The Dark Knight Rises director/co-writer/co-producer Christopher Nolan wrote the foreword to The Art and Making of The Dark Knight Trilogy, which was released in stores on July 20th, the same day the film was released in theaters.
You can now read the foreword below, thanks to SuperHeroHype Forums member 'kvz5':
Alfred. Gordon. Lucius. Bruce . . . Wayne. Names that have come to mean so much to me. Today, I’m three weeks from saying a final good-bye to these characters and their world. It’s my son’s ninth birthday. He was born as the Tumbler was being glued together in my garage from random parts of model kits. Much time, many changes. A shift from sets where some gunplay or a helicopter were extraordinary events to working days where crowds of extras, building demolitions, or mayhem thousands of feet in the air have become familiar.
People ask if we’d always planned a trilogy. This is like being asked whether you had planned on growing up, getting married, having kids. The answer is complicated. When David and I first started cracking open Bruce’s story, we flirted with what might come after, then backed away, not wanting to look too deep into the future. I didn’t want to know everything that Bruce couldn’t; I wanted to live it with him. I told David and Jonah to put everything they knew into each film as we made it. The entire cast and crew put all they had into the first film. Nothing held back. Nothing saved for next time. They built an entire city. Then Christian and Michael and Gary and Morgan and Liam and Cillian started living in it. Christian bit off a big chunk of Bruce Wayne’s life and made it utterly compelling. He took us into a pop icon’s mind and never let us notice for an instant the fanciful nature of Bruce’s methods.
I never thought we’d do a second—how many good sequels are there? Why roll those dice? But once I knew where it would take Bruce, and when I started to see glimpses of the antagonist, it became essential. We re-assembled the team and went back to Gotham. It had changed in three years. Bigger. More real. More modern. And a new force of chaos was coming to the fore. The ultimate scary clown, as brought to terrifying life by Heath. We’d held nothing back, but there were things we hadn’t been able to do the first time out—a Batsuit with a flexible neck, shooting on Imax. And things we’d chickened out on—destroying the Batmobile, burning up the villain’s blood money to show a complete disregard for conventional motivation. We took the supposed security of a sequel as license to throw caution to the wind and headed for the darkest corners of Gotham.
I never thought we’d do a third—are there any great second sequels? But I kept wondering about the end of Bruce’s journey, and once David and I discovered it, I had to see it for myself. We had come back to what we had barely dared whisper about in those first days in my garage. We had been making a trilogy. I called everyone back together for another tour of Gotham. Four years later, it was still there. It even seemed a little cleaner, a little more polished. Wayne Manor had been rebuilt. Familiar faces were back—a little older, a little wiser . . . but not all was as it seemed.
Gotham was rotting away at its foundations. A new evil bubbling up from beneath. Bruce had thought Batman was not needed anymore, but Bruce was wrong, just as I had been wrong. The Batman had to come back. I suppose he always will.
Michael, Morgan, Gary, Cillian, Liam, Heath, Christian . . . Bale. Names that have come to mean so much to me. My time in Gotham, looking after one of the greatest and most enduring figures in pop culture, has been the most challenging and rewarding experience a filmmaker could hope for. I will miss the Batman. I like to think that he’ll miss me, but he’s never been particularly sentimental.
The Dark Knight Rises star Christian Bale is visiting the victims of the theater shooting in Aurora. The Denver Post reports:
Christian Bale, star of the Batman films, is in town visiting victims of the Aurora movie theater shooting, Warner Brothers officials confirmed.
"Mr. Bale is there as himself, not representing Warner Brothers," said an assistant for Susan Fleishman, executive vice president for Warner Brothers corporate communications.
Bale previously released the following statement about the tragedy:
“Words cannot express the horror that I feel. I cannot begin to truly understand the pain and grief of the victims and their loved ones, but my heart goes out to them.”
Joined: Sun Nov 04, 2007 6:30 pm Posts: 1960 Location: Planet Reach, Coolsville, Metropolis, or Crystal Cove. It depends on the day.
And we'll miss you Mr. Nolan... we'll miss you. Seriously though I am sad this is the end of his run on Batman. But I look forward to his next film or franchise. Hey, he might even get more involved with Man of Steel (than what he is now.) Either way though, I will miss his Batman.
SDcomics wrote:
Christian Bale Visits the Victims of the Aurora Theater Shooting
The Dark Knight Rises star Christian Bale is visiting the victims of the theater shooting in Aurora. The Denver Post reports:
Christian Bale, star of the Batman films, is in town visiting victims of the Aurora movie theater shooting, Warner Brothers officials confirmed.
"Mr. Bale is there as himself, not representing Warner Brothers," said an assistant for Susan Fleishman, executive vice president for Warner Brothers corporate communications.
Bale previously released the following statement about the tragedy:
“Words cannot express the horror that I feel. I cannot begin to truly understand the pain and grief of the victims and their loved ones, but my heart goes out to them.”
Thanks for the link, I just saw this on FB about an hour ago, that was great for Mr. Bale to do that.
D.
_________________ Coming soon, a DCAU Figure Reference Guide... pictures, stats, and more, coming soon to a website near you!
Joined: Sat Jul 23, 2011 8:01 pm Posts: 408 Location: South Carolina
John of the Dead wrote:
Am I the only one bothered by the entire premise of this movie? When they establish that Batman quit over his remorse about Rachel, they lost me entirely. That is the exact opposite of the 70+ year characterization of Batman. He is a character defined by unyielding resolve: he will *not* quit. Period. In fact, that's the one weakness Bane exploited back in Knightfall. He set up a scenario in which Batman would be forced to work himself to his physical and mental limits, *then* confront him. And gee whiz, they even included the big prison break scene, but after Batman was already broken. Huh?
