The Dark Knight Rises

A little over a year ago, while I was surfing the net, I came across an article that was equivalent to a "breaking news" story. It had a label in all caps and everything. The article was about having to tweet with the hashtag #TheFireRises, and if enough tweets are accumulated will reveal an image; every tweet equaled one pixel on the image. I engaged, and was very proud to help in revealing the very first image of Bane. Thus started the viral marketing campaign of The Dark Knight Rises.

This was the first image to show Tom Hardy as The Dark Knight Rises' villain, Bane. And from that, you can tell how menacing he looks.

Like the previous installment of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight, a viral marketing campaign was focused heavily on the antagonist of the film which was then the Joker. The words "Why so serious?" stylized with the Joker's smile was one of the more popular marketing strategies for the movie. However when Heath Ledger died, the marketing campaign was steered into another direction; into a more Harvey Dent direction. From then on, it was "I Believe in Harvey Dent."

The very first time I saw the marketing campaign for The Dark Knight, it was just a clip shown before a movie. I forgot what the actual movie was, but I distinctly remember a train passing by then a Batman logo is shown with a pair of eyes on top of it, making it out like the logo was a smile. I knew then that I was definitely gonna watch the movie. Flashforward to more or less a year, and there I was, witnessing one of the greatest superhero movies ever made by far. Only to be beaten by (I'm hoping), The Dark Knight Rises.

I'm not saying that other superhero movies are bad. I mean, I love how they did The Avengers, and all other movies that preempted it. Christopher Nolan's trilogy, for me, just shows a level of storytelling that is just hard to match. Then again, I might be too bias. See here.

When I helped and saw the picture of Bane, I made it a point to tell my friends to clear out their schedule for July 20, even though it was still a year ago then. I told them that we should watch it in IMAX. Nothing else will do. A normal theater would not have held the level of epicness this film will have. I knew it then, as I still know it to be now.

Over the course of the year, bits and pieces of the film came surfacing through: the first teaser trailer, a closer glimpse of Anne Hathaway's Catwoman, more into Bane's cunning persona, and lots and lots of explosions; specifically, a massive explosion featuring a football stadium. And these were all from the internet. Check the first teaser trailer here.

Movie posters soon came into light. I don't remember what the first ever movie poster was. But the movie posters that stuck with me were: the one where you see Batman's mask broken with a Bane walking away and the ones with the characters in what seemingly is rain, and on the top of the poster there emblazoned the word, "RISE." Simple as it may seem, it really gets you interested. 

Soon after, IMAX tickets were made available for advanced purchasing. We were quick to make sure we bought the tickets sooner rather than later. Mind you, this was a month ago. So, a month before the film is to be shown, and only mere days since advance tickets were announced for sale, we had already bought our tickets and made sure we saw the movie on the day it comes out. July 19, 2012, a day earlier than it's released in the States. The amount of dedication we have to watching this film is just so unheard of from us. 

This Thursday is just going to be awesome, I know it. Three more sleepless nights to go!

July 19, 2012. The Legend Ends.

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Buy your tickets now! 

Here are some links to the major cinemas in the Philippines.

SM IMAX Theatre 

SM Cinemas

Ayala Center

If I were you, you'd go with IMAX no questions asked.