Here are some snaps from The Dark Knight, the new Batman flick that hits this summer. The recently deceased Heath Ledger gave his swan song performance as The Joker, and it looks to be an amazing one. He's seriously creeping me out in the trailer.
Christian Bale kind of looks like an escapee from Six Flags, but let's not dwell.
Warner Bros. started the hype on this movie months ago, before it was even finished shooting. They contracted the firm 42 Entertainment to create what's called an "alternate reality game" to publicize the flick. It's a combination of viral videos, advertising, scavenger hunts and role playing that had nerds running around trying to unlock on-line multi platforms to find out more about the Joker and the plot of the film.
Clues were spelled out in "skywriting, secret meeting points, cell phones embedded inside cakes, Internet red herrings, DIY fan contests and even fake political rallies." I speak for geeks when I say we like a challenge.
Police even got involved in Chicago when game-players staged a fake political demonstration for Gotham City district attorney Harvey Dent. He plays the villain "Two-Face" in the flick.
Nerds do not f*ck around. They want to know the entire movie before it's on the screen so they can complain about how much it sucked down at the comic book shop and then get back to debating who was the best Green Lantern.
More photos from Dark Knight are after the jump.
(Hint - Right-click on the image thumbnails with your mouse to open them in a new tab or window.)
Andrew Craig says:
Those political rallies took place all over the country. In fact, I was part of one in LA on Saturday. We started over by Amoeba Records and marched up to Hollywood Blvd, down past the Chinese, then back on the opposite side of the street wearing t-shirts and carrying signs and passing out pins.
And for the record, we nerds don't argue over who the best Green Lantern is because we all know its Hal Jordan. We do, however, argue over who would win in a fight between John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, Guy Gardner, and Kilowog.
Stickler says:
You're right J. We nerds do not mess around with our fantasy.
Loob says:
I'm really looking forward to this movie!
And only in part because they booted Katie and replaced her with the infinitely more talented Maggie Gyllenhaaaaaal-Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarsgaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaard.