When Christopher Nolan rebooted Batman, he chose villains for his first entry that had only passing familiarity, if any, to mainstream audiences. The bad guys are one of the main ingredients to a well-executed comic-book adaptation. Tim Burton made a stand-alone-only film where he chose perhaps the franchise's most notorious nemesis. The only problem was The Joker became bigger than the hero, best symbolized in Jack Nicholson's first billing. And, when it came time to making the sequels, the only way to one-up the previous effort was to add more villains until Joel Schumacher helped choke the franchise to death. Nolan's choice for the Scarecrow as the main masked opposition was a pretty shrewd move and allowed him some breathing room to lay out the groundwork for his trilogy. Along came The Dark Knight and bested Nolan's initial installment in every conceivable way (except that awful ferry scene in the third act; unclean!). It's hard to imagine his finale reaching those highs.
Currently, Nolan's second and previous foray into the world of Gotham City The Dark Knight currently resides in the #8 position of the IMDb Top 250. Over the years, it will continue to gradually slide down the list as; less than three years ago, it was at #4. The same goes for the LOTR trilogy. The list best represents the cinematic tastes of males under the age of 25 (or that's what it appears to do), so one should really take it with a grain of salt. But, one cannot deny its cultural and critical impact. It has a 94% RT and 82 MC. It's one half the reason why we have a larger BP field now, its the only comic book movie to win a major Oscar (I think) and it grossed over $1B worldwide. Its reception was noticeably improved upon from Nolan's first installment--a rarity for a sequel. One might look at these stats and say: we have no where to go but down from here.
Film Editor Lee Smith was nominated for The Dark Knight and Master and Commander. He has also edited the last X-Men, as well as every Nolan film since his first Batman. Cinematographer Wally Pfister has been nominated four times (all Nolan films) and won last year for Inception. They go back all the way to Momento. The only non-Nolan projects to his credit since have included Laurel Canyon, The Italian Job, and last year's Moneyball. Production designer Nathan Crowley received two nominations for The Dark Knight and The Prestige. He has been working with Nolan since Insomnia. He has also worked on the recent John Carter and Veronica Guerin with set decorator Paki Smith, who was involved with Nolan's first Batman. This is the other production designer Kevin Kavanaugh's second Nolan gig. He has worked with Crowley before on The Lake House, The Prestige and The Dark Knight. He's also worked on a couple of the Mission: Impossible films. Costume Designer Lindy Hemming won the Oscar for Topsy Turvy. She's worked on all of Nolan's Batman films, as well as the Lara Croft franchise and a few films from the archives of 007. Composer Hans Zimmer has been nominated multiple times, the last time being for Inception, and won only once for The Lion King. You can often find him working with James L. Brooks, Nancy Meyers, and Ron Howard. He's worked on all of Nolan's Batman films.
Warner Bros. will release the film in the U.S. on the 20th of July.
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Also on the Radar:
Anna Karenina Argo Beasts of the Southern Wild The Bourne Legacy The Dark Knight Rises Dark Shadows Django Unchained Gangster Squad Great Expectations The Great Gatsby The Hobbit Hope Springs The Hunger Games Hyde Park on the Hudson Lawless Lincoln Lola Versus Lovelace Low Life Magic Mike The Master Les Misérables Life of Pi Moonrise Kingdom People Like Us Prometheus To Rome with Love Ruby Sparks Savages Seeking a Friend for the End of the World The Silver Linings Playbook Smashed The Surrogate Trouble with the Curve Won't Back Down
The Avengers The Amazing Spider-Man Men in Black III
The Avengers The Amazing Spider-Man Men in Black III
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