Eagle Eye - on the overseas prize?

Eagle Eye is a 2008 action/thriller film directed by D.J. Caruso and starring Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan. The two portray a young man and a single mother who are brought together and coerced by an anonymous caller into carrying out the plot of an artificial intelligence system gone bad. The film has been released in regular 35mm theatres and IMAX theatres.

As a batch of less-than-blockbuster titles vie for attention during the postsummer downswing at the overseas boxoffice, Paramount's "Eagle Eye," Universal's "Burn After Reading" and Fox's "Max Payne" were among newcomers displaying moderate promise in early dates.

"Eagle Eye," the action thriller starring Shia LaBeouf, took command of the international market with a weekend score of $11.1 million from 3,483 screens in 42 markets, its advance largely due to seven new openings led by a pair of No. 2 bows in Japan ($2.5 million from 306 screens) and the U.K. ($1.9 million from 361).

The Coen brothers' crime comedy "Burn," a split-rights overseas release involving Universal and territorial distributors, took in $8.7 million over the weekend, with Uni markets accounting for $6.6 million from 943 screens, chiefly from No. 1 openings in the U.K. ($3.5 million from 396) and Australia ($1.3 million from 215).

"Payne," the video game turned into a crime drama, opened in 32 mostly smaller markets, racking up $6.9 million from 1,389 screens. Spain and Australia each greeted the Mark Wahlberg starrer at No. 3, with $1.2 million (301 screens) and $996,000 (194 screens), respectively.

Last week's No. 1, the Russian-language "Koltchak," released by Fox International in Russia and Ukraine, dropped to No. 2 for the weekend as it pulled in $9.3 million from 1,225 screens for an impressive two-market cume of $28.7 million.

Disney/Pixar's animated hit "WALL-E" finished in fourth, pulling in $7.3 million from 2,946 screens in 24 countries to lift its international gross to $247.1 million. The weekend take was fueled by a No. 1 opening in Italy ($3.8 million from 653) and a fourth-week hold in Germany ($1.8 million from 770 for a market cume of $19.4 million). According to Disney International, Latin America as a whole has delivered $44 million in a month, while the U.K. has chalked up $44.2 million in 12 weeks and France has come through with $27.3 million in 11 weeks. The film's overseas run concludes Dec. 5 in Japan.

Another weekend highlight saw Woody Allen's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," released by Warner Bros., hold on to the No. 1 box-office spot in France for a second session in a row, grossing $2.4 million from 431 screens, a drop of only 29% from its opening weekend and raising its cume to $7.4 million. "Vicky" maintained its hold in a market in which eight of the top 10 films were local-language productions. In 10th place was Universal's "Death Race," which opened to $688,617 from 148 screens as part of its overall weekend score of $2.1 million from 25 markets (cume: $23.4 million).

During the weekend, several long-distance runners reached new heights. "Mamma Mia!," with a weekend tally of $6.3 million from 3,246 screens in 46 markets, crossed the $400 million mark ($400.6 million) to become the fourth-biggest international release of 2008 behind "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" ($466 million), "The Dark Knight" ($464 million) and "Kung Fu Panda" ($418 million).

Universal's "Wanted" edged past $200 million ($201 million) as it tallied $2.8 million from 1,138 sites in 15 territories, with China contributing $6.6 million in 11 days and Japan $223 million in 30 days.

Sony's "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" became the second Adam Sandler film to cross $100 million ($100.8 million) internationally after it picked up $740,000 from 655 screens in 28 markets.

A usually crowded market saw Warners' romantic drama "Nights in Rodanthe" take in $4.2 million from 1,720 screens in 22 markets (cume: $12.5 million), with Germany welcoming the Richard Gere/Diane Lane starrer at No. 2 with $2 million from 382 screens.

Sony's "The House Bunny" earned $3.2 million from 1,375 screens in 31 markets, lifting its early international cume to $13.7 million.

Disney's talking-dog comedy "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" is charming Latin America, where it has remained in the No. 1 spot in Mexico for three weeks, taking in $1.1 million from 404 screens during the weekend for a market cume of $7.1 million. Overall, its weekend total came to $1.7 million from 915 screens in nine markets, good for a foreign cume of $15.1 million.

Movie Review : Max Payne get $18 million??

Max Payne is a 2008 action film based on the 2001 video game of the same name. The film was directed by John Moore and stars Mark Wahlberg in the title role. The film was released on October 16, 2008 in Australia, one day prior to the United States release date.

Critical reception
The film has received generally mixed-to-negative reviews. The film currently has an 18% "rotten" rating at Rotten Tomatoes, based on 70 reviews, and a consensus opinion that "While it boasts some stylish action, Max Payne suffers severely from an illogical plot and overdirection." Tom Long noted that the film may be the worst of the year.Louise Keller said "the most striking element is the production design..."Bruce Paterson wrote for the Australian Film Critics Association and Cinephilia that "Mark Wahlberg is terrific in hard-bitten roles", but in a reference to the Valkyries concluded "it could have done with more of the Norse and less of the force."
Online reviewer Casey Kirk stated thatNelly Furtado's first movie performance was "great". Despite the criticism, Max Payne reached #1 on the October 17-19 weekend box office.

LOS ANGELES – Movie-goers elected a "W," but it was Mark Wahlberg, not George W. Bush.
Wahlberg's action flick "Max Payne" debuted with $18 million to outdo Oliver Stone's film biography of George W. Bush, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Stone's "W." actually ran fourth, opening with $10.6 million to finish behind the family comedy "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" (No. 2 with $11.2 million) and the chick flick "The Secret Life of Bees" (No. 3 with $11.1 million).
"For me, an Oliver Stone film about George Bush doesn't necessarily scream big box office," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "A film like this is very tough to gauge, but this is exactly what I thought it would do."
Lionsgate's "W.," starring Josh Brolin as Bush, came in well behind the $18.7 million debut of Stone's last movie, 2006's Sept. 11 saga "World Trade Center." That movie opened in nearly 3,000 theaters, about 900 more than "W.," however.
Playing in 2,030 cinemas, "W." averaged a solid but unremarkable $5,197 a theater, compared with a $6,334 average for "World Trade Center." "W." was shot on a modest budget of $25 million.
The film had been on political junkies' radar since Stone put "W." on the fast track less than a year ago so he could have it out before the November election. Stone started shooting in May, his five-month turnaround time remarkably short by Hollywood standards, where major movies can take a year or more.
If he needed more time, Stone contractually had the option of releasing the film around the time Bush leaves office in January.
But with two weeks until the election, this is prime time for a Bush biography, said Steve Rothenberg, Lionsgate head of distribution.
"We felt it was very important to release the film after the presidential debates but before the election," Rothenberg said. "We felt interest in the election would be at its height, and interest in George W. Bush would be much greater now than after January. We feel we have a good corridor over the next two weeks."
The movie received mixed reviews, with critics surprised at how relatively tame it turned out coming from liberal firebrand Stone, who made the paranoia-laden presidential tales "JFK" and "Nixon."
Brolin's Bush has some buffoonish moments, but Stone showed empathy for the president, casting him as a man with serious daddy issues but an unshakable relationship with wife Laura to fall back on.
Among the weekend's other new movies, 20th Century Fox's "Max Payne" averaged $5,332 in 3,376 theaters and Fox Searchlight's "The Secret Life of Bees" did $6,945 in 1,591 cinemas.
Disney's "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," which had been the No. 1 movie the previous two weekends, raised its total to $69.1 million.
Adapted from the video game, "Max Payne" stars Wahlberg as a New York City cop hunting the killers of his wife and child.
"The Secret Life of Bees" stars Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys and Sophie Okonedo in a drama about a troubled teen learning life lessons through the beekeeping operations of three Southern sisters.
"Max Payne" had a predominantly male audience, "The Secret Life of Bees" played to women, "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" continued to grab family crowds and "W." was the choice for politically minded adults.
"You've got all kinds of pictures out there," said 20th Century Fox distribution executive Bert Livingston. "When this business is great is when there are a lot of different pictures out that people want to go see."
Hollywood's overall revenues rose for the fourth-straight weekend. The top-12 movies took in $86.4 million, up 10 percent from the same weekend last year.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Max Payne," $18 million.
2. "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," $11.2 million.
3. "The Secret Life of Bees," $11.1 million.
4. "W.," $10.6 million.
5. "Eagle Eye," $7.3 million.
6. "Body of Lies," $6.9 million.
7. "Quarantine," $6.3 million.
8. "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist," $3.9 million.
9. "Sex Drive," $3.6 million.
10. "Nights in Rodanthe," $2.7 million.

