The Dark Knight (2008)

One of the best trailer you'll see this year in cinemas, and it got batman series fans and movies fans in high anticipation and frenzy when it was released prior to the movie release.

Most of the excitment was built upon seeing the Joker for the first time. And hype over the Joker reached a new height following the news of the death of Heath Ledger, who portray the Joker in what was his last complete work, due to accident drug overdose.

Meanwhile Christian Bale returned for the role of the main character, The Batman. Bale has praised director Christopher Nolan vision and directing of the series as well as the critical reaction to his first performance in the first film Batman Begins as main reasons for his confidence in his participation in the series.

As of August 1, 2008, The Dark Knight has grossed over $363 million in the domestic box office, breaking the previous record of the fastest film to hit $300 million
its total worldwide gross stands at $491.9 million.

The Dark Knight is currently highest grossing movie of the year in domestic box office and third worldwide.

The Dark Knight is a 2008 American superhero/crime film co-written and directed by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins. Christian Bale reprises the lead role.

Batman's primary conflicts in the film include his fight against his arch-nemesis the Joker (Heath Ledger) and his rivalry with district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) for the affections of assistant D.A. Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal).

For his conception of the film, Nolan was inspired by the Joker's first two appearances in the comics and Batman: The Long Halloween.

The Dark Knight was filmed primarily in Chicago, as well as in several other locations in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong. The director used an IMAX camera to film six major action sequences, including the Joker's first appearance in the film.

Warner Bros. created a viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight, developing promotional websites and trailers highlighting screenshots of Heath Ledger as the Joker.

After Ledger's death in January 2008, however, the studio refocused its promotional campaign.The film was released on July 16, 2008 in Australia, on July 18, 2008 in North America, and on July 24, 2008 in the United Kingdom.

Prior to its box office debut in North America, record numbers of advance tickets were sold for The Dark Knight. The film has broken multiple box office records, and achieved an overall approval rating of 94% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times describes The Dark Knight as a "haunted film that leaps beyond its origins and becomes an engrossing tragedy." He praises the performances, direction, and writing, and says the film "redefine[s] the possibilities of the comic-book movie".

Ebert states that the "key performance" is by Heath Ledger, and ponders whether he will become the first posthumous Academy Award winner since Peter Finch in 1976

David Ansen in Newsweek says the film is "impressive" in discussing the moral dilemma at its heart: the question about whether a vigilante has to abandon his code in order to defeat the villain

Before the release of Batman Begins, screenwriter David S. Goyer wrote a treatment for two sequels which introduced the Joker and Harvey Dent. His original intent was for the Joker to scar Dent during the Joker's trial in the third film, turning Dent into Two-Face

On July 31, 2006, Warner Bros. Pictures officially announced initiation of production for the sequel to Batman Begins titled The Dark Knight; it is the first live-action Batman film without the word "Batman" in its title, which Bale noted as signaling that "this take on Batman of mine and Chris' is very different from any of the others."

Batman Begins (2005)

Batman Begins is a 2005 superhero film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman, directed by Christopher Nolan. It stars Christian Bale as Batman, along with Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman, Ken Watanabe, Tom Wilkinson, and Rutger Hauer.

The film reboots the Batman film series, telling the origin story of the character and begins with Bruce Wayne's initial fear of bats, the death of his parents, and his journey to becoming Batman.

It draws inspiration from classic comic book storylines such as Batman: The Man Who Falls, Batman: Year One, and Batman: The Long Halloween.

After a series of unsuccessful projects to resurrect Batman on screen following the 1997 critical and commercial failure of Batman & Robin, Nolan and David S. Goyer began work on the film in early 2003 and aimed for a darker and more realistic tone, with humanity and realism being the basis of the film.

The goal was to get the audience to care for both Batman and Bruce Wayne. The film was primarily shot in England and Chicago, and relied on traditional stunts and miniatures — computer-generated imagery was used minimally.

A new Batmobile, called the Tumbler, along with a new, more mobile Batsuit were both created specifically for the film.

Batman Begins was critically and commercially successful. The film opened on June 15, 2005 in the United States and Canada in 3,858 theaters. It grossed US$48 million in its opening weekend, eventually grossing $370 million worldwide. The film received an 84% overall approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes.

A DVD was released on October 18, 2005, containing featurettes and other bonus materials. Critics noted that fear was a common theme throughout the film, and remarked its darker tone compared to previous Batman films.

