By all means, Christopher Nolan’s third (and final) Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises, should be a slam dunk. The last chapter in the beloved franchise has been eagerly anticipated for years, and Nolan’s previous two Batman movies have been critical and commercial hits, so why is Bat-fervor feeling so cool these days?
While we can’t blame today’s newest TDKR poster for the problem, it’s certainly a symptom of something greater ‐ the marketing for the film has not been exciting. This is not an exciting poster. Sure, it expands on that first teaser poster from last summer (a stunner in its own right), but adding in a shoddy Batman (Christian Bale) does nothing to raise pulses for what should be summer’s biggest hit (though it will be hard-pressed to match The Avengers). Perhaps the marketing team over at Warner Bros. thinks they can coast on this one (and who can blame them?), but that doesn’t explain why that first poster and the first trailer for the film crackled with so much energy and spark, and why everything else has been so snooze-inducing ever since. I mean, “here’s a picture of Catwoman’s ass”? What?
But it can only get better…right? If you’re in need of the marketing equivalent of a Thanksgiving turkey, check out the full poster after the break.
The Dark Knight Rises also stars Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anne Hathaway, and Marion Cotillard. The film wings into theaters on July 20th. [Facebook, via /Film]
Related Topics: Batman, Christian Bale, Christopher Nolan
