The Dark Knight News (Page 2)

Screenwriter David Goyer told MTV over the weekend that he has an idea of what Batman 3 (can we call it that? Perhaps we should leave it as just a follow-up to The Dark Knight?) will be about.

He admits, however, that the prospects for the film are daunting, especially considering the rave reviews the last two have received.

“I think that’s the scariest thing – to think, could we come up with a third movie that was as good as the first two? Can we top ourselves?” Goyer asked aloud. “Doing it a third time would be a big proposition.”

Don't be fooled, of course: there will be another Batman movie.

Goyer even mentioned that he has a villian in mind for it, but: “I do think, though, that if there’s not a third film – these two movies stand on their own... I think it could go either way.”

Again, just to reiterate: there will be a third film. Have no fear.

When the second one sets a box office record, that's pretty much a no-brainer.

The Dark Knight has only been released for a few days, yet talk of the next Batman installment has already begun.

Specifically, rumors are circulating about who might portray the next enemy of the Caped Crusader, assuming The Joker is not resuscitated by a new actor (an incredibly unlikely possibility, in our opinion).

You can most likely count out extreme, caricature-like baddies such as Mr. Freeze. But that still leaves a wide open field of options. Just don't ask director Christopher Nolan to name his favorite yet.

"I'm clueless right now," he told MTV. "All I can think about is taking a vacation — for a month!"

Other cast members from The Dark Knight did weigh in with their views, however.

"I always liked the Riddler," Gary Oldman said. "I liked the whole Riddle aspect. I loved the suit."

Who will replace The Joker as Batman's main rival in the next installment of this franchise?

Nestor Carbonell, who plays the mayor of Gotham City in the current movie, would go with a sexier villain.

"Catwoman, you can always bring her back," he said. "You can never see enough of her."

Except when she's the star of her own awful movie, that is (no offense, Halle Berry).

Remember, Carbonell added, like his relationship with Harvey Dent, Batman and his new foe might not always start out on opposite sides.

"What I really like is when you turn people into villains, when you see them flip," the actor said. "That's a great twist. And there's certain people you see in this one, certain characters who you didn't realize could go the other way, who could show up in the next one in an unexpected way."

It's official:

The Dark Knight isn't just a hit; it's a hit of historical proportions.

The latest Batman movie has knocked Spider-Man 3 off the top spot for the biggest opening weekend of all-time. Check out tally below, as we list the top five movies at the box office this weekend:

1. The Dark Knight - $155.3 million
2. Mamma Mia! - $27.6 million
3. Hancock - $14 million
4. Journey to the Center of the Earth - $11.9 million
5. Hellboy II - $10 million

Industry experts estimate an opening weekend take for the The Dark Knight of at least $130 million.

As that astronomical figure sinks in, here are more incrediyl, early figures for the film:

• It will play on 4,366 screens across North America, an industry record.

• Fandango (which sells tickets to more than 15,000 theater screens) reports that The Dark Knight accounts for 90% of all ticket sales for the upcoming weekend. Sorry, Mamma Mia!
  

• To date, The Dark Knight has more than three times as many advance tickets as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, more than twice as many as Spider-Man 3 and almost twice as many as Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers at the same point in the sales cycle.

We'll have a complete breakdown of the post-weekend numbers next week. For now, to all the people set to see the movie: enjoy!

Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Rachel Dawes in The Dark Knight.

But as film fans know, it's a role that Katie Holmes took on in Batman Begins. As Gyllenhaal recently told The Los Angeles Times, though, that she was committed from the beginning to making the character her own.

"When [director and co-writer] Chris Nolan gave me the script, he said, 'She's not quite finished yet,'" Gyllenhaal said of the character. "So I read it, and I had a lot of ideas about ways that I thought that she could be stronger. And he was very open and collaborative and interested. In that first preliminary conversation, a lot of things that we talked about ended up in the movie.

It was really trying to find a way that I was absolutely in love with Harvey Dent and absolutely in love with Bruce Wayne, the ways I found them both honorable, ethical, moral men and the ways that I had problems with their ethics and morals."

The Dark Knight cast was joined by a slew of celebrities for last night's New York City premiere of this summer's most anticipated movie.

Here's a look at Batman himself, Christian Bale, on the red carpet:

Bale was joined by co-stars Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart and Maggie Gyllenhaal as the evening wore on. Click on the following pictures now for enlarged shots of these stars at the premiere...

It's safe to say movie goers can't get enough news from the cast of The Dark Knight.

With that said, here's another interview with Aaron Eckhart. The actor that plays Harvey Dent/Two-Face in the film recently spoke to The Wall Street Journal. Here are highlights:

WSJ: When you're acting in a comic-book movie opposite a guy wearing a caped costume, is it hard to resist going over the top?
Eckhart: I took a day or two to look around and see what everyone else was up to. Sometimes you're not sure what the tone of the movie is, especially if you have to be acting with the Batman or the Joker. Heath really set the tone of the film and how dark it was. Still, there were a lot of questions. How big do I go? Do we play it for laughs?

WSJ: Even if Heath Ledger hadn't died, people would be talking about his performance. What signs did you see that something special was coming from him?
Eckhart: I saw it the first time he started reading. Heath had gone to the wall to be in the picture. We'd have to do makeup at the same time, and he would really use that time to get into the character and do the voices. Everyone was aware of what Heath was doing. When Gary Oldman is paying attention, you know that something special is happening.

Check out the HBO First Look special on The Dark Knight below.

The series has made its way onto YouTube in two parts. The Batman Begins follow-up opens in theaters and IMAX on July 18, of course.

The praise for Heath Ledger's perfomance in The Dark Knight continues to flow.

One of the late actor's co-stars in the latest Batman movie has gone on record saying he thinks Ledger should be nominated for an Academy Award. 

"I think Heath will surely get a posthumous nomination for an Academy Award," Michael Caine said late last week at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. "He was incredible [and] he was amazing, And I think he will get it. It's an incredible performance, just wonderful."

Will The Joker lead to an Oscar for Heath Ledger?

As if you needed another reason to go see The Dark Knight:

IMAX.com has confirmed that there will be a 15-second trailer for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince attached to the forthcoming The Dark Knight in IMAX. The latter, of course, will be released in theaters on July 18.

Professor Dumbledore and everyone else from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be featured in an upcoming IMAX preview.