OT: THe Dark Knight Rises by Greg Cox

[Therin of Andor]

Thrawn wrote:

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Also: was The Dark Knight novelized?

Holy extra word power, Batman!: novels and novelizations
http://therinofandor.blogspot.com.au...ovels-and.html

[Admiral_Young]

I'm guessing Greg can't say anything about the film until it is out or the book it out. Like I said, the script has been in lockdown just as most of Nolan's recent films have been so he's probably one of the very few outside of Warner Bros and DC Ent who has actually read the script, or at least has access to it. Lucky guy

[Frontier]

YOU LUCKY BASTARD!

I mean, good for you. That's awesome!

*Cries in the corner and waits until July 20th...*

Tell me what happens!!!! PLEASE?!?!?!?! *Whimpers*

[Frontier]

Gep Malakai wrote:

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I imagine we can't get answers on even broad questions like, "do you know the story yet?" or "do you think it's any good?"

(Can we?)

I bet he can't even confirm if Batman is in it.

[ClayinCA]

The secrecy around these movies is amazing. I work at DC Comics, and nobody here knows anything about it either. Which is actually...kinda cool.

[Rush Limborg]

I gotta say, I'm a little concerned about the idea of the novelization coming out before the movie's done in theaters.

Can you say SPOILERS?

That being said--GREG COX writing it? Awesome.

[Admiral_Young]

Novelizations usually come out on the day of the film's release. I saw on Amazon Canada that this is coming out July 28 which is the following Saturday.

[Captaindemotion]

^ Really? I haven't bought any in years but I used to buy them when I was a kid. I remember that I read the novelisations of Return of the Jedi, The Search for Spock and Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom before they came out over here. Spoilers didn't bother me back then!

[Christopher]

I don't think it really counts as a spoiler if you learn it by reading an entire novel. That way, you're still getting everything in the context of a complete story, serving the dramatic purpose that it was intended to serve. So the experience isn't spoiled, in the literal sense of being ruined and made unfulfilling. You still get a complete storytelling experience, just in prose form. Seeing the movie later just fills in some details (and often the novelization will add details not in the movie).

In my youth, I didn't get taken to the movies very often, but I read prolifically. So I read plenty of novelizations before seeing the respective movies, and it was a fairly normal experience for me. To me, reading the novel didn't spoil the experience of the movie, it just whetted my appetite for it. I read the ST:TMP and TWOK novels before seeing the movies (I remember finding it startling and ridiculous how tiny the Genesis torpedo turned out to be, since I figured something that powerful had to be more missile-sized), as well as others such as The Black Hole and Fantastic Voyage. I read the novelization of E.T. many, many years before I finally saw the movie on TV (and loathed it with a fierce passion). And I never would've had a clue what was going on in 2001: A Space Odyssey if I hadn't read the book first.

I can't recall whether I read or watched Star Wars (1977) first, but I'm pretty certain that The Empire Strikes Back was one I saw in the theater first, because I remember coming out of the theater insisting that Vader had to be lying about the whole "I am your father" thing.

[Captaindemotion]

^ Yeah, that was how I looked at it, the fact that it was a novel and I was getting the whole story. However, I would now prefer to experience a story written for a movie via the movie experience than in the novelisation. That's no disrespect to the format or the writer; I'd prefer to read an original novel before seeing its movie adaptation.

Like yourself, I also read TWOK before seeing the movie; I also read one of those photobooks that they used to make. I also read ESB before seeing it and read the comic adaptation of it.

[Admiral_Young]

Novelizations are usually written using the shooting draft of the screenplay (with some exceptions) so being a spoiler junkie myself, I've always clamoured to get the novel as soon as possible. Some novelizations have come out early...but "The Dark Knight" came out a day after the film did, at least in my local Chapters. Not sure about anywhere else. The secrecy over these particular films has been super tight...and Nolan's screenplays usually surface a couple of months after his films are released.

[Christopher]

Captaindemotion wrote:

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^ Yeah, that was how I looked at it, the fact that it was a novel and I was getting the whole story. However, I would now prefer to experience a story written for a movie via the movie experience than in the novelisation. That's no disrespect to the format or the writer; I'd prefer to read an original novel before seeing its movie adaptation.

Sure, yeah, that's always the optimal way to go about it. I just meant that I don't think the term "spoil" really applies there. To me, a spoiler is a fragment of story information that's presented outside of the context in which it belongs and is most meaningful. So I don't think it's possible for the entire story to be called a spoiler.

[Admiral_Young]

Tell that to the movie studio lol.

[Rush Limborg]

Well, to be frank--I wouldn't want the novelization for my film to come out until at least after the opening week--and here's why: You can't trust the person at the bookstore to buy the book, and read it front-to-back.

You pick up a book, you can skim ahead to the end. You can skim through the book, and pick up vital information. In a theater, you see it front-to-back, and can't skim ahead.

Thus, unless the novelization is packaged, the suspense of a film could be injured by would-be-viewers in the bookstore.

But that's just me....

[RandyS]

Rush Limborg wrote:

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I gotta say, I'm a little concerned about the idea of the novelization coming out before the movie's done in theaters.

Can you say SPOILERS?

That being said--GREG COX writing it? Awesome.

The book being released first is not unusual. 23 years ago for example, I had bought, and was roughly 110 pages into, the Star Trek V novelization when the movie came out, and my friend Greg (no, not Cox) and I went to see that on opening night.

And regarding your comments on Greg (yes, Cox this time), agreed.