The Dark Knight Rises: Official Poster Release

The Internet has been going crazy this weekend with The Dark Knight Rises. First the viral campaign kicked into gear (it lead people to get free passes to an early screening of Prologue) and Christopher Nolan held a special screening for his directing peers and the movies news websites.

The reactions to the prologue have been overwhelmingly good, with the exception that people had a hard time understanding Tom Hardy's Bane. But even so, apparently that wasn't enough to detract from the amazing spectacle that everyone witnessed.

We began wondering if we would get anything else this weekend...a poster...a new trailer..anything. The users at nolanfans.com had basically given up hope when suddenly today, the official website was updated, revealing the new poster.



Its dark and cold and extremely foreboding. It gives us an amazing glimpse at the more than likely epic experience Christopher Nolan has in store for us come July. The man has yet to make a bad film, and it doesn't look like he is about to start with this one.

A side note to get people excited, once the official website was updated with the new poster, the teaser trailer would not work anymore. But in the coding for the website, it suggests that soon they are gearing up to release the full length theatrical trailer online. Hopefully that will happen this weekend, and the moment it does, I'll be posting about it.

Viral Marketing for The Dark Knight Rises

As with all Christopher Nolan films, The Dark Knight Rises is featuring an elaborate viral marketing campaign for the rabid fans. I took part in the one for The Dark Knight, which consisted of websites that would have clues that would lead you to other websites, dates and times usually rewarding the fans with the release of the new full length trailer or posters.

Inception also had one, but most of that campaign featured websites that were set in the "world" of Inception, and merely served to enhance the story.

The campain for The Dark Knight Rises kicked off today with the release of two "confidential" documents, one discussing that a nuclear scientist by the name of Dr. Leonid Pavel has gone missing, the other is a page of dialogue between two unknown people. Many lines and dates are blacked out. As of now we aren't sure whether this has any clues to more oncoming viral stuff, or is just serving as story to the prologue that comes out in few select IMAX theaters across the country.

And with that, here is the little information I have on Dr. Pavel and how I believe he ties in to the prologue.

SPOILERS:

Alon Aboutboul was cast as what was described as "mad scientist" type character. In the document he appears to be Dr. Pavel. According to the document a lot of people are after this guy. Which brings me to the prologue.
As of now the biggest, and most widely accepted rumour is that the prologue will feature an airplane that Bane is hijacking in order to kill an evil dictator. With this viral stuff I believe he is trying to kidnap Dr. Pavel, who i believe will be on the plane. We know from set photos that Bane has some sort of "doomsday" device. I think he kidnaps Pavel and makes him build this device. The prologue will be this kidnapping scene, and according to cinematogropher Wally Phfister, the opening sequence (prologue) is going to be mind blowing. I think it will be reminiscent of Inception's hallway fight.

I will be seeing the prologue on the 16th and will post my review about it shortly after, and will continue to post updates on the viral and normal campaigns

Below are the two documents released