Dark Knight
Production
Director- Christopher Nolan. He wrote
Batman Begins, so was well known for this. Before batman he produced Doodlebug,
Following and Memento.
Production Company- Warner
Brothers Picture, this is a major film studio, and subsidiary of Time Warner.
Warner Bro has several subsidiary companies, including Warner Bros. studios,
Warner bros. Pictures, Warner Bro. interactive entertainment, Warner Bro.
Television, Warner Bro. Animation, Warner Home Video, New Line Cinema, TheWB.com,
and DC Entertainment. It owns half the CW Television Network. Recently Warner
Bro has produced The Campaign, Magic Mike, Rock of Ages and Dark Shadows.
Warner Brother is not owned by a larger organisation.
Where did the inspiration for the film come from-
Batman
was originally a comic written by DC comics.
The inspiration for the film was Jokers comic book debut in 1940, the
1988 graphic novel The Killing Joke,
and the 1996 series The Long Halloween,
which retold Two-Face's origin. It
carried on from Batman begins, 2005, also produced by Christopher Nolan.
Target audience- The films
target audience was teenagers, and Batman comic fans. So the older generation
too.
The Package- The
director, Christopher Nolan, would have attracted an audience, because he
produced the first batman film in the trilogy, so if people liked the first one
they would come to watch his next one.
Christian
Bale played Bruce Wayne, Heath Ledger played the Joker, Aaron Eckhart played
Harvey Dent, Michael Caine played Alfred and Morgan Freeman played Lucius Fox.
The cast was 'A' list, so would have attracted a large audience.
The screenplay
writer was Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan, these are both brothers.
The budget
for the Dark Knight rises was estimated at $185,000,000.
Finance for the Films- The money
for the film came from Warner Bros. It only came from one company.
Locations- It was filmed in China, USA and the
UK. The fact that it’s a mainstream film and has been partly filmed in the UK
will appeal to British people, but it won’t people want to go for that specific
reason.
Special Effects- The film
used computer graphics, and some were really done. Special affects would have
attracted a large audience, because they make the film seem more interesting,
and make impossible (or expensive scenes) do able.
Distribution
USP- The unique selling point of the dark
knight rises is
Advertising campaign- There was
many different ways that dark knight was advertised.
Posters- Many posters were released for the
dark knight. Many of the posters are online, and can be bought from sites like
all posters. Empire online had some poster teasers. There were posters on bus’s
advertising the film too. Some posters were on the side of buildings. These
posters would have targeted the target audience because some posters were in
comic shops, where the older fans may have been. Some were online, which may
have attracted the younger audience. The posters on the bus would have
attracted everyone, because many people take the bus, and others would see the
bus while in town.
Adverts- It advertised on TV.
Six Flags
Great Adventure introduced the Dark Knight roller coaster along with Mattel
producing toys, games, board games, puzzles and UNO cards.
Viral campaign- The first
engagement point was the release of a mock campaign site ‘I believe in Harvey
Dent’, which was a main character in Dark Knight. A few days later another site
went live, ‘I believe Harvey Dent Too’, which introduced the Joker to the
audience, and in some comic shops there were joker cards with details about the
site. They made another site called WhySoSerious, which encouraged fans to go
on a scavenger hunt for clues or engage in activites and events that blurred
the distinction between fact and fiction. People had to initiate in both online
and offline tasks, like uploading photos of themselves or participating in an
event at a given time and place in order to advance the story. This had a threefold effect, firstly
it created advocates for the film in the sense that people had invested their
time to piece together the puzzles put before them. Secondly that engagement
was no longer restricted to simply online channels but was opened up to include
offline opportunities for engagement. Finally each channel, each point of
engagement, enhanced and embellished the narrative of the feature film itself.
What appeared to be a series of loosely connected activities was in fact a
carefully constructed eco-system with the film at it’s core. These promotions created a internet buzz, and
attracted the younger and older audiences, and made fans talk and contribute to
the latest information on the film.
The why so serious website looks
like a desktop, it has audio of a women doing a GCN road check. The joker
laughs at the end. This links to a newspaper, where batman has been doodled
over, as well as Harvey dent. It has a link to the trailer. All the links go to
pages with have been graffited over supposedly by the joker.
Publicity-
Trailer- Teaser trailers are the first form of cinematic marketing.