The Dark Knight : More box-office records for The Dark Knight??

A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to a venue. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall, or at a wicket. The term is often used, especially in the context of the film industry, as a synonym for the amount of business a particular production, such as a film or theatre show, receives.

The Dark Knight : More box-office records for The Dark Knight??
Batman sequel "The Dark Knight" has continued its rampage across the North American box-office, becoming the fastest film in history to break the 200-million-dollar barrier, industry analysts said Thursday.

Box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations said "The Dark Knight," which enjoyed a record high opening in the United States and Canada last weekend, had netted 203.7 million dollars by Tuesday, with an additional 18 million dollars from screenings on Wednesday.

The previous fastest to hit the 200-million-dollar jackpot was 2004's "Spider-Man 2," which took eight days to reach the mark.

Exhibitor Relations analyst Jeff Bock described the "The Dark Knight" as a juggernaut, and said he expected more records to fall this weekend.

"I think it could well have the biggest second weekend in history," said Bock. Animated film "Shrek 2" holds the current record for the highest grossing follow-up weekend, raking in 72.1 million dollars in 2004.

Last weekend, "The Dark Knight" rewrote the box-office record books as audiences flocked to see late actor Heath Ledger in his last completed film role. The film raked in 158.4 million dollars, crushing the previous North American box-office opening record of 151.1 million held by "Spider-Man 3."

The Dark Knight : More box-office records for The Dark Knight??

The Dark Knight : Christian Bale attends Dark Knight premiere in Barcelona!!

Christian Charles Philip Bale (also known professionally as Christian Morgan Bale; born 30 January 1974) is a Welsh-born English actor whose film credits include Empire of the Sun, The Prestige, American Psycho, Equilibrium, 3:10 To Yuma, The Machinist, Batman Begins, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, The Dark Knight and the upcoming film Terminator Salvation, where he will play the role of John Connor. Bale is known for his mastery of accents and harsh regimens of shedding and gaining weight (particularly for The Machinist, Batman Begins and, most recently, Rescue Dawn). Before he found success in playing Batman, he was heavily involved in independent films.

The Dark Knight : Christian Bale attends Dark Knight premiere in Barcelona!!

Bale, 34, appeared to put accusations of assault behind him as he spent half an hour signing autographs outside the city's Coliseum Threatre before entering the cinema.

The Welsh-born actor plays millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne and his violent alter-ego Batman in the sequel to Batman Begins directed by Christopher Nolan.

He was flanked by wife Sibi, and actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, who plays his love interest Rachel Dawes in the film, as he attended to fans, though he made no comment on the allegations or his subsequent arrest.

Director Nolan and actor Aaron Eckhart, who plays Harvey Dent, also spent time greeting fans and signing autographs.

Gernot Dudda, a representative for Warner Brothers, who produce the film, said: "We expected some excitement but have truly been taken aback by all the media attention."

Bale is expected to wrap up his promotional duties for the Dark Knight shortly, he is expected in Tokyo for the Japanese leg of the tour in the coming days, before returning to New Mexico to continue shooting the latest instalment in the Terminator franchise, where he plays John Connor.

Bale was arrested on Tuesday in connection with allegations of assault made by his mother and sister.

He spent several hours at a London police station before being released on police bail without charge - he has denied the allegations.

The Dark Knight, for which the late Heath Ledger is tipped to get a posthumous Oscar for his turn as the Joker, set a box-office record with $158.4 million in takings during its opening weekend in the USA last week.

The Dark Knight : Christian Bale attends Dark Knight premiere in Barcelona!!

Dawn Anna : Dawn Anna- A television movie that is based on real events??

Dawn Anna is a television movie that premiered on Lifetime in 2005 that is based on real events.
The movie depicts the life of Dawn Anna, a teacher and single mother of four children. Soon after meeting her eventual husband, she is diagnosed with a severe brain disease that requires a serious operation. Shortly after her recovery, daughter Lauren Townsend is murdered in the Columbine High School massacre.

Synopsis
Dawn Anna Townsend is the mother of Lauren Townsend who was killed in the Columbine massacre. Recently she spoke at a Pennsylvania high school and she had some interesting things to say...

"They hated everybody," Townsend said about the gunmen who killed her daughter. "They hated her (Lauren Townsend) because she breathed and that she was in their way."

Townsend said one of the inaccurate reports that came out of the Columbine massacre was that the two murderers were retaliating against athletes who picked on them.

"They (the killers) were the bullies," Townsend said.

Cast :-

• Debra Winger as Dawn Anna
• Alex Van as Bink
• Sam Howard as Josh
• Stephen Warner as Matt
• Krista Rae as Kristin
• Tatiana Maslany as Lauren (age 12)
• Robert Theberge as Shane
• Quinn Singer as Lauren Townsend
• Patricia Harras as Mary
• Greg Lawson as Dr.Emmerson
• Gillian Carfra as Crisis worker
• Yuri Yeremin as Himself
• Lee Cameron as Health teacher
• Christine Hamilton as Tall girl
• Scott Arnold as Dr. Albert Becker

The Dark KNight : So goes Plano, Texas, so goes the movie nation: Batman -The Dark Knight is one hot ticket??

The Dark Night : So goes Plano, Texas, so goes the movie nation: Batman -The Dark Knight is one hot ticket??

The latest Batman movie, inspiring thousands of sold-out screenings and countless desperate hunts for seats, grossed a record $18.5 million at midnight screenings, studio estimates said today.
"That's just a portion of the day," marveled Media by the Numbers' box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
"I think this could break a lot of records," he said. "Yesterday, I was hedging my bets, but now all bets are off."
So far, The Dark Knight has the midnight record, topping 2005's Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith ($16.5 million) and, with its 4,366 theaters, the widest-release record, besting 2007's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (4,362).
The next challenge: biggest opening day.
The title currently belongs to 2007's Spider-Man 3, which premiered with $59.8 million, also Hollywood's single biggest day ever.
The Dark Knight was about one-third of the way to Spider-Man 3's record based solely on its midnight gross.
And things don't look like they're about to slow down.
Per an exit poll conducted by MovieTickets.com, word of mouth on the Christopher Nolan film is, as expected, excellent. Ninety-eight percent of respondents, in fact, rated the film "excellent" or "very good," the ticketing service said.
Ticket demand, meanwhile, continued to be high. If not impossibly high.
As first reported by New York's WCBS-TV, Craigslist was flush with ads from people either wanting to sell or buy Dark Knight tickets. One ad was seeking $600 for four tickets to a Sunday night IMAX screening.
But the frenzy is not contained to Manhattan.
A quick search reveals similar ads are up in areas such as Dallas, where someone was trying to get $80 for four midnight tickets to a theater in Plano, Texas, and Raleigh, North Carolina, where a buyer was willing to pay $40 for two $12 adult admissions to a Friday night show there.
Then there was this one from a seller in Phoenix: "3 tickets to the midnight showing tonight…What are they worth to you?"
The answer just might determine how high The Dark Knight flies this weekend.