A sequel titled The Dark Knight was released in July 2008 and also sees the return of both Nolan and Bale.

James Berardinelli applauded Nolan and Goyer's work creating more understanding into "who [Batman] is and what motivates him", something Berardinelli felt Tim Burton's film lacked; at the same time.

Berardinelli felt the romantic aspect between Bale and Holmes did not work because the actors lacked the chemistry Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder (Superman), or Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst (Spider-Man) shared in their respective roles

Comic book scribe and editor Dennis O'Neil stated that he "felt the filmmakers really understood the character they were translating", citing this film as the best of the live-action Batman films

Roger Ebert, who gave mixed reviews to the previous films, wrote this was "the Batman movie I've been waiting for; more correctly, this is the movie I did not realize I was waiting for".

Giving it four out of four stars, he commended the realistic portrayals of the Batman arsenal—the Batsuit, Batcave, Batmobile, and the Batsignal—as well as the focus on "the story and character" with less stress on "high-tech action".

Batman and Robin (1997)

Batman & Robin is a 1997 film from the Batman film series starring George Clooney as Batman, Chris O'Donnell returning as Robin and introducing Batgirl (Alicia Silverstone), a niece of Bruce Wayne's butler Alfred (Michael Gough). Gough and Pat Hingle (Commissioner Gordon) are the only two actors to feature in all four of the original Batman films.

The villains in this movie are Poison Ivy, played by Uma Thurman; Mr. Freeze, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger (who received top billing for this film); and Bane, played by Jeep Swenson. This is the final film continuity-wise in the original Batman movie franchise (1989–1997), as the franchise's story was re-imagined with 2005's Batman Begins directed by Christopher Nolan.

Batman & Robin was made on a budget of $125 million and had a worldwide gross of $238 million. The film also opened at #1 at the box office. Despite its box office successes, the film was met with near universal criticism from fans of the comic books, critics and the general public.It was mocked for its poor script, and the film was dubbed Batman on Ice by critics for an opening scene where Batman and Robin glide on skates while battling Mr. Freeze's henchmen.

Despite its moderate box office success, the film was not critically well received. It was mocked for the poor script, and overextending the campy attitude, comprising the smirky one-liners and ludicrous stunts of its predecessor, Batman Forever

Author Mark S. Reinhart said, "The combination of Batman & Robin's terrible script, ridiculous costuming, garish sets, uninspired direction, etc. made the film into the appalling dump heap that it is". In his review of the film, critic Leonard Maltin found that "the 'story' often makes no sense" and that the "action and effects are loud, gargantuan, and ultimately numbing"

In the featurette entitled "Batman Unbound", Chris O'Donnell compared his experiences on making Batman Forever to his experiences on making Batman & Robin by saying "When I made Batman Forever, I felt like I was making a movie. When I made Batman & Robin, I felt like I was making a toy commercial.

"Yet another reason why the film was ridiculed by critics and fans alike was the pun-ridden dialogue, which mainly came from the two main villains of the film, Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy. Some of the most criticized portions of the dialogue were Mr. Freeze's ice puns, such as 'Mercy! I'm afraid, that my condition has made me cold to your pleas of mercy!' or 'You won't send me to the cooler! What killed the dinosaurs! The Ice Age ! ' and 'Alright everyone! Chill!' Lines such as these were seen as something of a nadir in the Batman universe.

George Clooney was severely embarrassed of himself by the film, saying "I think we might have killed the franchise."

Batman Forever(1995)

Batman Forever is an Academy Award-nominated 1995 superhero film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman. It is the third film in the Batman film franchise and the first one directed by Joel Schumacher, who replaced Tim Burton, the director of the first two films in the franchise, Batman and Batman Returns.

It is also the only film in the franchise to star Val Kilmer as Batman, who replaced Michael Keaton from the first two films. The film also marked the series debut of Robin.

The film's cast included Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey, Chris O'Donnell, Nicole Kidman, Drew Barrymore and Debi Mazar. However, Michael Gough and Pat Hingle, who featured in the first two films, returned to reprise the respective characters Alfred and Commissioner James Gordon in this film.

The film served as a major departure from its predecessor Batman Returns, whose dark tone was rejected in favor of a lighter tone designed to appeal to younger audiences.

