The Dark Knight was a 2008 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale as Batman and the late Heath Ledger as the Joker. It had an estimated budget of $185 million and went on to become one of the highest-grossing films of all time with over $1 billion in worldwide box office revenue. The film received widespread critical acclaim and earned Ledger a posthumous Oscar for his iconic portrayal of the Joker. Warner Bros. employed an extensive and innovative viral marketing campaign for the film that helped drive its commercial success.

1. Film Industry
Case Study

2. The Dark Knight - Introduction
The Dark Knight was made in 2008 by
Warner Brothers.
The film was written by Jonathan
Nolan (screenplay) andChristopher
Nolan (screenplay and story)
David S. Goyer (story)
Bob Kane (Characters)
It was directed by Christopher Nolan

3. The Dark Knight - Introduction
 It was released on 24th July 2008 (UK) This
was at the start of the summer holidays.
 Was produced by Warner Brothers in
association with Legendary Pictures and
DC Comics.
 It was distributed also by Warner Brothers

4. The Dark Knight-
Introduction
 Nominated for 10 Oscars, won two.
 Nominated for 9 BAFTAS, won one.
 Has been nominated/ won various other
awards.
 Budget was :$185M (estimated)
 Worldwide Latest gross: $1,001,921,825
 USA Latest gross: $533,316,061

5. The Actors
 Established Actors from both UK and
US.
 Michael Caine
 Morgan Freeman
 Christian Bale
 Heath Ledger
 Aaron Eckhart
 Maggie Gyllenhaal
 Gary Oldman

6. Marketing
 In May 2007, 42 Entertainment began a viral
marketing campaign utilizing the film's "Why
So Serious?" tagline with the launch of a
website featuring the fictional political
campaign of Harvey Dent, with the caption, "I
Believe in Harvey Dent.”
 established a "vandalized" version of I Believe
in Harvey Dent, called "I believe in Harvey
Dent too," where e-mails sent by fans slowly
removed pixels, revealing the first official
image of the Joker; it was ultimately replaced
with many "Haha"s and a hidden message that
said "see you in December.

7. Marketing
 During the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con International, 42
Entertainment launched WhySoSerious.com, sending fans on
a scavenger hunt to unlock a teaser trailer and a new photo of
the Joker.
 On October 31, 2007, the film's website morphed into another
scavenger hunt with hidden messages, instructing fans to
uncover clues at certain locations in major cities throughout the
United States, and to take photographs of their discoveries.
 Completing the scavenger hunt also led to another website
called Rory's Death Kiss (referencing the false working title
of Rory's First Kiss), where fans could submit photographs of
themselves costumed as the Joker. Those who sent photos
were mailed a copy of a fictional newspaper called The Gotham
Times, whose electronic version led to the discovery of
numerous other websites.

8. Marketing
 Warner Bros. adjusted its promotional focus on the
Joker, revising some of its websites dedicated to
promoting the film and posting a memorial tribute to
Ledger on the film's official website and overlaying a
black memorial ribbon on the photo collage
in WhySoSerious.com.
 On February 29, 2008, I Believe in Harvey Dent was
updated to enable fans to send their e-mail
addresses and phone numbers. In March 2008,
Harvey Dent's fictional campaign informed fans that
actual campaign buses nicknamed "Dentmobiles"
would tour various cities to promote Dent's
candidacy for district attorney.

9. Marketing
 The marketing of the film represents an
example of cross-media convergence
with:
 Posters
 A number of websites
 Social networking sites (Facebook)
 viral marketing ( showing aspects of
scavenger hunts)

10.  CD – the soundtrack
 Youtube- information about the
scavenger hunt, unreleased trailers.
 Cinema and television trailers (also on
Youtube)
 DVD/Blu-Ray
 Collectables (toys, comics)
 Games on consoles such Xbox 360,
PS3.

11. Did you know???
 Warner Bros. devoted six months to an
anti-piracy strategy that involved
tracking the people who had a pre-
release copy of the film at any one time.
Shipping and delivery schedules were
also staggered and spot checks were
carried out both domestically and
overseas to ensure illegal copying of the
film was not taking place in cinemas.

12. Six Flags Great America and Six
Flags Great Adventure theme
parks opened The Dark
Knight roller coaster, which cost
US$7.5 million to develop and
which simulates being stalked by
the Joker.

19. Distribution
 In the United States and Canada, The Dark
Knight was distributed to 4,366 theaters.
 The number of theaters also included 94
IMAX theaters, with the film estimated to
be played on 9,200 screens in the United
States and Canada.
 All IMAX theaters showing The Dark
Knight were sold out for the opening
weekend.

20. Distribution
 Online, ticketing services sold enormous numbers of
tickets for approximately 3,000 midnight showtimes
as well as unusually early showtimes for the film's
opening day.
 The Dark Knight ultimately grossed $67,165,092 on
its opening day beating the previous record of $59.8
million held by Spider-Man 3 in 2007
 Warner Bros. re-released the film in traditional
theaters and IMAX theaters in the United States on
January 23, 2009, the height of the voting for the
Academy Awards, in order to further the chances of
the film winning Oscars.

21.  Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade,
"best-of" list, saying, "Every great hero needs a great
villain.
 The Dark Knight was ranked the 15th greatest film in
history on Empire's 2008 list of the "500 Greatest Movies
of All Time," based upon the weighted votes of 10,000
readers, 150 film directors, and 50 key film critics.
 Heath Ledger's interpretation of the Joker was also
ranked number three on Empire's 2008 list of the "100
Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.“
 Paste Magazine named it one of the 50 Best Movies of
the Decade (2000-2009), ranking it at number 11.

22.  In the United Kingdom, the film had combined
sales of 513,000 units on its first day of
release, of which 107,730 (21%) were Blu-ray
Discs, the highest number of first-day Blu-ray
Discs sold. In the United States, The Dark
Knight set a sales record for most DVDs sold
in one day, selling 3 million units on its first day
of release – 600,000 of which were Blu-ray
Discs.
 In March 2011, Warner Bros. offered The Dark
Knight for rent on Facebook, becoming the
first movie ever to be released via digital
distribution on a social networking site.