DAR Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 I both agree and disagree with you but I just thought.... what rules exactly? The first film in this trilogy was the first big-budget reboot in modern history and followed the toxic reception of its "predecessor". Its second film featured an Oscar-winning performance by an actor who virtually killed himself on accident because of the role itself. Its third film is now the center of incredibly negative press thanks to an unprecedented theater shooting rampage that occurred during the opening of the movie itself. If there's any franchise without rules, its gotta be this one. To paraphrase K in Men In Black, "they mean precisely...dick." The thing I find ironic about the negative press is every major network is also part of a conglomerate that owns all the major studios. You think they'd want people to go to the movies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MovieMan89 Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 (edited) I'm referring to the history of the Batman franchise over the last 23 years. The performance of B89 and TDK compared to the other 5 films was pretty strong evidence of the Joker effect that I've constantly talked about (and repeatedly been shrugged off for bringing up). The fact is even with the shooting, this film is going to sell around 20% more tickets than the next biggest non-Joker film in the franchise, Batman Forever. Batman Forever was considered a big time success for WB. Beating that one by a large amount of tickets sold and also crushing TDK's overseas gross is a big deal for the franchise. It basically solidifies the character's status around the world. WB now has a huge brand to work with. Now they better not fuck up with the reboot. I agree with you completely about the Joker effect Redfire. It's what many of us have tried to say for months as a big part of the reason TDKR wouldn't reach TDK's heights of success. The evidence is simply too strong to deny that Joker doesn't impact the Batman series in a huge way whenever he's involved. Even one of my more casual friends said about it, and I quote "well it doesn't have Joker and those are always the best and biggest." When I went and saw the trilogy at midnight the largest pop from the audience in Batman Begins by far came at the end during the Joker setup "leaves his calling card" scene. Even when you go back before the Nicholson performance, the character was already iconic with the general public thanks to the cheesy Adam West TV show and whatnot. More than any other comic book hero/villain duo its almost like Batman needs Joker to fully click with the general public. Like Ledger says in TDK "you complete me." He's just too iconic of a villain, and his absence always has a significant impact and I think it always will in future movies. Edited July 28, 2012 by MovieMan89 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redfirebird2008 Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 The Joker is damn near as popular as Batman, at least in the domestic market. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bballman24 Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 The Joker is damn near as popular as Batman, at least in the domestic market.The most iconic comic book villain ever IMHO 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MovieMan89 Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 The Joker is damn near as popular as Batman, at least in the domestic market. Oh for sure, and that was before Ledger's performance. Since then I'd say he's more popular than Batman domestically by far. I saw a few scattered Batman's at my midnight screening. I saw dozens of Jokers, male and female. And nobody went into thunderous applause for Batman's appearances on screen like they did for Jokers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redfirebird2008 Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 The most iconic comic book villain ever IMHOIt's really not even close. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#ED Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 The Joker vs Loki? lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kayumanggi Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 Who would have thought, TDKR would just end up FOURTH for the year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MovieMan89 Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 Who would have thought, TDKR would just end up FOURTH for the year.Na, it will still beat THG unless it has some disastrous holds the next few weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackO Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 We are still talking about "the Joker effect." Wouldn't TDKR have opened lower then TDK, then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MovieMan89 Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 We are still talking about "the Joker effect." Wouldn't TDKR have opened lower then TDK, then?No. OW's work differently than total admissions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redfirebird2008 Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 We are still talking about "the Joker effect." Wouldn't TDKR have opened lower then TDK, then?Batman Returns and Batman Forever kinda undermine your point. Both of them wound up with drastically lower ticket sales than B89. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCS Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 TDKR will do a lot better OS than TDK. And in the end, it should have a similar WW gross. For sure, TDKR will easily beat TDK OS but due to lower USA gross the WW final total will be quite close to TDK I feel, but probably a tad higher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Prince Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 Aside from this Joker effect, which I'm not sure I agree with, there is also the "the third movie in a trilogy usually doesn't make the most money between the three movies" effect :PIn all seriousness though, that's actually a thing. It's a very rare thing for the third movie in a trilogy to be the highest grossing movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAR Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 Who would have thought, TDKR would just end up FOURTH for the year.I think it finishes second. TA TDKRTHTHG BDI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybox Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 I'll agree with what was said about the joker. I'm not sure joker is more popular than batman domestically, but he is easily the most popular comic villain ever, and possibly the most iconic, sought after live action villain besides lecter and vader. Anyone who reads the comics know there's few better examples of ying and yang like those two. Plus, the joker is the easiest to market as well. If the next batman is in 3D and the joker is written and executed well by who plays him, whatever opening weekend there is at the time could be in jeopardy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZattMurdock Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 Who would have thought, TDKR would just end up FOURTH for the year.Agreed.The AvengersThe HobbitThe Hunger GamesThe Dark Knight RisesThe Amazing Spider-ManSkyfallBourne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Futurist Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 (edited) We are still talking about "the Joker effect." Wouldn't TDKR have opened lower then TDK, then?We all knew TDKR was bound to make 300m dom.The 400m talk was all delusions of Nolanite-fanboys that can't handle the truth well. Edited July 28, 2012 by The Futurist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAR Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 The 400 million talk was every pundit and prognosticator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Marston Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 We all knew TDKR was bound to make 300m dom.The 400m talk was all delusions of Nolanite-fanboys that can't handle the truth well.You really think only fanboys were predicting 400m? Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
