1. The Dark Knight
(Christopher Nolan, 2008, US)

2. The Dark knight is a film that exists as part of the Batman Universe. The
Character of Batman was created by Bob Kane in 1939 for DC Comics and
has become on of the most successful franchise properties of all time. The
character has existed in a number of different mediums and had many
different incarnations ranging from a handsome superhero in comics, to a
camp billionaire played by Adam West on 1960s TV.
In 1989, director Tim Burton introduced Batman as a dark, troubled
character to much acclaim. A successful sequel followed in 1992 and
continued with this theme. By 1997, after Burton left the franchise, Joel
Schumacher had created a further two sequels, however these were poorly
received by both critics and audiences who claimed they were too camp
and reminiscent of the Adam West era of Batman.
There were no more Batman films until 2005 when British director,
Christopher Nolan, re-launched the film franchise by re-writing Batman’s
origin story and creating, much like Burton, a dark world of violence for the
character to exist within. He would title this, Batman Begins. The film would
be lauded by critics and audiences alike, grossing $374Million Worldwide
and three years later, delivering a sequel….

3. The Dark Knight
(Christopher Nolan, 2008, US)
Batman and Officer James Gordon join
forces with Gotham's new District
Attorney, Harvey Dent, to take on a
psychotic bank robber known as The
Joker, whilst other forces plot against
them, and Joker's crimes grow more and
more deadly.

4. On July 31st
2006 Warner Brother pictures announced that the sequel to the
hugely successful, Batman Begins had gone into production. They gave only one
other piece of information – The title of the film.
The film was given a budget of $185million dollars and would again be produced
by the creative team behind Batman Begins:
Director: Christopher Nolan
Writers: Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan, David S Goyer
Producers: Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas, Charles Roven.
The Dark Knight
(Christopher Nolan, 2008, US)
How the film was devised, financed and produced

5. The Dark Knight
(Christopher Nolan, 2008, US)
The story for The Dark Knight was loosely established at the end of Batman
Begins with the introduction of the character, THE JOKER.
Christopher Nolan and his frequent collaborators, David S. Goyer (with
whom he wrote Batman Begins) and brother, Jonathan Nolan went about
writing The Dark Knight in the Winter of 2005. By October 2006 pre-
production location scouting was already in place for a March 2007 start
date for principle photography. The entire shoot would last 16 weeks and
take place in China, UK, Chicago and California (USA).
How the film was devised, financed and produced
Christopher Nolan

6. The Dark Knight
(Christopher Nolan, 2008, US)
How the film was devised, financed and produced?
The film was financed by LEGENDARY PICTURES and WARNER BROTHERS, that later of
whom owns the exclusive rights to the Batman Character. Warner Brothers has
produced every Batman film since Tim Burton’s Batman in 1989 and had at this point
earned over $2billion from the film franchise (Boxofficemojo.com).
Legendary pictures was established by Thomas Tull in 2004. The company was
responsible for co-financing Batman Begins with Warner Bro’s in 2005 and by the
end of that year had signed a seven year deal with Warner Bro’s to co-produce
and co-finance over 40 pictures. (www.legendary.com/)
In addition to The Dark Knight, Legendary pictures has
produced Superman Returns (2006), 300 (2007), Watchmen
(2009), The Hangover (2009), Where the Wild Things are (2009),
Clash of the Titans (2010), Inception (2010), The Town (2010)
and The Hangover part 2 (2011), amongst many others….
Which studio(s) were involved? Who are these studios?

7. Marketing
The Dark
Knight

8. Christopher Nolan Interview
The Dark Knight Merchandising
The Dark Knight
Premiere
I am Legend IMAX
prologue Meet the Cast
First Review
HBO First LookFilm Trailer

9. Marketing The Dark Knight
•A pre-sold film (DC comics, graphic novels, cartoons, television
series, franchise (it is the sixth film), computer games…)
•Bankable stars (Heath Ledger’s performance and untimely
death)
•Trailers (Teaser, theatrical, TV spots)
•Merchandising (Toys – Mattel)
•Reviews (Variety ‘Showbiz’ magazine)
•The premieres
•Shooting with IMAX cameras
•The internet (YouTube, official and unofficial websites, fan sites,
viral marketing)

10. BOX OFFICE
The Dark knight was released on July 16th
2008 in
the US & Canada on 4,366 screens. It premiered
in the UK just one week later on July 24th
on 502
screens.
There were over 3000 midnight screenings of
the film in both countries and all IMAX
screenings were sold out for the opening
weekend.
US Opening weekend Gross: $158,411,483
UK Opening weekend Gross: £11,191,824

11. BOX OFFICE
As of March 1st
2009, The Dark Knight has
grossed $533,316,061 in the US and
£48,685,166 in the UK.
It’s total worldwide gross has been estimated at:
$1,001,921,825
(Dec 2010)
It was the highest grossing film of 2008
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/

12. Audience
The Dark Knight was released in July around the
world. This is the Summer blockbuster market
and is the most important time of the year for
film studios. During this time younger audiences
are not in school and have more time and
money to go to the cinema. Batman appeals to
this demographic (age of people) because he is
already established as a comic book character
and as an action superhero. Due to his long
history he is also well known to older
generations and therefore has a large audience.

13. DVD/Blu Ray
The Dark knight was released by Warner Bros.
on DVD, Blu Ray and digital formats on
December 9th
2008.
In the UK the film sold 513,000 units in one day
and it holds the record for the most DVDs sold
globally in one day – 3 million.
(http://articles.latimes.com/2008/dec/11/business/fi-darkknight11)
In March 2011, The Dark Knight became the first film
available for rental on a social media website when
Warner Bros. teamed with Facebook.

14. The Dark Knight Rises
Filming began on the sequel to The Dark Knight
on May 6th
2011. With an estimated budget of
$250million the film will be released on July 20th
2012.
It features all of the principle producers
and actors from The Dark Knight and, in
keeping with the release techniques
from that film, has already had a teaser
trailer, poster, viral campaign and will
receive an IMAX-only prologue this
December in front of Mission Impossible
4: Ghost Protocol