The Dark Night : So goes Plano, Texas, so goes the movie nation: Batman -The Dark Knight is one hot ticket......hurry up...

The Dark Knight : 'The Dark Knight' sets record ???

The Dark Night : 'The Dark Knight' sets record ???

Nothing dark about Batman's first night at the box office.

"The Dark Knight" lit up cash registers during its midnight debut, stealing away with a record $18.5 million from 3,040 theaters, distributor Warner Bros. said Friday.

That bested the 2005 performance of "Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith," which took in $16.9 million during its midnight debut in 2,915 venues.

"The Dark Knight" figure did not include any of its 3 a.m. or 6 a.m. showings.
And while Batman only strikes at night, all indications are that "The Dark Knight" will keep landing blows: Advance ticket sales were booming.
The early numbers mean "The Dark Knight" will likely join the ranks of 10 other films that debuted on non-holiday weekends and cleared more than $100 million from Friday to Sunday, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of tracking firm Media By Numbers LLC.
"There is an unbelievable demand for this movie," he said. "The Heath Ledger factor is a major part of this. Beyond that, the movie is so good, it's worthy of all these accolades."
The movie directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale as Batman cost $185 million to make, excluding money spent marketing, Fellman said.
Critics have heaped praise on the movie — especially the late Heath Ledger's turn as the Joker, which has already generated whispers of a posthumous Oscar nomination.
"We're very proud of the film," said Dan Fellman, Warner's head of distribution. "It's the magic of the movie business, how one film just stands out above the others."

The Dark Night : 'The Dark Knight' sets record............yeay

The Dark Knight : Batman movie -Fans ready to stay up ??

The Dark Knight : Batman movie -Fans ready to stay up ??

As "The Dark Knight's" crusading District Attorney Harvey Dent vigorously tries to combat Gotham City's crime spree, he quotes the old saying: "The night is always darkest before the dawn."

But the dawn may be the brightest time for "The Dark Knight," which is scheduled to have around 3,000 late-night showings, including almost 100 showings at 3 and 6 a.m. Friday, according to Fandango.com spokesman Harry Medved.

Medved said he couldn't remember the last time there were more than two or three such showings in the middle of the night -- usually in New York or Los Angeles.

"Isn't that when people are just thinking about waking up and going to Starbucks?" Medved said. "I predict coffee sales will increase tomorrow."

With a running time of two and a half hours, Medved is declaring "The Dark Knight's" opening day "Dark Friday," predicting attendance at work could be dramatically down.

During a survey given to people who buy tickets through Fandango.com, 38 percent of those who are working said they would be taking either some time or the day off to see the movie.

According to MovieTickets.com, "Dark Knight" has sold out more than 150 performances in Los Angeles and New York alone.

The midnight show times are not just for major movie centers, either. Medved said cities such as Fresno, California; Orlando, Florida; and towns in Minnesota are hosting early-morning showings.

The film also opened Thursday is Australia and Wednesday in Taiwan. It will be released in Japan August 9.

"The Dark Knight" already has risen to second place on Fandango.com's all-time list of advance tickets sales, second only to "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith." "The Dark Knight" tickets represent 94 percent of Fandango's sales, Medved said.

Interest is high at IMAX theaters, too, especially because six film sequences were shot with IMAX cameras.

And it's not just the movie business looking to cash in on the blockbuster. Corporate America hopes to capitalize on the hype, too, with Dominos offering a "Gotham City" pizza, and Comcast showing behind-the-scenes movie footage and interviews with the cast and filmmakers via their On Demand service.

As fans count down the hours until the midnight screenings, the hype surrounding the movie has only continued to build. The film is even earning Oscar buzz, thanks to the late Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker.

Moviegoers purchasing tickets on Fandango echoed those sentiments, with 53 percent saying his performance was their main motivation for seeing the film.

Ledger's performance has been hailed as "indelible" (Los Angeles Times' Kenneth Turan), "powerful" (The Washington Post's Stephen Hunter, in an overall mixed review) and "mesmerizing" (CNN.com's Tom Charity); clips of his character have dominated the movie's marketing campaign.

His absence was conspicuous Monday at the New York premiere, his co-stars noted.

"He should be here, shouldn't he? Because this is his big moment -- because he is the most amazing thing in the picture," said Michael Caine, who plays Bruce Wayne's butler Alfred. "And it's not because he's dead or something and everyone's concentrating on him. He would have been the most amazing thing in the picture anyway."

Caine also praised the late actor's commitment to immersing himself in a character, something he says is evident from Ledger's opening monologue.

"It's one of the finest close-ups I've ever seen," Caine said.

Other members of the cast praised Ledger for redefining the character brought to life in the past by Mark Hamill ("Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker") and Jack Nicholson ("Batman")

Aaron Eckhart, who plays Dent, said it was tragic that Ledger wasn't around to celebrate his achievement.

"It's hard to talk about; this is his. He created the Joker," Eckhart said. "He did it in his own way, and it's sad, but on the other hand, I am proud to be able to honor him tonight."

Director Christopher Nolan also praised the rest of the cast, including Christian Bale as Batman, Gary Oldman as police Lt. Jim Gordon, Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes and Morgan Freeman as tech wizard Lucius Fox.

Nolan, who directed "Batman Begins" three years ago, said he was glad he was able to take a step back and opt for a different approach.

"I think we've tried to expand the scope of the story, to tell a grander, more epic tale," he told CNN. "We've tried to really take the character and take it to darker territory by introducing it to the Joker."

Nolan seems to have made believers even out of those who were not die-hard fans of the Batman series, including Gyllenhaal, who said she was "never a superhero movie kind of girl."

"I watched a Batman here, a Batman there, but this is different," she said. "Chris [Nolan] wanted us to play everything for truth. It's about real people in the midst of this wild crazy Batman world. And I became a Batman fan shooting it. I mean, have Batman sweep you up and save you from certain death. It converts a girl, you know?"

The movie is expected to be shown on a record-breaking 9,200 screens in its opening, according to its studio, Warner Bros. (Like CNN, Warner Bros. is a division of Time Warner.)

Hollywood columnist Nikki Finke said insiders at the studio are being conservative, predicting a weekend opening of between $90 million and $100 million -- strong, but not record-breaking.

But box office experts, according to Finke, are saying the movie could make as much as $130 million, which would make it a narrow third for best opening weekend, behind "Spider-Man 3" ($151 million) and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" ($136 million).

Regardless of how much money the movie grosses, by far the biggest anticipation may be whether the Academy Awards agree with those -- including Oldman -- who say Ledger should earn an Oscar.

"I just wish that he was here to talk about his performance," he said. "I really feel that there is at least an Oscar nomination, if not a win for him. He really is that good."

The Dark Knight : Batman movie -Fans ready to stay up ??

The Dark Knight : 'Dark Knight' Director Invests Years In Batman Film??