They are incredibly important as they are one of the first elements of the
marketing strategy to reach the mainstream audience at the cinema.
Interestingly , teasers often do not reveal anything about the plot or the key
characters but are still a source of great excitement to fans and film experts.
Afterwards there were a few other trailer, one trailer shows Gotham is in the grips
of evil. It introduces the joker, and sets the scene for an epic fight between
him and batman.
TV star interviews- There's
Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Anthony Michael Hall, Nestor Carbonell, Aaron
Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Christian Bale and Christopher Nolan himself, all
talking about Batman and the characters in the film, as well as a few comments
on the Joker.
Morgan Freeman talks about the
characters in the film, Batman and Joker.
Michael Caine talks about Alfred
and Wayne as well as Nolan.
Anthony Michael Hall talks about
his character and the duality of Batman.
Nestor Carbonell about his
character of the Major, and how Nolan allows him to act.
Aaron Eckhart talks about the
city and his character's intentions, Batman and Christopher Nolan.
Maggie Gyllenhaal talks about why
she likes Batman and her character's liking for him and Harvey Dent.
Christian Bale talks about his
character and the complexities of being Wayne and Batman, Wayne and Dent,
Christopher Nolan, The Joker and this KFM fight style that Wayne is using to harness
his rage rather than control it.
Magazines- The dark knight appeared in Empire
multiply times. it reviewed it and gave dark knight 5 out of 5. It was on the
cover many times. Dark knight also appeared in LIME, Rolling stone, total film,
and wide screen vision.
newspapers- a fake site was created called the
Gotham times, which has a story about Batman, and tells the story of Harvey
Dent.
web-sites- http://wwws.warnerbros.co.uk/thedarkknight/ is one of
the official websites for the dark knight. It includes some information about
the DVD ‘the follow-up to Batman Begins, The Dark Knight reunites director
Christopher Nolan and star Christian Bale who reprises the role of Batman/
Bruce Wayne in his continuing war on crime. With the help of Lt. Jim Gordon and
District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to destroy organised crime in
Gotham…’ It includes information about the cast and film makers. It has the
trailer, a photo gallery and some downloads (posters and webpages).
There is
the why so serious page, which appears to be made by the joker.
And there
is the http://www.thedarkknightmovie.co.uk/# which has
a home page with some information about the films plot. It has the trailerand
some pages are inactive now.
There were
two sites early on called I believe in Harvey dent, and I believe in Harvey
dent too. One site advertised Harvey
dent and asked you to vote for him, the other was a site suppsoidly made by
joker, which doodled over the top of his pictures.
Premiers-
The dark knight premiered in London, with many stars attending,
including the actors and Victoria Becham. There was a preimere in New York.
Warner Bros.
held the world premiere for The Dark Knight in New York City on July 14, 2008
It was held in an IMAX cinema with the films composers James Newton Howard and
Hans Zimmer playing a part of the film score live. The film was released July
24, 2008 in the United Kingdom – right at the start of the summer holidays.
Awards- The Dark Knight was nominated for over
150 awards recognizing several aspects of the film (most notably the
performance of actor Heath Ledger who individually won 35 awards), more than
any other film of 2008. Of these nominations, the film has won 92, also more
than any other film of 2008.The film won2 academy awards, and 1 golden globe.
Heath Ledger won best supporting actor, the film won top 10 film of the year,
international award for best actor, best supporting actor (both Heath
Ledger), best action movie, best movie,
best director, best actor (christian bale)
and best superhero movie. It won many more.
The audience
is targeted by all of these distribution tactics, because they are more than
likely to see at least one type of it. Many people go online so will see some
of the WebPages. It targets the audience because people will feel special,
they’ve found hidden secrets around the film (different websites) and taken
part in WebPages. Because they will feel some way connected to the film they
will tell others and they will look around for others information on the film.
Both old and new fans are targeted. Knowing the film is very succesful and
received many awards will attract a audience because they know the film is good.
