The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan from a screenplay co-written by his brother Jonathan. Based on the DC Comics superhero Batman, it is the sequel to Batman Begins (2005) and the second installment in The Dark Knight Trilogy. The plot follows vigilante Batman, police lieutenant James Gordon, and district attorney Harvey Dent, who form an alliance to destroy organized crime in Gotham City. Their efforts are derailed by the Joker, an anarchist mastermind who wants to test how far Batman can go to save the city from chaos. Includes Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Morgan Freeman.
After the successful reinvention of the Batman film series with Batman Begins, Warner Bros. Pictures prioritized a sequel. Christopher and Batman Begins co-writer David S. Goyer developed elements of the story, which featured Dent as the central protagonist in the battle between Batman and the Joker. When writing the screenplay, the Nolans were influenced by the Batman comics and crime drama films of the 1980s, and attempted to continue Batman Begins’ heightened sense of realism. From April to November 2007, filming took place on sets in Chicago and Hong Kong and England with a budget of $185 million. The Dark Knight was the first major motion picture shot with high-resolution IMAX cameras. Christopher avoided using computer-generated imagery unless necessary, emphasizing practical stunts such as flipping an 18-wheeler truck and blowing up a factory.
The Dark Knight was marketed through an innovative interactive viral campaign that initially focused on countering criticism of Ledger’s casting who believed he was a poor choice to portray the Joker. Ledger died of an accidental prescription drug overdose in January 2008, resulting in widespread press and public interest in his performance. When it was released in July, The Dark Knight was praised for its mature tone and themes, visual style, and acting – especially Ledger, who received numerous posthumous awards, including the Academy, BAFTA, and Golden Globe Awards for Best Supporting Actor. The Dark Knight is the first comic-book film to win a major industry award. It broke several box-office records and became the highest-grossing film of 2008, the fourth-highest-grossing film of its time, and the highest-grossing superhero film.

Released

Since its release, The Dark Knight has been rated as one of the greatest superhero films of all time, one of the best films of the 2000s, and one of the greatest films of all time. It is considered the “blueprint” for many modern superhero films, notably rejecting a typical comic-book movie style in favor of a crime film featuring comic-book characters. Many filmmakers sought to replicate its success, imitating its gritty, realistic tone with varying degrees of success. The Dark Knight has been analyzed for its themes of terrorism and the limitations of morality and ethics. The United States Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2020. A sequel, The Dark Knight Rises, concluded The Dark Knight Trilogy in 2012.

Details

A group of masked criminals rob a mafia-owned bank in Gotham City, betraying and killing each other until the Joker, the sole survivor, reveals himself as the mastermind and escapes with the money. Vigilante Batman, District Attorney Harvey Dent and Police Lieutenant Jim Gordon ally to eradicate Gotham’s organized crime. Batman’s real identity, billionaire Bruce Wayne, openly supports Dent as Gotham’s rightful protector, as Wayne believes Dent’s success will allow Batman to retire, allowing him to romantically pursue his childhood friend Rachel Dawes, despite his relationship with Dent.

Gotham’s mafia bosses gather to discuss how to protect their organizations from the Joker, the police and Batman. The Joker interrupts the meeting and offers to kill Batman for half the fortune stashed away by their accountant Lau before fleeing to Hong Kong to avoid extradition. Batman, with the help of Wayne Enterprises CEO Lucius Fox, finds Lau in Hong Kong and returns him to the custody of the Gotham police. Her testimony enables Dent to catch the crime family. The bosses accept Joker’s offer and he kills high-profile targets involved in the trial, including the judge and the police commissioner. Although Gordon saves the mayor, the Joker threatens to continue his attacks until Batman reveals his identity. He spots Dent at a fundraising dinner and throws Rachel out of a window, but Batman rescues her.
Wayne struggles to understand the Joker’s motives, but his butler Alfred Pennyworth says “Some people just want to see the world burn.” Dent claims to be Batman to lure the Joker, who attacks the police convoy carrying him. Batman and Gordon capture the Joker and Gordon is promoted to commissioner. At the police station, Batman interrogates the Joker, who says that he is entertaining Batman and has no intention of killing him. After realizing Batman’s feelings for Rachel, the Joker reveals that he and Dent are being held separately in buildings rigged for explosions. Batman races to save Rachel while Gordon and the other officers go after Dent, but they discover that the Joker has given away their location. The bomb explodes, killing Rachel and severely burning one side of Dent’s face. The Joker escapes custody, extracts the location of Fate from the Gourd and burns everything down, killing the Gourd in the process.
Wayne Enterprises accountant Coleman Reese discovers Batman’s identity and tries to reveal it, but the Joker threatens to blow up a hospital if Reese is not killed. As the police evacuate the hospital and struggle to keep Gordon Reese alive, the Joker meets a disillusioned dent, prompting him to take the law into his own hands and avenge Rachel. Dent defers his decision-making to his half-wounded, two-headed coin, killing corrupt officers and the mafia involved in Rachel’s death. As panic grips the city, the Joker reveals two evacuation ferries, one carrying civilians and the other prisoners, rigged to explode at midnight unless one team sacrifices the other. To Joker’s disbelief, the passengers refuse to kill each other. Batman subdues the Joker but refuses to kill him. Before the police arrest the Joker, he says that although Batman has proven indestructible, his plan to corrupt Dent has succeeded.
Dent holds Gordon’s family hostage, blaming his negligence for Rachel’s death. He flips his coin to determine their fate, but Batman confronts him to save Gordon’s son, and Dent falls to his death. Believing Dent is the city’s hero and the truth of his corruption will harm Gotham, Batman blames him for his death and actions and convinces Gordon to conceal the truth. Pennyworth burns a cryptic message from Rachel to Wayne, who says she chose Dent, and Fox destroys the invasive surveillance network that helped Batman find the Joker. The city mourns Dent as a hero, and the police begin a manhunt for Batman.