Brief Info about Director of The Dark Night - Batman

Christopher Nolan (born July 30, 1970) is an Academy Award nominated film director, writer and producer. The son of an English father and American mother, Nolan is a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and United States. He is married to Emma Thomas, his longtime producer. They have four children together and reside in Los Angeles. Nolan is best known for directing the psychological thriller Memento, and for rebooting the Batman film franchise as the director of Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008).

The Dark Knight : 'Dark Knight' Director Invests Years In Batman Film??

Pretend you're an executive at one of Hollywood's biggest studios, and one of your most beloved franchises is lifeless, thanks to a string of uninspired sequels. To revive it, do you hire a proven A-list director or a young man whose biggest claim to fame is Memento, the low-budget, independent thriller with a story that's told backward?

Warner Bros. chose the latter, and Batman was re-born in 2005 with the hugely successful Batman Begins.

Director Christopher Nolan's vision returns to theaters Friday with his second Batman movie, The Dark Knight, filled with plenty of Batgear and high-tech heroics.

Nolan tells NPR's Robert Siegel that for the past few years, he invested all of his "attention and focus in a very sincere way" into the film to create a great piece of entertainment.

"I feel that I have to take the subject matter very seriously," Nolan says. "That, I think, is what hopefully will make the best film or hopefully will make the most entertaining film, because the things in the movie are — somebody believed in them."

The movie stars Christian Bale as Gotham City playboy Bruce Wayne — aka Batman — and the late Heath Ledger as The Joker. Ledger died unexpectedly after filming ended.

A 'Force Of Pure Anarchy'

As Nolan was conceiving the role of The Joker, the director says he had candid conversations with Ledger about how to portray the menacing character.

"Really, we wanted him to be the most frightening possible version of this character, the sort of edgiest possible," Nolan says. "And what I talked with Heath a lot about when we first met is the idea of him being a force of pure anarchy, being someone who wouldn't play by any kind of rules, even criminal rules, somebody who wouldn't in any way be bound by the convention of society."

Ledger took his role so seriously, Nolan says, that he added a few quirks of his own, such as licking his lips menacingly.

"What Heath had to do — and I think he did it in a really incredible way — is he had to balance the need for The Joker to be an iconic presence, but be a human being and be somebody that you can listen to and believe," Nolan says.

"The flip side of that, though, is that you don't want to know too much about them as a human being," he says. "You don't want to humanize them too much, because what Heath and I talked about a lot is with these great villains, whether it's Darth Vader or Hannibal Lecter or whoever, what we sort of found is the more you found out about these people, the less threatening, the less interesting really they are."

In part, it's building those characters that gives life to a great story. As a viewer of these kinds of films, Nolan says, he wants the filmmaker fully invested in telling the story. He says directors should allow the audience to decide what's funny or ironic without tipping them off with a "wink."

'Blow It Up, Film It, See What You Get'

Nolan got interested in making movies as a child. When he was 7, he and his older brother created military-themed Super 8 mm films around a version of the G.I. Joe figure called Action Man. That changed when Star Wars was released, Nolan says. Inspired, he and his brother made a series of films called Space Wars, which revolved around blowing up toy models.

"You have your little Star Wars toys and you strap firecrackers to Millennium Falcon [Han Solo's spacecraft in Star Wars] and blow it up and film it and see what you get," he says. "[The Dark Knight] is done on a rather larger scale and it's not actually me, thankfully, having anything to do with the pyrotechnics, but it's just something I've always done and something I really get a kick out of."

It's this passion for action and adventure that Nolan hopes will translate to the big screen in The Dark Knight, and that there are a couple of moments in the film where the audience is moved to applaud.

"Where large-scale movies really come into their own is when they speak a universal language, when they tap into more universal emotions and responses," Nolan says. "But certainly I try and think about the way I would have viewed this film as a boy. I think in making films I'm really trying to recapture that sense of things."

The Dark Knight : 'Dark Knight' Director Invests Years In Batman Film??

The Dark Knight : Heath Ledger's Parents Attend New York Dark Knight Screening??

The Dark Knight : Heath Ledger's Parents Attend New York Dark Knight Screening??

The parents and sister of Heath Ledger were out in full force last night to see the late actor’s final completed film The Dark Knight premiere in New York.

Father Kim, mother Sally and sister Kate flew in from the Joker's native Perth, Australia to attend the screening at the AMC Loews Lincoln Square IMAX.

However, the Ledger family did not walk the red carpet.

A movie source reveals the family has already seen the movie, which has been dedicated to Heath Ledger.

Ledger died from an accidental drug overdose in January.

The Dark Knight : Heath Ledger's Parents Attend New York Dark Knight Screening??

The Dark Knight : 'The Dark Knight' opening brings costumes and capes to Henry Ford IMAX????

The Dark Knight : 'The Dark Knight' opening brings costumes and capes to Henry Ford IMAX????

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.


The Dark Knight : 'The Dark Knight' opening brings costumes and capes to Henry Ford IMAX????

The Dark Knight : 'Knight' shows could bring record??

The Dark Knight : 'Knight' shows could bring record??
An Oscar-worthy performance by an actor who died in his prime, a critically acclaimed script and round-the-clock showings all could team up to propel the latest entry in the "Batman" film series to new box-office heights this weekend.

"The Dark Knight," which features a showdown between Batman and the Joker, a villain reportedly played to perfection by the late Heath Ledger, is evoking whispers that filmgoers will propel it at least past the $100 million mark for the three-day, Friday to Sunday period.

But many say it's likely to go well past that threshold. Though it could be a tall order, "Dark Knight" might even approach the record of $151.1 million set last year by "Spider-Man 3."

"The advance-ticket sales are among the best of any film," according to Gitesh Pandya, editor of BoxOfficeGuru.com. "The anticipation could not be higher."

One key to "Dark Knight's" success this weekend may be that the film's distributor, Time Warner Inc.'s (TWX:

time warner inc com

Last: 14.650.000.00%
4:01pm 07/17/2008

TWX 14.65, 0.00, 0.0%) Warner Bros. Pictures, and theater chains aren't afraid to screen the movie across a record swath of theaters -- 4,366 to be exact -- and, well, deep into the dark night.
The Dark Knight : 'Knight' shows could bring record??

The Dark Knight : Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight...

The Dark Knight : Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight...
As soon as the pre-release screenings of the new Batman movie were under way, there was talk of a posthumous Oscar for Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker.

Now that The Dark Knight has had its New York premiere, those rumblings will inevitably increase in volume. And quite right, too: Ledger is simply sensational in his final screen role.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is said to be reluctant to honour a performance in a summer blockbuster, and there are fears that an Oscar would be regarded as some sort of lifetime-achievement award, handed out for all the wrong (ie sentimental) reasons in the wake of 28-year-old Ledger's death from an accidental drugs overdose in January.

But all such prejudices should be swept aside. The Dark Knight has plenty of high-speed, maximum-volume action sequences, but it is also one of the most intelligent big-budget Hollywood movies of recent times; and no sympathy vote is required for a cinematic creation as accomplished as Ledger's deranged, demonic Lord of Chaos.

It is a genuinely unsettling, brilliantly nuanced portrait of evil.

The new film is Christopher Nolan's sequel to his Batman Begins of 2005. This time, Batman, alter ego of billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne, joins forces with top cop Lieutenant Gordon and the new, flashy, media-savvy DA Harvey Dent to take on the crime syndicates of Gotham City.

But both the underworld and the police department are overwhelmed by the sudden emergence of the Joker, who soon has the metropolis in thrall to his mad, monstrous amorality.

