The Hollywood Reporter disagreed, saying the true lesson is "comic book characters are malleable. They are able to be grounded or fantastic, able to be prestigious or pure blockbuster entertainment, to be dark and gritty or light, to be character-driven or action-packed, or any variation in-between."

• crime drama
• Entertainment Weekly wrote that the film "cemented a new way of talking about superhero movies," specifically one that acknowledged them as serious vehicles for political commentary and artistic achievement.
• artistic possibilities of comic films.

• not just that it took its material seriously or presented emotionally complex portraysl of character, but the way it captured the American zeitgeist. A film built on rules and breaking of them, order and chaos. Patriot act still hot button issue with george bush in the white house and barack obama making moves in washginton before he was elected president.

• Felt connected to the american people, particularly young adults.

Its significant financial, critical, and cultural successes legitimized the comic book genre with film studios, at a time when films such as Daredevil, Hulk (both 2003), Fantastic Four (2005), and Superman Returns (2006) where not performing well. Following The Dark Knight, comic book films became a focus of studio strategies instead of a more niche project. In 2018, The Atlantic wrote that Iron Man's legacy in starting the Marvel Cinematic Universe could not have happened without The Dark Knight, but that such a Batman film could no longer be made without being developed as part of a larger franchise. In its wake, the genre received significant attention, and superhero films

defining titles

• Calling it one of this generations defining tites would be an understament.

influence

• would become the blueprint for the modern superhero film.

his work in the space had definitively impacted large-scale filmmaking. And that, by the way, is undeniable. Look at the recent aesthetic directions of the James Bond, “Mission: Impossible,” and “Planet of the Apes” franchises. And Imax photography in narrative films, an experiment when Nolan dabbled in it for a handful of scenes, is now much more widely utilized. The echoes of “The Dark Knight” can be found in the very fabric of the modern blockbuster landscape.

gritty reboots

• batman begins noted for the grounded realistic style.
• kicked off a gritty reboot trend such as casino royale but didnt fully take hold until the dark knight.
• Attempted gritty reboots like dracula untold, fantastic four, the amazing spider man died out
• Others like man of steel and star trek into darkness polarizing for their handling of pop culture icons.
• Tone doesnt work for everyhing..
• explosion of super hero films in its wake and dark gritty and grounded reboots.
• dark gritty grounded buzz words llooking t make dark knigt money, franchises emulating batman begins in the hopes of building to a dark knight, gi joe the rise of cobra, robin hood 2010, teh amazing spider man , robocop, fantastic four, power rangers, all failed either critically or financially most often both.
• Rise of the planet of the apes was a success. failures lacked a purposeful vision.
• how could leto joker top Joker.
• david ayer clearly inspired by ledgers performance.
• Esquire argued that dawn of justice failure was dark knights fault because its worst aspects were emulations of the dark knight.
• like suicide squad, doj took the film at face value and confused darkness for deepness.
• influenced directors such as Ryan Coogler
• Sam mendes sky fall
• the show and sound of Arrow.
• kilmonger joker among others

took the wrong lessons

• dc cinematc universe littered with films that learned the wrong lessons.

• revolutioned hollywood, but the industry learned the wron lessons.
• Dawn of justice sticking to the gritty path laid out by nolan.

successes

• Screen rant considederd the mcu a series that took the right lessons by letting directors put their own stamp on things and a mixture of tones respective to the film.
• Uses drama, treats things seriously but doesnt dwell on it.
• logan the closest thing to a dark knight heir fbecause of its best adaptated screenpay nomination, no oscar wins for mcu at all by 2018/ (think black poatner did but need a separate ref for it)

joker

• Joker popular halloween costume, but a political slogan, jokerized variationsof shepard faires famous barack obama hope poster tacked to phone plolls and graphited in alleywasy.
• first actor to win an for a superhero film
• second highest grossing film of the decade behind only avatar.
• 10 years later still no villain as interesting or perversely entertaining as the joker.
• Ledgers joker a defining version, not in the shadow of cesar or nicholson, that made follow ups more difficult.

https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/1/22/18188640/black-panther-best-picture-oscar-nomination-superhero-movie

In 2020, the United States Library of Congress selected The Dark Knight to be preserved in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Despite the film's success, the lack of a Best Picture nomination by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was criticized and described as a "snub" by some publications, as well as being the culmination of years of criticism of the Academy ignoring high-performing, widely popular films. The backlash was such that, for the 82nd Academy Awards awards in 2010, the Academy increased the limit for Best Picture nominees from five to ten, increasing the potential for more broadly popular but "respected" films to be nominated, which included District 9, The Blind Side, Avatar, and Up, the first animated film to be nominated in two decades. This change is seen as responsible for the eventual Best Picture nomination of Black Panther (2018), a first for a comic book film. Even so, The Hollwood Reporter argued the Academy mistook widespread appeals to recognize important, "generation defining" genre films with just nominating more films.

