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Posts: 37006Timestamp: Thu Jul 17, 08 11:57 PM
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| Post URL: Ledger's Joker May Make 'The Dark Knight' No. 3 in Sales
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Bloomberg: July 17 (Bloomberg) -- ``The Dark Knight,'' the Warner Bros. film that pits Batman against a painted psychopath, may rank among this year's top three movies in box-office sales.
The film may take in more than $100 million when it opens this weekend, according to Gitesh Pandya, editor of the industry tracker Web site BoxOfficeGuru.
The movie, which stars Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne and the late Heath Ledger as the Joker, may also edge Warner Bros. parent Time Warner Inc. closer to market leader Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures in ticket sales. Time Warner is relying on ``Dark Knight,'' as well as the next ``Harry Potter'' film later this year, to drive 2008 studio revenue.
``It's unquestionably the most anticipated movie for the rest of the summer,'' said Pandya, who is in New York. ``It was already going to be a blockbuster before Heath Ledger's death. That's really provided a whole second level of interest, especially for those who were not really into comic book films.''
``Dark Knight'' may produce opening weekend returns similar to Paramount's ``Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'' and ``Iron Man,'' Pandya said. Directed by Christopher Nolan, the sequel to 2005's ``Batman Begins'' probably cost $150 million to make and may generate more than $250 million at the U.S. box office, behind the more than $300 million ``Iron Man'' and ``Indiana Jones'' will likely reap, he said.
Film sales at Time Warner may rise 1.7 percent to $11.9 billion this year, while profit may drop 1.2 percent to $1.2 billion, hurt by costs to merge the company's film studios, said Michael Morris, a UBS AG analyst in New York.
$100 Million
To boost film earnings, New York-based Time Warner is planning to reduce movie production over the next year to half the number made two years ago, Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Bewkes said in June. Bewkes, who took over in January, has cut 450 jobs at New Line, which he is merging with Warner Bros, while spinning off the company's cable-television systems group.
Morris recommends investors buy Time Warner shares because he expects Bewkes to improve earnings at the cable networks and film studios.
The new Batman movie features Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes, Wayne's love interest, while Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine return as Lucius Fox and butler Alfred.
``There's not been that many movies opening at $100 million or more,'' Jeff Robinov, president of Warner Bros. Pictures Group, said in an interview. ``If it'll get up to $100 million, we'll be very excited about it.
Ledger
If ``Dark Knight'' is successful, Warner Bros. would like to make another Batman movie with Nolan, Robinov said. The studio hasn't held ``deep'' conversations with the director about that yet, he said.
``It has shaped up to be a four quadrant film -- older men, younger men, older women, younger women,'' Robinov said. ``It's partly the appeal of Heath Ledger, partly because of the success of the first movie.''
Ledger died in January from an overdose of prescription drugs. He was nominated for the best actor Oscar award for his portrayal of a gay cowboy in ``Brokeback Mountain.''
Time Warner's film studios ranked No. 2 in market share behind Paramount this year through July 13, according to researcher Box Office Mojo LLC in Burbank, California.
Time Warner, down 11 percent this year, closed unchanged at $14.65 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
``Haunting and Visionary''
``Dark Knight'' is opening in a summer of superhero movies, including ``Hancock'' and ``The Incredible Hulk.'' Until the Batman sequel, Time Warner focused more on other action films including ``10,000 B.C.'' and comedies, such as ``Get Smart.''
``Sex and the City,'' from New Line, is the company's highest-grossing movie so far this year, with more than $148 million in U.S. ticket sales, according to Box Office Mojo.
Through July 16, 65 critics on RottenTomatoes.com gave ``Dark Knight'' an average rating of 8.2 points out of 10. Rolling Stone magazine's Peter Travers said ``the haunting and visionary `Dark Knight' soars on the wings of untamed imagination.'' Ledger's Joker is ``one of the most twisted and mesmerizing creeps in movie history,'' said Time magazine's Richard Corliss.
``The franchise derailed in the '90s with the Joel Schumacher directed `Batman and Robin' but it came back in '05 with Christopher Nolan's rendition,'' said Brandon Gray, publisher of Box Office Mojo. ``It looks like they're trying to continue the winning wave.''
Source: Bloomberg.com
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'The Dark Knight' opening brings costumes and capes to Henry Ford IMAX
Freep: When it comes to Batman sightings, Gotham City doesn't have anything on the Motor City.
Hundreds of fans packed themselves into the Henry Ford IMAX Theater lobby late Thursday night in Dearborn for the sold-out opening of one of summer's most anticipated films.
"The Dark Knight," another installment of the Batman franchise opened at midnight for the first public showings of the movie.