Batman (Christian Bale) glides on bat-wings between the skyscrapers, roars down the streets on a rocket-powered bat-bike, and shoots black bat-blades from his bat-suit.

But, at its dark heart, The Dark Knight is not about the chases, the technology or the gadgets; it's about the ambiguities in Bruce/Batman's character (is he really just a vigilante whose pursuit of justice brings its own terror?) and the terrifying way in which he seems psychologically meshed with his arch-nemesis.

This is clever, sophisticated entertainment - far more intellectually engaging than a film featuring a grown man in a bat-hat has any right to be. And, with Ledger's ghostly, slashed-smile clown-face beaming maniacally out of the screen, it's one of this year's most haunting cinematic experiences.

Review of The Dark Knight

Marc Lee, The Daily Telegraph
The Dark Knight has plenty of high-speed, maximum-volume action sequences, but it is also one of the most intelligent big-budget Hollywood movies of recent times; and no sympathy vote is required for a cinematic creation as accomplished as Ledger's deranged, demonic Lord of Chaos. It is a genuinely unsettling, brilliantly nuanced portrait of evil.

Tim Teeman, The Times
The talking point [of The Dark Knight] thus far has been Heath Ledger as The Joker. Will the performance accord him a posthumous Oscar? Is it odd to watch the actor? No, because he delivers a career-defining performance. With his face a peeling façade of clown paint and his mouth a blurred slash, The Joker is the embodiment of anarchy and antiorder. Ledger is so terrifying and unpredictable that his very presence on screen makes you horribly nervous.

Mark Dinning, Empire
As was, perhaps, always inevitable, The Dark Knight is Ledger’s movie. It is a towering performance. From his menacing, pencil-packing greeting to Gotham’s Mob fraternity, to the threat and fire he conjures in exchanges with Maggie Gyllenhaal’s sexy, sophisticated brief and “The Bat-maaan”, to the Sophie’s choice surprises of the third act, he is pure, powerful, immense. A force of f***ing nature.

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
I can only speak superlatives of Ledger, who is mad-crazy-blazing brilliant as the Joker. Miles from Jack Nicholson's broadly funny take on the role in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman, Ledger takes the role to the shadows, where even what's comic is hardly a relief.

Total Film
There’s no doubting the limelight will be on the late Heath Ledger, burning brightly as he embodies an icon. Dig out the thesaurus and run through the superlatives: chilling, gleeful, genius... It's a masterpiece of a performance. The 'meeja' Oscar talk is tasteless, in that the Academy usually ignores comic- book entertainment and the hyperbole is because he has died, but let it be said that it’s such a fearless, fierce, menacing turn that comparisons with Jack Nicholson don’t come into it. This is the definitive Joker.

Richard Corliss, TIME
[Heath Ledger], who died in January at 28 of an accidental prescription-drug overdose, is magnificent. Echoing the sly psychopathy and scary singsong voice of Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs (Hannibal Ledger!), Ledger carries in him the deranged threat of a punk star like Sid Vicious, whom he supposedly took as one of the models for his character.

Justin Chang, Variety
After Ledger’s death in January, his penultimate performance (with Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” still to come) will be viewed with both tremendous excitement and unavoidable sadness. It’s a tribute to Ledger’s indelible work that he makes the viewer entirely forget the actor behind the cracked white makeup and blood-red rictus grin, so complete and frightening is his immersion in the role. With all due respect to the enjoyable camp buffoonery of past Jokers like Cesar Romero and Jack Nicholson, Ledger makes them look like -- well, clowns.

Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter
Ledger's performance is a beauty. His Joker has a slow cadence of speech, as if weighing words for maximum mischief and contempt. He moves languidly as if to savor his dark deeds, his head and body jerking at times from an overload of brain impulses.

Christy Lemire, AP
Nolan was wise enough to give Ledger plenty of room to shine - albeit in the actor's indelibly perverse, twisted way. There's nothing cartoony about his Joker. Ledger wrested the role from previous performers Cesar Romero and Jack Nicholson and reinvented it completely. Yes, he's funny, wringing laughs from both clever one-liners and maniacally grand schemes. But because there's no logic behind his mayhem, he's also truly terrifying. That his attacks grow larger each time, regardless of the collateral damage, makes him so genuinely disturbing. Ledger seems to have understood that, and brings an appropriate - and riveting - unpredictability to the role. It's also a neat touch that his makeup, which looked like a slapdash effort from the start, steadily deteriorates, streaking, cracking and peeling away as the film progresses; it's an outward manifestation of his psychological spiral.

David Fear, Time Out New York
Next to Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard’s propulsive drone of a score, Ledger’s performance is the most dynamic element of the movie. What the late actor accomplishes with little more than a nurse uniform and a Groucho Marx waddle makes the various explosions, as well as Bale’s raspy, remote characterization, pale in comparison. If Nolan’s only goal were to add to another revisionist wrinkle to an iconic villain, Ledger’s brutal, batshit malevolence would qualify The Dark Knight as a success.

The Dark Knight : Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight...

The Dark Knight : Batman - The dark night Review (Rollingstone)

The Dark Knight : Batman - The dark night Review (Rollingstone)

Heads up: a thunderbolt is about to rip into the blanket of bland we call summer movies. The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan's absolute stunner of a follow-up to 2005's Batman Begins, is a potent provocation decked out as a comic-book movie. Feverish action? Check. Dazzling spectacle? Check. Devilish fun? Check. But Nolan is just warming up. There's something raw and elemental at work in this artfully imagined universe. Striking out from his Batman origin story, Nolan cuts through to a deeper dimension. Huh? Wha? How can a conflicted guy in a bat suit and a villain with a cracked, painted-on clown smile speak to the essentials of the human condition? Just hang on for a shock to the system. The Dark Knight creates a place where good and evil — expected to do battle — decide instead to get it on and dance. "I don't want to kill you," Heath Ledger's psycho Joker tells Christian Bale's stalwart Batman. "You complete me." Don't buy the tease. He means it.

The trouble is that Batman, a.k.a. playboy Bruce Wayne, has had it up to here with being the white knight. He's pissed that the public sees him as a vigilante. He'll leave the hero stuff to district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) and stop the DA from moving in on Rachel Dawes (feisty Maggie Gyllenhaal, in for sweetie Katie Holmes), the lady love who is Batman's only hope for a normal life.

Everything gleams like sin in Gotham City (cinematographer Wally Pfister shot on location in Chicago, bringing a gritty reality to a cartoon fantasy). And the bad guys seem jazzed by their evildoing. Take the Joker, who treats a stunningly staged bank robbery like his private video game with accomplices in Joker masks, blood spurting and only one winner. Nolan shot this sequence, and three others, for the IMAX screen and with a finesse for choreographing action that rivals Michael Mann's Heat. But it's what's going on inside the Bathead that pulls us in. Bale is electrifying as a fallibly human crusader at war with his own conscience.

I can only speak superlatives of Ledger, who is mad-crazy-blazing brilliant as the Joker. Miles from Jack Nicholson's broadly funny take on the role in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman, Ledger takes the role to the shadows, where even what's comic is hardly a relief. No plastic mask for Ledger; his face is caked with moldy makeup that highlights the red scar of a grin, the grungy hair and the yellowing teeth of a hound fresh out of hell. To the clown prince of crime, a knife is preferable to a gun, the better to "savor the moment."

