LA Times writer Eric P. Lucas has had enough of the Heath Ledger hype and wrote a strongly-worded article to argue otherwise. Except instead of convincing everyone that the Oscar buzz is unnecessary, he makes the fatal mistake of insulting Heath and sending his diehard fans into an angry frenzy.
The Dark Knight continues its box office marathon, eclipsing the receipts of Iron Man and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in only 10 days. It's the most important movie ever made! And it stars a dead guy who's posthumously winning over the critics in his last role! So it makes sense that everyone wants to capitalize on the enormous publicity machine. Including those responsible for illegally pirating the film.
PETA, the animal rights organization that thinks Pamela Anderson is worth keeping around, is upset with The Dark Knight because Batman fights with Rottweilers. They seem perfectly fine with the way Bruce Wayne exploits bats, however. [Bloggasm]
Slapping "exclusive" on this Sun story about Christian Bale allegedly assaulting his mother and sister, TMZ says The Dark Knight star was taken into custody over the allegations made yesterday by 61-year-old mom Jenny and 40-year-old sister Sharon. This, after police allowed him to attend the premiere of the new Batman flick after the police reports were made. Because if the throng of red carpet reporters are going to struggle getting face time with Bale, it's not like the cops could expect him to answer their questions.
No surprise here: The Dark Knight raked in over $155 million this weekend and broke a bunch of box office records. The latest Batman movie also became my latest obsession (see also: Jason Castro), inspiring me to see it twice in under 48 hours.
For those of you who saw it, click through for my favorite moments from the film and then feel free to add your own.
ZOMG Batman: The Dark Knight is going to be the biggest movie in the history of movies that are big!! It'll play on 4,366 screens its opening weekend, the most any movie has ever registered. "By all accounts this should be Hollywood's best-ever 3-day overall North American weekend at the box office: the number to beat is last year's $151+ million," says Nikki Finke. Rejoice, Tinseltown: America does care about your well-being. And it only took the sacrifice of one of your children to get you there.
Thank heavens for Batman, because we are being treated to more Christian Bale this month than should be allowed. This time he’s gracing the cover of the UK GQ and saying more things to remind us he’s as beautiful on the inside as he is on the outside.
When Heath Ledger died, Warner Bros. marketing executives behind the new Batman movie Dark Knight, where Ledger stars as The Joker, immediately grew worried that the beloved actor's death would overshadow their summer blockbuster, and potentially get in the way of them turning a heavy investment into a worldwide hit amid cries of "tasteless!," especially given his dark role in the film.
And then, between Hollywood's outpouring of support and some brilliant PR, the mood changed: Dark Night would instead be a tribute to Ledger. The situation went from bad to good to amazing last week, when critics got their first look at the movie and began called for a posthumous Oscar for Ledger.
So how do you take a roller coaster ride from a Doomsday scenario to a sure-thing back down to the horror story level? By news reports of a 17-year-old fella, visiting Six Flags with his church group, getting decapitated while hunting for the hat he lost on the tracks of the Batman ride, where he got stuck and was decapitated.
With the new Batman movie Dark Knight premiering July 25, the press onslaught from Warner Bros. will soon be in high gear. But until then, here's a creepy new still from the flick of Heath Ledger, part of a set of "amazing snaps show The Joker dressed as a deadly doctor and a creepy cop." Yeeeah, it's kinda difficult to dress this up as anything more pleasant. [Sun]
Although Heath Ledger is said to have finished shooting all his scenes for Batman: The Dark Knight, his death presents some marketing challenges for Warner Bros., who have to sell a blockbuster franchise film not only without one of its celebrity leads, but also in a way that doesn't gross out moviegoers, or smell of disrespect. Especially hard when Heath's character, The Joker, is a vile heavy.
The excellent Kim Masters expounds on how we might be listening to a voice artist for some of The Joker's dialogue, since the rough audio captured during filming might not be pristine enough.
But what about the T-shirts? Action figures? CONTINUED »
• The Batman franchise continues to be profitable.
• Goys maintain the pretense of caring about Chanukah.
• Amanda Beard is hasn't gotten ugly.
• Celebrities still have nipples.
• Bad music will always be inexplicably popular.
• Nicholas Cage's hairline isn't fooling anybody.
Editorial Director