Lasting reception

Since its release, The Dark Knight has been assessed as one of, if not the greatest superhero films ever made, among the greatest films ever made, and one of the best sequel films. It is also considered among the best films of the 2000s, and in a 2010 poll of thirty-seven critics by Metacritic regarding the decade's top films, The Dark Knight received the eighth most mentions, appearing on 7 lists. In the 2010s, a poll of 177 film critics by the BBC in 2016 listed it thirty-third-best film of the 21st century, and The Guardian placed it ninety-eighth on its own list. In 2020, Empire magazine named it third-best, behind The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (2001) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015).

It has remained popular with entertainment industry professionals, including directors, actors, critics, and stunt actors, being ranked fifty-seventh on the The Hollywood Reporter's poll of the best films ever made, eightieth on Time Out's list of the best action films, and ninety-sixth on the BBC's list of the 100 Greatest American Films. The Dark Knight is also included in the film reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, and film critics James Berardinelli and Barry Norman included The Dark Knight on their individual listings of the 100 greatest films of all time. In 2012, Total Film named it the sixth most accomplished film of the preceding fifteen years, and a 2020 article by Empire named The Dark Knight as one of the films that defined the previous three decades. In 2020, Time Out named it the seventy-second best action movies ever made.

Ledger's Joker is also considered one of the greatest cinematic villains, and The Hollywood Reporter named him the second best cinematic superhero performance ever, behind Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. The "pencil trick" scene, in which the Joker seemingly makes a pencil stuck in a table disappear by slamming a mobster's head on it, is also considered an iconic scene, and among the film's most famous.

The Dark Knight has similarly remained popular with audiences able to participate in publicly voted rankings hosted by various publications. Over 17,000 people voted the film into the top ten of American Cinematographer's "Best-Shot Film of 1998–2008" list, and listeners of BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra named it their eighth favorite film. Readers of Empire have alternatively voted it the fifteenth (2008), third (2014), and the fourth greatest film ever made (2020). The Dark Knight was also voted the greatest superhero movie by readers of Rolling Stone (2014), and one of New Zealand's favorite films (2015).

References

Notes

1. This figure represents the cumulative total accounting for the initial worldwide 2008 gross of $1.001 billion and subsequent releases thereafter.
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Citations

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Works cited

• Schneider, Steven Jay (2013). "1990s". 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. Boston, Massachusetts: Murdoch Books Pty Limited. ISBN 978-0-7641-6613-6.

Further reading

• Byrne, Craig (2008). The Dark Knight: Featuring Production Art and Full Shooting Script (Hardcover). Universe. ISBN 978-0-7893-1812-1.
• Nolan, Christopher; Goyer, David S. (2007). "Introduction". Absolute Batman: The Long Halloween (Hardcover). New York: DC Comics. ISBN 978-1-4012-1282-7.
• O'Neil, Dennis (2008). The Dark Knight (Paperback). Novelization of the film. Berkley. ISBN 978-0-425-22286-7.

External links

• Official website (Warner Bros.)
• Official website (DC Comics)
• The Dark Knight at IMDb
• The Dark Knight title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• The Dark Knight at the TCM Movie Database
• Template:AllMovie title

• 2000s
• Film
• United States
• Speculative fiction

• Definitions from Wiktionary
• Media from Commons
• News from Wikinews
• Quotations from Wikiquote
• Data from Wikidata

Refs to use=

• https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/harvey-dent-unsung-hero-the-dark-knight/ (might be good themes for Dent)
• https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-ca-mn-dark-knight-10th-anniversary-20180822-story.html
• https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-jun-08-ca-batman8-story.html music
• https://www.latimes.com/la-et-mn-christopher-nolan-1-20081027-story.html
• https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-ca-watchmen16-2008nov16-story.html
• https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/opinion/21lethem.html
• https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/26/movies/26arts-NODARKKNIGHT_BRF.html no china
• https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/movies/04arts-ADARKKNIGHTD_BRF.html death during filming
• http://web.archive.org/web/20210126144348/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/movies/21scot.html
• http://web.archive.org/web/20201109031149/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/business/21dvd.html
• http://web.archive.org/web/20210124235027/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/movies/21darg.html
• https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-jan-07-en-casting7-story.html
• https://www.indiewire.com/gallery/the-dark-knight-effect-films-inspired-by-christopher-nolan/x-men-first-class-2011-3/
• http://web.archive.org/web/20180724183542/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2018/07/18/the-dark-knight-changed-how-we-see-comic-book-movies-but-10-years-ago-some-critics-couldnt-see-its-greatness/?utm_term=.6ffaa4a73c28