The deft script, by Nolan and his brother Jonathan, taking note of Bob Kane's original Batman and Frank Miller's bleak rethink, refuses to explain the Joker with pop psychology. Forget Freudian hints about a dad who carved a smile into his son's face with a razor. As the Joker says, "What doesn't kill you makes you stranger."

The Joker represents the last completed role for Ledger, who died in January at 28 before finishing work on Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. It's typical of Ledger's total commitment to films as diverse as Brokeback Mountain and I'm Not There that he does nothing out of vanity or the need to be liked. If there's a movement to get him the first posthumous Oscar since Peter Finch won for 1976's Network, sign me up. Ledger's Joker has no gray areas — he's all rampaging id. Watch him crash a party and circle Rachel, a woman torn between Bale's Bruce (she knows he's Batman) and Eckhart's DA, another lover she has to share with his civic duty. "Hello, beautiful," says the Joker, sniffing Rachel like a feral beast. He's right when he compares himself to a dog chasing a car: The chase is all. The Joker's sadism is limitless, and the masochistic delight he takes in being punched and bloodied to a pulp would shame the Marquis de Sade. "I choose chaos," says the Joker, and those words sum up what's at stake in The Dark Knight.

The Joker wants Batman to choose chaos as well. He knows humanity is what you lose while you're busy making plans to gain power. Every actor brings his A game to show the lure of the dark side. Michael Caine purrs with sarcastic wit as Bruce's butler, Alfred, who harbors a secret that could crush his boss's spirit. Morgan Freeman radiates tough wisdom as Lucius Fox, the scientist who designs those wonderful toys — wait till you get a load of the Batpod — but who finds his own standards being compromised. Gary Oldman is so skilled that he makes virtue exciting as Jim Gordon, the ultimate good cop and as such a prime target for the Joker. As Harvey tells the Caped Crusader, "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become a villain." Eckhart earns major props for scarily and movingly portraying the DA's transformation into the dreaded Harvey Two-Face, an event sparked by the brutal murder of a major character.

No fair giving away the mysteries of The Dark Knight. It's enough to marvel at the way Nolan — a world-class filmmaker, be it Memento, Insomnia or The Prestige — brings pop escapism whisper-close to enduring art. It's enough to watch Bale chillingly render Batman as a lost warrior, evoking Al Pacino in The Godfather II in his delusion and desolation. It's enough to see Ledger conjure up the anarchy of the Sex Pistols and A Clockwork Orange as he creates a Joker for the ages. Go ahead, bitch about the movie being too long, at two and a half hours, for short attention spans (it is), too somber for the Hulk crowd (it is), too smart for its own good (it isn't). The haunting and visionary Dark Knight soars on the wings of untamed imagination. It's full of surprises you don't see coming. And just try to get it out of your dreams.

The Dark Knight : Batman - The dark night Review (Rollingstone)

The Dark Night : The Dark Knight who rules the box office???

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns is a Batman comic book mini-series written and drawn by Frank Miller and published by DC Comics from February to June 1986.

It reintroduced Batman to the general public as the psychologically dark character of his original 1930s conception and helped to usher in an era of "grim and gritty" superheroes from the mid-1980s to mid-1990s.

A sequel, Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, was published in 2001. All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder, a prequel to the series began running in 2005. An additional prequel, Holy Terror, Batman!, is planned to be released in 2008.

Batman : Dark Knight who rules the box office???

Forget Indiana Jones, the ageing archaeologist whose big screen comeback was more reminiscent of a Saga holiday than an action adventure. Only one man will rule over the box office this summer, and he's wearing tights.

The biggest blockbuster of 2008 is the new Batman movie The Dark Knight, which premieres in London on Monday.

Yes, the buzz is all around the late Heath Ledger's performance, tipped to land him a posthumous Oscar. But even without his electrifying turn as The Joker, the film would be a success.

In these times of economic gloom, we could all use a superhero. And Batman is arguably the greatest of them all.

Superman has his Kryptonite, The Incredible Hulk his superhuman strength. Batman has no special powers.

Love interests

He is simply Bruce Wayne, the tortured hero who lives a secret life as the Caped Crusader, using only his guile, intellect and a dizzying array of high-tech gadgetry to fight crime and corruption on the streets of Gotham.

He is also the loneliest of superheroes, with only faithful butler Alfred as his constant companion.

He has had a succession of female love interests - ace reporter Vicki Vale, assistant district attorney Rachel Dawes - but the relationships are always doomed. Good job. Batman would make a terrible husband.

Brooding, distant, always disappearing in the middle of the night and prone to dressing as a six-foot bat. No wonder he's still single.

Batman first appeared as a DC Comics strip in May 1939. He was the creation of artist Bob Kane and a colleague, writer Bill Finger.

Keen to capitalise on the success of Superman, DC editors asked Kane to come up with a brand new superhero. Taking Zorro as his inspiration, he sketched a character with a neat black mask.

He recalled in his autobiography: "At the time, I only had a small domino mask, like the one Robin later wore, on Batman's face. Bill said, 'Why not make him look more like a bat and put a hood on him, and just put slits for eyes to make him look more mysterious?'" The original red and black suit was also rejected as "too bright" and a pair of stiff bat wings were ditched in favour of a flowing cape which would make it easier to fly. Batman was born.

Camp Caped Crusader

His back story was set out. Aged eight, young Bruce Wayne (the name is an amalgamation of Robert the Bruce and US general Anthony Wayne, according to Finger) witnessed the brutal murder of his parents by a street mugger and vowed to avenge their deaths by waging war on Gotham's lowlife.

By day, he is a billionaire industrialist and noted playboy. By night, he scans the skies for the Bat signal and heads out to fight crime.

His first screen incarnation was a 1943 serial made for the big screen, starring Lewis Wilson.

Next came the Batman who, for many, lives longest in the memory - the Sixties television version with Adam West as a decidedly camp Caped Crusader.

Biff! Bam! Kapow! The show ran from 1966 to 1968, and consigned West to typecasting hell. For two years he did nothing but personal appearances in his Batsuit. "It was pretty rough. You can't run around in a costume that many hours a day - we did 120 shows - and have that kind of success and not be typecast. It took me maybe five years to get away from it," he said.

West has now resigned himself to fate and a lifetime of attention from comic book geeks. "We have Batman conventions, like Star Trek conventions. They have their Trekkies, we have our Batties. People come dressed up as the characters. And it's fun, but... get a life."

playing it for laughs

It was director Tim Burton who revived the Batman franchise in 1989, inspired by the graphic novels of Frank Miller.

With more than 20 years having elapsed since the day-glo kitsch of the television show, Burton decided the world was ready for a darker Caped Crusader. It was his vision of a brooding, enigmatic, introspective superhero that would ultimately pave the way for today's latest incarnation.

Michael Keaton was cast as Batman - a choice which raised many an eyebrow in Hollywood, as Keaton was not regarded as leading man material. But while his take on the role was a success, he was comprehensively out-acted by Jack Nicholson's irrepressible Joker.

Keaton reprised the role in 1992's Batman Returns, with Danny DeVito as The Penguin and Michelle Pfeiffer as a sizzling Catwoman, before Val Kilmer donned the mask for 1995 film Batman Forever, co-starring Jim Carrey as The Riddler and Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face.

The franchise was on a roll, but Clooney and co killed it stone dead in the fourth film, Batman and Robin.

Clooney played the role for laughs, something which celluloid Batmen must never do. "When I did it they didn't tell me that Batman was straight. I'd have played him straight if I'd known," the actor later quipped.