Cast and characters

Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman: A wealthy socialite traumatized by the murder of his parents as a child. Wayne secretly works as the heroic vigilante Batman.
Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth: Wayne’s father-figure, loyal butler and confidante
Heath Ledger as The Joker: A criminal mastermind and anarchist determined to sow chaos and corruption throughout Gotham.
Gary Oldman as James Gordon: One of the few honest officers of the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD) who helps Batman fight 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: CEO of Wayne Enterprises who provides technology and equipment for Batman’s campaign
Additionally, Eric Roberts, Michael Jai White, and Richie Coster appear as Sal Maroney, Gamble, and Chechen crime lords, respectively; In which Chin plays Han Lau, a Chinese criminal banker. and Philip Bullcock as Murphy.
The cast also features Joshua Hartow as Wayne Enterprises employee Coleman Reese, Anthony Michael Hall as news reporter Mike Engle, Nestor Carbonell as Mayor Anthony Garcia, William Fichtner as the bank manager, and Nydia Rodriguez Terracina as Judge. Surillo, Tom “Tiny” Lister Jr. as the prisoner, Beatrice Rogen as Wayne’s Russian ballerina date, and David Dastmalchian as the Joker’s paranoid schizophrenic henchman Thomas Schiff. Melinda McGrath, Nathan Gamble, and Hannah Gunn portray Gordon’s wife Barbara, his son James Jr., and his daughter, respectively. The Dark Knight features several cameo appearances by Cillian Murphy, who reprises his role as Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow from Batman Begins; musician Matt Skiba; Patrick Leahy, who has appeared or voiced the character in other Batman media.

Box Office

On July 18, 2008, The Dark Knight was widely released to a record 4,366 theaters on approximately 9,200 screens in the United States and Canada. It grossed $158.4 million over the weekend, a per-theater average of $36,282, breaking the record held by Spider-Man 3 and becoming the number one film ahead of Mamma Mia! ($27.8 million) and Hancock ($14 million) in its third weekend. 3,000 from midnight screenings), and IMAX opening ($6.3 million from approximately 94 locations), as well as the second-highest-grossing Saturday behind Spider-Man 3 ($47.7 million), and the highest-grossing weekend contribution on record ($253.6 million).

The Dark Knight broke more records, including the highest-grossing first weekend ($238.6 million), and three-, four-, five-, six-, seven-, eight-, nine-, and ten-day cumulative grosses, behind Transformers ( $29.1 million) with the top-grossing non-holiday Monday ($24.5 million) and non-opening Tuesday ($20.9 million, as well as the second-highest-grossing non-holiday Wednesday ($18.4 million).[ac] This is its second weekend total of $75.2 million. It held onto the number one position with earnings, ahead of debutant Step Brothers ($31 million), making it the top grosser in its second weekend. Its third ($42.7 million) and fourth ($26.1 million) weekend held the position, before falling to second place in its fifth, with $16.4 million, behind debutant Tropic Thunder ($25.8 million). The Dark Knight topped the top-ten highest-grossing film for ten weeks, and soon surpassed $400 million (18 days) and $500 million (45 days). The film less than 100 It received a 300-theater re-release in late January 2009 to raise its profile in theaters when it was nominated for the 81st Academy Awards. Before it left theaters on March 5 after 33 weeks, its box office total rose to $533.3 million, making it the highest-grossing comic-book, superhero, and Batman film; Highest Grossing Film of 2008; and the second-highest-grossing film (unadjusted for inflation) behind the 1997 romantic drama Titanic ($600.8 million).

The Dark Knight was released in Australia and Taiwan on Wednesday, July 16, 2008, and opened in twenty markets over the weekend. It grossed nearly $40 million combined, second only to Hancock ($44.8 million), which played in nearly four times as many countries. It decided not to release it in China, due to “several pre-release conditions … as well as the cultural sensitivities of certain elements of the film”. The Dark Knight grossed approximately $469.7 million outside the United States and Canada, with its highest grosses 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). It became the second-highest-grossing film of the year behind Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

The film had grossed $997 million worldwide by January 2009. Its rerun for the Oscars helped the film surpass $1 billion in February, and it ended up grossing $1.003 billion. It was the first superhero film to gross $1 billion, the highest-grossing film of 2008 worldwide, the fourth film to gross over $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). $1.006 billion.

About

Directed by	Christopher Nolan
Screenplay by	·         Jonathan Nolan ·         Christopher Nolan
Story by	·         Christopher Nolan ·         David S. Goyer
Based on	Characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics
Produced by	·         Emma Thomas ·         Charles Roven ·         Christopher Nolan
Starring	·         Christian Bale ·         Michael Caine ·         Heath Ledger ·         Gary Oldman ·         Aaron Eckhart ·         Maggie Gyllenhaal ·         Morgan Freeman
Cinematography	Wally Pfister
Edited by	Lee Smith
Music by	·         Hans Zimmer ·         James Newton Howard
Production companies	·         Warner Bros. Pictures ·         Legendary Pictures ·         Syncopy
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release dates	·         July 14, 2008 (New York City) ·         July 18, 2008 (United States) ·         July 25, 2008 (United Kingdom)
Running time	152 minutes
Countries	·         United States ·         United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$185 million
Box office	$1.006 billion

 

ScreenShots