Promotion- Merchandise- Many
products have been made, like action figures, reolepay item (costumes/ weapons/
accerssories), posters, electronics (dvd premiums, dvd, blu ray and cd),
statues and busts, NECA dark knight products (Bobbleheads - Clocks - Wall Scrolls ), Dark Knight Books (Coloring Books - Story Books -
Activity Books), Dark Knight Holiday Merchandise
(xmas - halloween - valentine's day -
birthday), Stickers & Temporary Tattoos,
Dark Knight Accessories (keychains - patches), Dark Knight Apparel (Shirts - Hats - Gloves - Shoes),
Vending Machine Product (keychains - figurines - capsule toys),
Viral Marketing Exclusives
(Dentmobile - Bowling Balls - Citizens
for Batman), Other Promotional Items &
Exclusives (retail store exclusives - dvd
premiums - contests - convention exclusives), Foreign Toys & Collectibles
(kubrick - kotobukiya - popbox
collectibles - hot toys - medicom), Candy Product (retail - theater - misc.).
Competitions- Lovefilm did a
competition; win a pair of tickets to the premiere of The Dark KnightTM in
Leicester Sq. or the IMAX cinema. Glu did a competition, asking who should
replace Heath Ledger, the prize was dark knight related goodies. A leaflet
inside the dark knight advertised a
competition. 1st prize was a 4 day trip for 2 to Chicago, runners up
got a DVD or a limited edition dvd.
Product placement - Fast Food Toys (Burger King - Hungry Jacks - Etc.),
Trading Cards & PVCs (sticker cards - PVCS - misc.)
Cereal Promotions & Toys
(General Mills - Foreign Cereals -
Misc), Other Food Products & Promos
(Brownies - Hamburger Helper - PIzza
Rolls - Etc.) Hungry Jacks had some dark knight toys, which they
gave away with the kids club meal. Batman is the only fictional character ever
to appear in the “GotMilk?” advert.
sponsorship – Nokia created a special
black dark knight edition of the Nokia 6205. The Dark
Knight edition is essentially the same as the light-blue version, except
that it'll come with movie-based ringtones, a preloaded trailer, and a special
Batman logo on an optional back cover.
Game- The
game “Batman: ArkhamAsylum” by Rocky SteadyGames was the biggest selling game
of the year. It took the “new look” Batman and particularly “The Joker” from
the film and made a game that directly benefited from the success of the film
Exhibition/ Exchange
Type of cinema release-
In the United States and Canada it was distributed to 4,366 screens,
breaking the previous record for the highest number of cinemas held by Pirates
of the Caribbean. In the UK it was
released on 502 Screens. Warner Bros. re-released the film in traditional
cinemas and IMAX cinemas in January 2009 to further the films chances of
winning an Oscar.
Promotion
locally- Posters released, posters on
buses, adverts on TV, TV previews.
Box office takings- $158,411,483 (USA) (20
July 2008) (4,366 Screens)
£11,191,824 (UK) (27 July 2008) (502 Screens)
BRL 7,102,500 (Brazil) (20 July 2008) (549 Screens)
€1,969,100 (Italy) (27 July 2008) (616 Screens)
PHP 61,603,157 (Philippines) (20 July 2008) (92 Screens)
RUR 85,019,263 (Russia) (17 August 2008) (610 Screens)
£11,191,824 (UK) (27 July 2008) (502 Screens)
BRL 7,102,500 (Brazil) (20 July 2008) (549 Screens)
€1,969,100 (Italy) (27 July 2008) (616 Screens)
PHP 61,603,157 (Philippines) (20 July 2008) (92 Screens)
RUR 85,019,263 (Russia) (17 August 2008) (610 Screens)
How and where could you watch the film?- You could watch the film in cinemas, in IMAX, you can now
download it, buy it on DVD and Blu-ray and has been on TV. But it took two
years to get on TV.
A unique
feature of The Dark Knight is that the opening sequence was shot using IMAX
technology. It was the first time ever that a major feature film had been even
partially shot using IMAX cameras. This use of a new technology (new to feature
film) allowed the film to be distributed in a different way to a standard
feature film.
DVD/Blu-ray
sales-
Up to 19/8/2012 there was 17,316,224 sales on DVD totalling $260,641,452. It broke the Blu-ray
sales record in one day selling over 600,000 copies. Blu-ray has box office
worldwide made $1,001,921,825. Included: a one-disc edition DVD a
two-disc Special Edition DVD a two-disc edition BluRay a Special Edition BluRay
package featuring a statuette of the Bat- a four-disc Batman Begins/The Dark
Knight pack on DVD.
Download sales-
TV Network sales-
Critical acclaim-
Hollywood Film
Festival Honored The Dark Knight, IMDB- user review 9.3. The dark knight was
reviewed as a great film.
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