This included dramatic changes to the cast, design, and Danny Elfman's score, whose themes were not carried into this film. Batman Forever was commercially successful at the box office. However, it received mixed reviews from critics.

Brian Lowry of Variety cited the film as a poor attempt to "save" the Batman film series. Peter Travers from Rolling Stone called the film a "sour taste," and mocked the formation of how it transferred back to the campy Batman TV series. Comic book veterans took heavy negative feedback against the film as well.

Scott Beatty called Tommy Lee Jones' performance "a Joker knock-off rather than a multi-layered rogue,"while Lee Bermejo cited it as "unbearable." One scene depicts Two-Face flipping his coin until he gets a result he wants. In the comics, a key element of his split personality is that he unquestioningly accepts the result of a single coin toss concerning any decision he makes. Overall, the film holds a 44% rating at Rotten Tomatoes

Batman Returns (1992)

Batman Returns is a 1992 film based on the Batman character created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane. Tim Burton directed the film, which has Michael Keaton reprising the role of Batman, as well as Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer and Christopher Walken.

The film's plot primarily concerns Bruce Wayne/Batman struggling to maintain order in Gotham City after the appearance of the villainous Penguin (DeVito) and the mysterious, equally deadly Catwoman (Pfeiffer).

Burton originally did not want to return for a second installment due to his mixed emotions from the original film. After being impressed with a script by Daniel Waters, he thought otherwise. Wesley Strick would later be brought on for an uncredited rewrite, deleting characterizations of Robin and Harvey Dent (both of whom would ultimately appear in Batman Forever).

The film was entirely shot at Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, California (the first film was shot at Pinewood Studios in England), with Danny Elfman returning to compose the film score, citing it as a stressful experience, but still overall positive.

Batman Returns was both a commercial and critical success, but did spawn controversies (being seen as "too dark" for younger children). Comic book veterans would express mixed thoughts and reviews. The film would also receive nominations at the Academy Awards, MTV Movie Awards and the Razzie Awards

Phillip Thomas of Empire wrote: "Burton continues to capture the essence of the Batman legend and more importantly his audience's imagination."Peter Travers of Rolling Stone supported the main themes that included the story, characters, and visual citing that "Burton uses the summer's most explosively entertaining movie to lead us back into the liberating darkness of dreams."

Todd McCarthy of Variety went further, feeling "Where Burton's ideas end and those of his collaborators begin is impossible to know, but result is a seamless, utterly consistent universe full of nasty notions about societal deterioration, greed and other base impulses."[

Batman(1989)

Batman is a 1989 superhero film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman. Tim Burton directed the film, which stars Michael Keaton as Batman, as well as Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger and Robert Wuhl.

The film is the first installment of Warner Brothers' Batman film series, and tells the story of Bruce Wayne romancing with Vicki Vale (played by Basinger). He also deals with the rise of a powerful villain known as "The Joker" (Nicholson).

Michael Uslan and Benjamin Melniker acquired the Batman film rights from DC Comics in 1979, and hired Tom Mankiewicz to write. Producers Jon Peters and Peter Guber joined the production. Before Burton was hired as director, Steve Englehart and Julie Hickson contributed with story treatments.

The role of Batman was considered for numerous A-list actors, while Nicholson accepted the role of the Joker under various strict circumstances that dictated a high salary, box office profits and his shooting schedule.

Filming took place at Pinewood Studios from October 1988 to January 1989, where production designer Anton Furst designed Gotham City with clashing architectural styles to make it the bleakest metropolis imaginable.

The budget escalated from $30 million to $48 million, while the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike forced writer Sam Hamm to leave the set, leaving Warren Skaaren, Charles McKeown and Jonathan Gems to do uncredited rewrites, including the deletion of the character Dick Grayson.

Batman was a critical and financial success. It was the highest grossing film based on a DC comic book, until it was surpassed by 2008's The Dark Knight. Batman received numerous nominations at the 62nd Academy Awards, 47th Golden Globe Awards and The Saturn Awards.

The film inspired Batman: The Animated Series and a series of films. In 1992, producers Uslan and Melniker filed a breach of contract lawsuit as they did not earn any of the film's box office gross.

Filming was highly secretive. The unit publicist was offered and refused £10,000 for the first pictures of Jack Nicholson as The Joker. The police were later called in when two reels of footage (about 20 minutes' worth) were stolen.