I don't want to sound like I hated it. I though there were a lot of great things in the movie. Bane and Catwoman were both great, and I loved the backstory between Bane, Ra's, and Talia. But man, when your movie vacillates between "The city has nothing to offer me" and "I must protect my city!" within 20 minutes, I think you should perhaps re-examine your basic premise.
That, I think, is my biggest complaint. They could have told pretty much this exact movie and hit all these plot point, but they could have established *why* things were happening much better. As it stands, I was unable to get over Batman being a whiny quitter, and it ruined much of the rest of the movie for me. Alas.
That's not new though. He's been whining about having to be Batman since Begins. The entire series of movies it's like he's been he's been looking for a loophole that would allow him to quit and let somebody else deal with Gotham.
Joined: Sat Jul 23, 2011 8:01 pm Posts: 408 Location: South Carolina
I just pretend that Bale is actually playing Bob Wayne. Bruce's' unknown and slightly handicapped cousin that Alfred babysits. And he takes the stories Alfred tells him about Batman and thinks that it's really him instead of Bruce.
:mrgreen: I just pretend that Bale is actually playing Bob Wayne. Bruce's' unknown and slightly handicapped cousin that Alfred babysits. And he takes the stories Alfred tells him about Batman and thinks that it's really him instead of Bruce.
:mrgreen: I just pretend that Bale is actually playing Bob Wayne. Bruce's' unknown and slightly handicapped cousin that Alfred babysits. And he takes the stories Alfred tells him about Batman and thinks that it's really him instead of Bruce.
Composer Hans Zimmer has written and recorded a song entitled "Aurora" that he has dedicated to the victims, families, and friends of the Aurora tragedy. He posted this on his Facebook page.
"Aurora" is dedicated to those who lost their lives and were affected by the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado. I recorded this song in London in the days following the tragedy as a heartfelt tribute to the victims and their families. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to Aurora Victim Relief organization. Donate what you can and download the track here: https://watertowermusic.moontoast.com/estore/embed/1336
ComingSoon.net has posted the weekend box office estimates which show that The Dark Knight Rises has surpassed the $500 million mark worldwide. Here are a few excerpts, including an update on Spidey:
Although Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises took a pretty heavy drop in its second Friday, partially due to the Olympics, it picked up business on Saturday to gross an estimated $64.1 million in its second weekend, down 60% from last weekend with a running total of $289 million in just ten days. By comparison, Nolan's previous Batman movie The Dark Knight made $75.2 million in its second weekend, down 53%, and had grossed $313 million by its tenth day. Internationally, The Dark Knight Rises has reached $248.2 million for a worldwide total of $537.3 million.
...The Amazing Spider-Man (Sony), which dropped to sixth place with $6.8 million, having grossed $242 million domestically since opening earlier this month. Overseas, the film has earned $412 million for a worldwide total of $654 million.
You can read more of the box office estimates by clicking here.
The Dark Knight Rises already set an opening weekend record for a 2D film last week, but now it continues to break records, and some unexpected ones at that. Here's the IMAX announcement:
IMAX Corporation and Warner Bros. Pictures today announced that The Dark Knight Rises generated strong second weekend global box office results of approximately $15 million in 479 IMAX® theatres worldwide over the weekend of July 29, bringing the film's global IMAX cumulative box office to date to approximately $52 million.
"We've crossed the $50 million mark in the fastest time ever with The Dark Knight Rises, lifted, in part, by exceptional international box office," said IMAX CEO Richard L. Gelfond. "Audiences are clearly seeking out and embracing the film the way it was meant to be seen – in IMAX. We are pleased by the second-weekend results and believe the film will continue to have the legs we anticipated."
You can read more about this weekend's box office by clicking here.
Composer Hans Zimmer has written and recorded a song entitled "Aurora" that he has dedicated to the victims, families, and friends of the Aurora tragedy. He posted this on his Facebook page.
"Aurora" is dedicated to those who lost their lives and were affected by the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado. I recorded this song in London in the days following the tragedy as a heartfelt tribute to the victims and their families. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to Aurora Victim Relief organization. Donate what you can and download the track here: https://watertowermusic.moontoast.com/estore/embed/1336
Thank you for this.
_________________ “In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship Evil's might, beware my power -- Green Lantern's light! ” -- Hal Jordan
Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises has become only the third movie of 2012 to surpass the $300 million mark domestically. Having earned $8.7 million on Tuesday, its 12th day in theaters, Nolan's third and final Batman movie has reached $304 million domestically.
The other two 2012 films that have earned more than $300 million are Marvel's The Avengers with $615.9 million total and The Hunger Games with $405.9 million.
After 12 days, Batman Begins had earned $122.5 million and The Dark Knight was at $333.9 million. Batman Begins collected $205.3 million total domestically, while The Dark Knight reached $533.3 million.
We don't have the updated international total for "Rises" yet, but as of Sunday it was $248.2 million.
As Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises continues its fantastic performance at the box office, the Sound Works Collection has revealed a new behind-the-scenes video that explores the sound and music of the Batman finale. Check it out in the player below!
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Seriously though I am sad this is the end of his run on Batman. But I look forward to his next film or franchise. Hey, he might even get more involved with Man of Steel (than what he is now.) Either way though, I will miss his Batman. 
I just pretend that Bale is actually playing Bob Wayne. Bruce's' unknown and slightly handicapped cousin that Alfred babysits. And he takes the stories Alfred tells him about Batman and thinks that it's really him instead of Bruce.