It wasn't until 2005 that director Christopher Nolan cast British actor Christian Bale in the acclaimed Batman Begins, which took the superhero story back to its roots.

The Dark Knight picks up where that film left off, with Batman disillusioned with his role as defender of Gotham City but unable to abandon it to the crime lords. The film is a meditation on the nature of good and evil, offering no easy answers.

"You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain," one character tells Bruce Wayne.

Time was when we wanted our superhero films to be harmless escapism. But times change. The Dark Knight is made for a post 9/11 audience all too aware that terror can strike at the heart of the city we call home.

And it's already doing big business, with advance ticket sales outstripping all rival films this year and industry experts predicting a record opening weekend. Holy box office gold, Batman.

Batman : Dark Knight who rules the box office???

The Dark Knight : The Dark Knight-Holy transcendence of genre, Batman!

The Dark Knight is a 2008 American superhero film co-written and directed by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is a sequel to Batman Begins (2005), which rebooted the Batman film series after an eight-year hiatus. Christian Bale reprises the lead role. Batman's primary conflicts in the film include his fight against the Joker (Heath Ledger) and his strained friendship with district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart).

For his conception of the film, Nolan was inspired by the Joker's first two appearances in the comics and Batman: The Long Halloween. The Dark Knight was filmed primarily in Chicago (as was Batman Begins), as well as in several other locations in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong. The director used an IMAX camera to film six major action sequences, including the Joker's first appearance in the film. The Batsuit was redesigned, with a cowl allowing Bale to move his head. The film also introduces a recreation of the Batcycle, known as the Batpod.

Warner Bros. created an aggressive viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight, developing promotional websites and trailers highlighting screenshots of Heath Ledger as the Joker. After Ledger's death in January 2008, however, the studio refocused its promotional campaign.^[3][4] The film was released on July 16, 2008 in Australia, and will be released on July 18, 2008 in North America, and on July 24, 2008 in the United Kingdom.

The Dark Knight : Holy transcendence of genre, Batman!

Holy transcendence of genre, Batman! This epic struggle between the caped crusader (Christian Bale) and his nemesis the Joker (Heath Ledger) has a lot more on its mind than biff, bam and pow—and delivers on every operatic promise it makes.

The Bigger Picture: It's almost unfair to call The Dark Knight a sequel. Director Christopher Nolan has crafted a Batman film of such devastating impact, it practically obliterates the memory of its predecessors—including Nolan's own Batman Begins.

When we last left Gotham City's dark protector, his life and home were in a shambles, but so was crime in the city. Now crusading DA Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) is looking to finish the job Batman started—but there's still plenty of fight left in the mob, not to mention the matter of a certain psychopath in smeared clown makeup who wants to make life interesting for everyone.

And so begins a sprawling, thrilling story of revenge, redemption, and the definition of heroism. Everything about The Dark Knight is definitive, in fact. Bale is essentially playing three roles—dapper, vacant playboy Bruce Wayne, his more contemplative private self and the simmering superhero—and nails them all. And there's almost no way to praise Ledger's bravura take on The Joker except to say that you've got to see it to believe it—not since Hannibal Lecter has a villain been so terrifying, so engaging and so memorable.

Between them, Batman and The Joker are doing battle for the soul of a city—and it's never clear who's going to be the winner. It's a titanic battle between not just men but ideas, a grand thing indeed for a dynamite summer film about a masked vigilante, and so good, it's a pity you'll only be able to see it for the first time once.

The 180—a Second Opinion: This may be the year's most heartbreaking film. Ledger's performance is so incandescent, it hurts to know he won't ever have the chance at it again.

The Dark Knight : Holy transcendence of genre, Batman!

Indiana Jones:'Indiana Jones' unearths $126M in box office gold

LOS ANGELES- Indiana Jones unearthed box office gold at domestic theaters with a performance that puts it on track to become the second biggest Memorial Day movie opening ever, according to studio estimates Sunday.The fourth installment of the whip-cracking professor's exploits, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," grossed an estimated $101 million from Friday to Sunday, plus $25 million from its opening Thursday, distributor Paramount Pictures said. The company expects it to earn another $25 million on Monday.That would put it behind only "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," which had a Friday-through-Monday total of $139.8 million, in the pantheon of Memorial Day weekend blockbusters.

Including Thursday's receipts, "Indiana Jones" was expected to collect $151 million over five days, slightly behind "Pirates," which took in $153 million with a partial Thursday included."'Indiana Jones' did incredibly well for a film that comes 19 years after the previous installment," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of tracking firm Media By Numbers LLC.The adventure flick received a lackluster reception from critics at the Cannes Film Festival, but audiences thought otherwise.

Box office estimates grew from $25 million on its opening Thursday through $37 million on Saturday, suggesting strong word of mouth, Dergarabedian said."This is the definition of a summer movie from two of the architects of the summer movie season - George Lucas and Steven Spielberg," he said. "These guys have it down to a science and audiences want to go along for that ride."The first three Indy movies took in $1.2 billion worldwide.Disney's action sequel, "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian," slipped to second place with $23 million, for a total of $91.1 million over two weeks.

The company expected the movie to continue to play well as school lets out."Once you start getting the mass number of kids out of school, it turns into some serious money," said Chuck Viane, president of distribution for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.Marvel Studios' "Iron Man" clinched another $20.1 million, bringing its domestic total to $252.3 million. A sequel is set for release in 2010.

The 20th Century Fox comedy, "What Happens in Vegas," continued to roll with $9 million in its third week, for a total of $54.2 million.Fox senior vice president Bert Livingstone said high gas prices were encouraging people to see movies rather than take long trips away from home."This is the last great bargain," Livingstone said.But movie receipts were about 16 percent smaller than last year's Memorial Day weekend, and revenue for the year to date is down nearly 4 percent at $3.3 billion, with attendance off nearly 7 percent.By this time last year, there were seven movies that grossed over $100 million: "Pirates," "Shrek the Third," "Spider-Man 3," "300," "Wild Hogs," "Blades of Glory" and "Ghost Rider," according to Media By Numbers.

This year, there are only three: "Iron Man," "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!" and "Indiana Jones.""It's no wonder that we're down in terms of revenues and attendance," Dergarabedian said. "You don't get out of a deficit like this overnight."Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Tuesday.1. "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," $101 million.2. "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian," $23 million.3. "Iron Man," $20.1 million.4. "What Happens in Vegas," $9 million.5. "Speed Racer," $4 million.6. "Made of Honor," $3.4 million.7. "Baby Mama," $3.3 million.8. "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," $1.7 million.9. "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay," $900,000.10. "The Visitor," $800,000.

Universal Pictures and Focus Features are owned by NBC Universal, a joint venture of General Electric Co. and Vivendi Universal; Sony Pictures, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; DreamWorks, Paramount and Paramount Vantage are divisions of Viacom Inc.; Disney's parent is The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is a division of The Walt Disney Co.; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight Pictures are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros., New Line, Warner Independent and Picturehouse are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a consortium of Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Sony Corp., Comcast Corp., DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group; Lionsgate is owned by Lionsgate Entertainment Corp.; IFC Films is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.; Marvel Studios is a division of Marvel Entertainment Inc.

Indiana Jones:'Indiana Jones' Whips Box Office Rivals

LOS ANGELES (May 25) - Who says box office superheroes need to sport tights or youthful smirks to win the hearts of moviegoers?The fantasy adventure "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," in which 65-year-old Harrison Ford reprises his role as an intrepid archeologist, unearthed $126 million during its first four days of release in North American theaters, its distributor said Sunday.