Fans flocked to theaters, some in costume, to see the "Batman Begins" sequel, starring Christian Bale as the caped crusader and the late Heath Ledger as the sinister Joker.
Among those disguised as movie characters were Libby Frebes, 18, of Trenton and Richelle Nuney, 17, of Southgate. Complete with green hair and trademark red painted smiles, the girls lined up to see the film for the second time at the IMAX. "It's amazing," said Frebes, who saw the movie with Nuney at the movie theater where they both work.
For 16-year-old Matt Stevenson of Woodbury, Minn., the trek to the movie theater was particularly long. "I used to live in Michigan, and I came back just for this," Stevenson said. Dressed in bat from head to toe, Stevenson took his place in line, outnumbered by Jokers.
Perhaps creating the most buzz, however, was a group of nine costumed friends who arrived just before the theater doors opened, shortly after 11 p.m.
Representing nearly every Batman character from decades of movies about the Gotham hero, the group was rewarded with first crack at seat selection inside the theater. The McDonald brothers of Westland, Jake (Batman) and Larry (Robin) not only dressed to match the movie--they pulled up to the theater in a homemade version of the Batmobile.
Moviegoers were encouraged to dress up for the Henry Ford showing of the film, which was preceded by a costume party in the theater lobby, and awards went to those vote best costume by way of audience applause.
The 428-seat theater sold out in less than a week, according to the visitor services department, and shows throughout the weekend are nearly all sold out as well.
Source: Freep.com
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The Dark Knight Triumphant
Weekly Standard: IN FRANK MILLER's The Dark Knight Returns, there is a moment where Alfred, the family butler, recounts a story from Bruce Wayne's childhood, a few years after the murder of his parents:
| Quote: | Master Bruce was but nine years old, and restless, as he always was, at night. Still he sat, politely enough, on his bed, as Alfred read to him. "The Purloined Letter." Yes, that was the story. He listened in silence as, finishing the tale, Alfred explained the importance of Mr. Poe's contribution to detective fiction. Then, with a voice like steel, so frightfully formal, his dark eyes flashing, Master Bruce asked--no, demanded: "The killer was caught. And punished."
Alfred assured him that the villain had met justice. Bruce slept. Like a boy. |
This is the quintessential depiction of Batman: After his parents are shot dead, young Bruce Wayne abandons childhood. He begins plotting, scheming, and obsessing about justice. This monomania eventually leaves him with a disfigured soul and a hollow life.
Batman is unique among comic-book superheroes in that his public identity keeps his true identity secret, and not the other way around. Bruce Wayne does not don a cape and cowl to become Batman. Batman, the dark, obsessive vigilante, is ever-present. Bruce Wayne is simply a construct used to keep Batman hidden. And the Batman is, in increasing order of importance, a vigilante, a hero, and a monster. As such, he is a uniquely complex character in the realm of comics.
Superman, for instance, is a demi-god who decides to be the world's
savior. Wonder Woman is a powerful being acting as an ambassador in the world of men. The X-Men are freaks of nature fighting to preserve their place in the world. Batman's only power is the clarity and will to understand what sometimes must be done to achieve justice. Even if the answers aren't very nice.
Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins had much to recommend it, but failed to grasp this key insight into Batman's character. Drawing heavily on Miller's Batman: Year One, in Nolan's telling, Bruce Wayne is a disillusioned college student, planning to avenge his parents' murders. He doesn't care much for justice, and is not interested in more than token vigilantism, until well into manhood. Once he becomes the Batman, the costume is just an alter-ego. Bruce Wayne, a normal man wanting to live a normal life, is just beneath the surface, trying to keep his head above water. For the Batman aficionado (this term is not quite as laughable as it sounds), Batman Begins was interesting, but ultimately flawed in its understanding of the character.
Nolan's sequel, The Dark Knight, is something else altogether. A gigantic, sprawling production, it is a super-hero film with literary ambition: The Dark Knight aims not to change the essential character of Batman, but to provide an alternate telling to how he became a hero/monster and to examine the costs and limits of civilized society.
The movie begins one year after the conclusion of Batman Begins. Organized crime has begun to wilt under Batman's vigilante campaign and the city of Gotham, suffering from terminal sepsis in the first movie, looks as though it might heal. (This is partially achieved by Nolan giving the cityscape a wholesale redesign. The Gotham of Batman Begins was full of CGI splatter; The Dark Knight strips away much of that artifice and uses a relatively unadorned Chicago as the fictional city.)
Source: Weeklystandard.com
 Keith-Ledger, Joker, The-Dark-Knight
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Ledger's Joker May Make 'The Dark Knight' No. 3 in Sales
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