The Dark Knight Rises Anticipation Station

[RoJoHen]

^Your photo is private.

[Dream]

JonnyQuest037 wrote:

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I can testify from personal experience that this is true. I dressed up as the Riddler last Halloween (photo link), and a good 30% of the people who called out to me when I was marching in the NYC Village Halloween parade called me the Joker.

Wow, what a bunch of idiots.

[JonnyQuest037]

Not RoJoHen wrote:

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^Your photo is private.

Adjusted the settings. Try it now.

[JonnyQuest037]

Dream wrote:

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Wow, what a bunch of idiots.

Well, it WAS fun to berate them when they got it wrong...

[RoJoHen]

JonnyQuest037 wrote:

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Adjusted the settings. Try it now.

That works.

So wait...you were covered in question marks and had a mask on and people thought you were the Joker?

[JonnyQuest037]

Not RoJoHen wrote:

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So wait...you were covered in question marks and had a mask on and people thought you were the Joker?

I never said these people were bright.

[RoJoHen]

Either way, that's a pretty awesome Riddler costume. Well done.

[Kestrel]

Bleh, I'll join the chorus of those not caring for the title. Bland and cheesy, IMO. Yeah, it gets the theme of the movie across and it works, but if feels cheap, or at least pedestrian. "Rise of the Dark Knight" would work better, IMO. If you absolutely have to have The Dark Knight in there (and you're not willing to use The Dark Knight Returns, which is the best name for the theme I assume Nolan's going for), how about The Dark Knight Triumphant? (The) Dark Knight Victorious? If he's not going to be publicly accepted till the end, how about Knightfall?

But these are quibbles; "Batman Begins" is no great shakes either, and it's certainly not "Attack of the Clones."

The Riddler would've been fun, but it'll be interesting to see who else Nolan brings in. What are the chances do you think this one will have a female character that is both significant to the plot and survives? Or maybe even more than one significant, just for kicks?

[JonnyQuest037]

Not RoJoHen wrote:

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Either way, that's a pretty awesome Riddler costume. Well done.

Thanks! It won me an iPod Shuffle for Best Costume at that party, and that was before I added more question marks to the jacket and finally got my purple Frank Gorshin-style mask in the mail (It was shipping from Argentina, so it took longer than anticipated). So now I want to wear it again...

[captcalhoun]

i'd still like 'Batman Triumphant' to get its day as title...

[TemporalFlux]

Ah, and I didn't mention my thought on villain. If this is Nolan's final movie, I think he'll bring in Talia in order to take things full circle. Hugo Strange also seems like a safe bet given the Gotham PD trying to hunt down Batman.

The film really needs a headliner, flashy villain though; even Begins had Scarecrow after all. I halfway expect Nolan to try and combine Talia and Catwoman similar to the way he combined Ducard and Ra's al Ghul.

[Admiral_Young]

^ This is along the lines of my own thinking. Talia will introduce herself to Bruce and then at some point during the movie will reveal her true identify to which their conflicting relationship will kick in.

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Bit of a meh title. It's kind of a reworking of the old Batman Triumphant title (which I think is actually superior - although it has more of a pulpy vibe than would be suitable for Nolan's films).

I'm glad they're not using the Riddler. I'm hoping for villains we haven't seen on screen before. Talia, Deadshot, Killer Croc, and Hugo Strange would all fit nicely into Nolan's Batverse.

[Admiral_Young]

I think that going on previous traits that there will be a trio of antagonists in "The Dark Knight Rises" just as there have been in the previous two films. I think there will be a main villain...possibly Talia manipulating and controlling events until she reveals herself to Bruce, such as her father did. Then a secondary villain (like Scaregrow in the first film) possibly Black Mask or Hugo Strange that is the actual physical challenge for Batman. Perhaps it could be someone entirely new sent by Talia to test "The Detective" (of course I'm still even speculating that Talia will be in the film, she's just an example) then a third Two-Face character that tests Bruce's psychological make up. Hugo Strange seems like a good candidate for that type of character. I could see Bruce possibly seeing a psychiatrist or ordered by Lucius Fox to see one and Hugo becomes fascinated with Bruce to the degree of obession. Perhaps Hugo even uncovers the documents that one blackmailer from "The Dark Knight" possessed who threatened to expose Bruce if he wasn't paid off. The possibilities are endless, but knowing Nolan probably nothing of the sort lol.

[Christopher]

The Blur wrote:

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The Caped Crusader makes me think Batman...period.

Yes, but you're a Batman fan. As I said, movie studios cannot base their marketing solely on the existing fanbase. Not only does a movie need to draw in a larger, mass audience to succeed, but the existing fanbase will come anyway, so they don't need to be marketed to. Hence, the title needs to be something that will draw in the people out there who aren't already Batman fans. People who may have never seen a Batman story before BB or even before TDK. People who came to the movie not because it was a Batman story but because they wanted to see Christian Bale or Heath Ledger or Morgan Freeman or Gary Oldman or whoever, or who were there with a date, or who wanted to see what all the hype was about, or whatever. People like that constitute the bulk of a successful motion picture's audience.

So the people in charge of marketing this film have to market it the way they'd market any other sequel to a hugely successful film, and that means they'll give it a title that reflects the title of that film, so that moviegoers in general, even those who don't know a blessed thing about Batman's history or lore, will look at the title and realize, "Hey, this is a sequel to that movie Heath Ledger made before he died!" or "Hey, this is another Christopher Nolan/Christian Bale movie!" Or even, "Hmm, I didn't see that Dark Knight picture, but I heard it was really impressive, and this must be a sequel to it, so maybe I'll try it out."

It's the same reason the third Rambo movie was called Rambo III instead of First Blood Part III -- because Rambo: First Blood Part II was a far more successful movie than First Blood. It was a more familiar, recognizable name to mass audiences. Marketing is about drawing in the people who aren't already familiar with the property. And those people wouldn't recognize that The Caped Crusader refers to Batman.