Paramount Pictures predicted the long-awaited fourth installment of the adventure series would pick up an additional $25 million on Monday -- the Memorial Day holiday in the United States -- to bring its total to $151 million.The five-day forecast was in line with industry expectations, and falls just $2 million short of the Memorial Day weekend record set last year by "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." The five-day record is held by "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith," which opened to $173 million a week before the Memorial Day holiday in 2005.For the traditional Friday-to-Sunday portion of the weekend, "Indiana Jones" made an estimated $101 million, the biggest opening of the year by that measure.

The record was set three weekends ago by the superhero saga "Iron Man," which opened to $98.6 million without any holiday boost."Crystal Skull," directed by Steven Spielberg, is the first movie in the lucrative "Jones" franchise to hit theaters in 19 years. Ford, who delivers a few self-effacing remarks about his age in between some old-fashioned stunt work, is joined by Cate Blanchett and Spielberg's hot new discovery, Shia LaBeouf. George Lucas, who created the franchise in 1981, returned as executive producer.

'Iron Man' : North American box offices!! Makes 50 Million

LOS ANGELES (May 11) - Superhero movie "Iron Man" pounded the competition at North American box offices for the second straight weekend, landing at No. 1 with $50.5 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The movie about a comic book hero in a high-tech suit of armor took in $12,284 per theater at 4,111 locations, and saw its total box office rise to $177 million after only about 10 days in theaters."Iron Man" blasted by two new entries this weekend, family adventure "Speed Racer" and romantic comedy "What Happens in Vegas," which battled for the No. 2 and No. 3 positions."Speed Racer" finished in the second-place spot with $20.2 million in ticket sales to $20 million for No. 3 "Vegas," according to Sunday's estimates. But those figures could change when Monday's final weekend tallies are released."Speed Racer" got off to a slow start for the big-budget film's backers at Warner Bros. who had high hopes the movie would prove to be a runaway hit for kids and their parents."We were disappointed with the results over the weekend," said Dan Fellman, president of domestic distribution for Warner Bros.However, Fellman said surveys of audiences leaving theaters showed they had positive reactions to the movie about a race car driver named Speed who must stop wealthy corporations from using profits to fix races. It was made by the directors of the "Matrix," brothers Larry and Andy Wachowski.

"We're hoping, optimistically, that the movie can turn it around and sustain an audience into the summer but only time will tell at this early stage," Fellman said.While "Speed Racer" managed to claim the No. 2 spot, "Vegas" beat it on the basis of average sales per theater."Vegas," which stars Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz as a pair of mismatched lovers who get married after a fling in Las Vegas, pulled in $6,221 per theater in 3,215 theaters compared to $5,605 per venue in 3,606 locations for "Speed."A spokesman for Twentieth Century Fox, which released "Vegas," called its performance a "great result" that surpassed expectations for what he said was a movie that cost a mere $35 million to make.By contrast, "Speed Racer" was estimated to have cost $150 million to make and another $100 million to market, according to a recent story in the Los Angeles Times.Rounding out the top 5 films this weekend were romantic comedy "Made of Honor," starring Patrick Dempsey, in the No. 4 spot with $7.6 million and a two-week total of $26.3 million."Made of Honor" was followed by Tina Fey comedy "Baby Mama" with an estimated tally of $5.8 million and a cumulative total of $40.4 million after three weeks in theaters."Iron Man" was produced by Marvel Studios and released by Paramount Pictures. "Made of Honor" was distributed by Columbia Pictures, and "Baby Mama" by Universal Pictures.

Iron Man is a 2008 superhero - Better than other!!

Iron Man is a 2008 superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Directed by Jon Favreau, the film stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, a billionaire industrialist and master engineer who is captured by terrorists in Afghanistan. Ordered by them to build a missile, Stark instead builds a powered exoskeleton and escapes. He then returns to the United States where he improves his armor and becomes the technologically advanced superhero, Iron Man. Gwyneth Paltrow plays his personal assistant Pepper Potts, Terrence Howard plays jet pilot James Rhodes and Jeff Bridges plays the villainous Obadiah Stane.


User Review-
Worthy Experience (Spoiler-free)
Let me get it out of the way, first. My favourite super-hero movie is Batman Begins, and a far second is the first Spider-man (2nd was okay, 3rd was mediocre).

For me, the key, the ultimate enjoyment in a super-hero tale isn't the spectacle, the marvel, the powers, nor the villains. No, it's the person behind the mask, behind the glasses, the person him/herself. That's what drives the story and grabs my interest. The superhero aspect is an avenue for the expression of the person's desires, morals and willingness to sacrifice under great difficulty.

Here, Iron Man reaches a height that all over, and I mean each and every superhero movie, watches in envy.

Tony Stark is a multi-layered character. He's an unbelievable genius, a pampered playboy, an extremely likeable character, with great wit and eccentricities, and when things get difficult, yes, Tony Stark has a heart.

Unlike most superheroes, where it's merely a rush in the story to get to the part where the hero puts on the suit, Iron Man slowly undergoes this process. It's not concerned with the usual path. Instead, we concentrate on Tony, as he experiences tough circumstances which leads him to look deeply into himself.

Iron Man isn't about how a good person gets bit and seeks a way to 'save' people, which is the usual staple in superhero movies. Instead, it's about the change in a man's perspectives and thoughts, as he sees the world is not in reality as simplistic as he's convinced himself for years.

Which leads me to the acting, which is by far the strongest part of this movie.

The idea to grab Robert Downey Jnr. for this was an amazing stroke of ingenuity. He takes the character completely, and there's no actor who can give witty, quick-thinking dialogue like Downey. I've always, always admired him (thought he was brilliant in Wonder Boys) every time I've seen him, and I was frankly intrigued at them getting Downey as a superhero protagonist. Through Downey's brilliant acting, you understand Tony, and everything he says and does is entirely believeable.

Paltrow was another eye-brow raiser, but she also hits this out of the park. She provides a fantastic amount of sweetness to her character, yet she's more than the generic other girl. She displays the unsureness, hurt, desire, confusion remarkably with the slightest movement of her face.

Terrence Howard is a very good actor, and does well here. I do wish there was a bit more shown between Rhodes and Stark, so I could see more of how they interacted or how they got to know one another.

Bridges is a good one, too.

If you like superhero movies, then I wonder why you're reading. Go on, already, watch this movie!

If you always liked some special effects, but didn't like the overblown visual effects with thin dialogue, I suggest you give this movie a chance. It's a superhero movie for people with brains. Chances are great you'll like it.

I came to the theatre wanting to watch this movie as a good starter for the summer season (with the Dark Knight, Incredible Hulk etc...). I was stunned at my experience.

Iron Man is the best superhero movie I've ever seen. Yes, it's better than Spider-man 1. Yes, shockingly, it's better than Batman Begins. It is a superhero movie tailored to my love of knowing who is under the mask and what makes them tick. Downey is wonderful, simply wonderful.

I can't wait to see the next one. Hurry up Favreau!

Aside, I must say I knew absolutely nothing about Iron Man prior to watching this movie (I was raised more in the mythologies of Superman, Spider-man and Batman). I wonder how this movie rates to Iron Man fans and fanatics. I suspect they'll like it (and they'll watch this movie without reading reviews, too), but I am curious.

Go on. Watch this movie if you like your taste of blockbusters. What was supposed to be a starter for the summer movie season might very well be the best of what the summer (and many years) could offer. The Dark Knight has alot to do if it wants to be my best superhero movie.