The political season is really heating up. Even fake politicians are getting into the act.
Viral marketing seems to be the big trend to market your product. It makes people feel like their "part" of the marketing. It is more interactive. For example, the new Batman film, "The Dark Knight" asks people to solve puzzles, riddles, take photos, and other things. In return, you'll get cool things like T-shirts, swag, and the "Gotham Times Newspaper". If the community really works together, that could lead to unlocking a movie trailer.
A politician known as "Harvey Dent" is asking for your help so he can run for District Attorney, and help end crime in Gotham City. Warner Bros has been sending out real campaign buses to different cities in the United States with Philadelphia and Chicago being some of the cities. They give out t-shirts, bumper stickers, buttons, and stickers at certain locations. This might sound corny, but this type of viral marketing is the same type of marketing that created buzz for movies like January's "Cloverfield". If you let the internet feel like their interacting with the hype, then the excitement increases tremendously.
There are many reasons why "The Dark Knight" could be one of the top films of the summer. It's predecessor, "Batman Begins" is widely regarded as one of the best Batman movies ever. Christopher Nolan was assigned with one simple task by Warner Bros. Reinvent Batman. They saw how comic book movies were back in popularity again with "X-Men" and "Spider-Man". Nolan, who only had experience doing smaller, more independent movies in the past, was given a bigger budget than he's normally use to. It was Christopher Nolan's duty to bring back respect to Batman. Many fans express cynicism toward another Batman movie. He didn't just give it back it's dignity and respect. He did more than that. Some comic book fans regard it as one of their favorite comic book movies of all time. It is at around 84 percent on Rotten Tomatoes which is pretty damn impressive. But why? Simple reason. "Batman Begins" didn't feel like your typical comic book movie like Spiderman or X-Men. It felt like a real movie with deep characters. "Batman Begins" was a reboot of a franchise, and it took over 7-8 years to have it made. They wanted you to forget all the other Batman movies. Christopher Nolan's Batman world is a different Batman world than what you are use to. It's more realistic and gritty. It's darker, and the threats are menacing. Roger Ebert, who gave a thumbs down to all the other Batman movies, gave "Batman Begins" a thumbs up and a letter grade of A.
There had never been an origin story about Batman before. With "Batman Begins" they tried to explain Batman's origins in the most realistic way possible. Their approach to the material was to show that Batman could be anyone, and that's what makes him so appealing. He's a normal person overcoming the odds, just like huge pop culture movie icons like James Bond or John McClain. Speaking of James Bond, MGM followed the same strategy that Nolan took with Batman Begins. MGM fired Pierce Brosnan, and hired a blond Bond to reinvent the 007 series with "Casino Royale". It seems like the words "reinvention" and "reimagining" are thrown around a lot in Hollywood. Batman Begins started a trend. Hell, even Rob Zombie tried to go back to the beginnings of "Halloween". Critics though didn't take much of a liking to Zombie's vision of Michael Myers though.
Back to Batman.
With the origin story fleshed out in the first movie, "The Dark Knight" is all about escalation. Things have to get worse before they can get better. It leaves off where the last movie left off. Thugs and gangsters have overtaken the city after Gotham rids the city of crime boss, Carmine Falcone. Many of the inmates at Arkheim Asylum are still on the loose, as well as Dr. Crane (Scarecrow). And Commissioner Gordan tips off Batman about some guy who calls himself, "The Joker" who has been linked to armed robbery and homocide. There is recent buzz that Christopher Nolan showed off the first cut of the Batman sequel to Warner Bros executives at a private screening. The buzz is that Warner Bros executives were in awe of what they saw, and the excitement over the July 18th release date has tripled.
Christopher Nolan was under a lot of pressure. He felt Heath Ledger put his heart and soul into the role of "The Joker". Nolan wanted to Heath Ledger's final complete role some justice. Every little edit and trim on this film would effect Heath Ledger's performance. For Nolan, it was tough to walk into the editing room a day after finding out Heath Ledger died, and having to see Ledger's performance. But the director promises that Ledger's performance is "iconic". Actor Christian Bale is hoping the movie will be a great tribute to Ledger's life. The hype about Heath Ledger's Joker performance was huge way before he even died. Ledger, vocally expressed how comic book movies bored him. I remember even hearing about how he was offered a role to play the lead in Spider-Man. But he loved what Nolan did with previous Batman, and it was enough reason to sell him on the movie. Ledger seemed to know right away how to play the clown prince of darkness. Reports talked about how Ledger locked himself into a room for hours just to get The Joker's voice and movements right. He even kept a small diary where he wrote notes about the character to get the most out of himself.
With a big sequel on the way, expect big marketing to follow. Some team ups involve General Mills and Nokia. With a mid July release, they don't have to worry about having to compete with all the big films in May and June like Iron Man, Chronicles of Narnia, or Indiana Jones. Even George Lucas himself recently wasn't sure if Indiana Jones could beat the new Batman movie, and was even telling Indy fans not to get their hopes up too much for the new Indiana Jones movie. In December, the first 6 mins of The Dark Knight was screened to audiences who saw "I Am Legend" in Imax theaters. There were reports that people cheered after the first 6 minutes of The Dark Knight more than they did for the 1 hour and 40 minutes of "I Am Legend".
There will be many big movies coming out this summer. In my opinion though, those other summer movies are only there to help pass the time between now and July 18th.
Just to think, after 1998 many wondered if the Batman franchise had run it's course. Who in their mind would think that an indy director who directed movies like "Memento" and "Insomnia" would make the Caped Crusader stronger than ever? Thank god. It's great to get the bad taste of those Joel Schumacher films out of our mouths. It has to feel great to be Joel Schumacher when people blame you for being the guy who "almost killed" the Batman franchise.
There is a rumor that we may see the final "Dark Knight" trailer in early May on the day that Warner Bros other big movie, "Speed Racer", comes out. I wouldn't be surprised if many of the ticket sales for Speed Racer are from people who just want to see the new TDK trailer. There were reports that people saw I Am Legend just for the last TDK trailer. And for good reason too.
You have a kick ass cast (Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhardt, Maggie Gyllenhall) a kick ass director, (Memento, The Prestige, Insomnia) and one of the most bad ass superheroes in one big package.
