The Dark Knight “Bank Robber” The Joker Be@rbrick Vinyl Figures by Medicom

Why So Serious? Medicom continues its new line of Batman vinyl figures based on Christopher Nolan’s iconic The Dark Knight trilogy with the release of this super creepy Bank Robber The Joker 100% and 400% Be@rbrick vinyl figures based on Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the classic DC Comics villain. You can now recreate the film’s opening bank robbery that introduced the world to Ledger’s unforgettable Joker, albeit from behind a clown mask.

The Dark Knight Bank Robber The Joker 100% DC Comics Be@rbrick stands 2.75” tall and will retail for $25.99, while The Joker 400% Be@rbrick stands 11” tall and will retail for $124.99. These awesome import figures are scheduled to start shipping from Japan in May 2016.

The Joker Portrait Print by Mike Mitchell

It’s only the first week of 2016, and Mondo is already at it again! For one of their first releases of the year, Mondo is dropping the next print in Mike Mitchell's popular timed-edition portrait series! Check out Mitchell’s epic “The Joker” featuring Heath Ledger in his iconic role from Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. Has he completely captured the essence of Heath's Joker or what!?!

The Joker by Mike Mitchell is a 12”x16” hand numbered giclee print. This is a timed-edition release, meaning the print’s run size will be set by the number of orders placed between now and Saturday, January 9th, at 11:59pm CST. Pre-order one today at the Mondo online store for $55.

The Dark Knight The Joker 100% & 400% Be@rbrick Vinyl Figures by Medicom

Medicom revisits Christopher Nolan’s iconic Batman film The Dark Knight with the release of this killer new The Joker 100% and 400% Be@rbrick vinyl figures based on Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the classic DC Comics villain. Why so serious indeed!

The Dark Knight The Joker 100% DC Comics Be@rbrick stands 2.75” tall and will retail for $25.99, while The Joker 400% Be@rbrick stands 11” tall and will retail for $124.99. While these import figures are not scheduled to hit the United States until May 2016, you can pre-order both figures individually from Entertainment Earth now here.

The Blot Reviews The 81st Annual Academy Awards Nominations

Yesterday, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences unveiled the nominees for their 81st Annual Academy Awards show and The Blot is more than a little disappointed in who was left off the ballot. Neither The Dark Knight nor its director Christopher Nolan were shown any love from Oscar! This is just another example of why the Academy Awards have take such a huge ratings hit over the past few years. It’s like they are trying to push viewers away from their telecast.


Too often the Academy gets wrapped up in art films no one sees and refuses to acknowledge the artistic majesty of films embraced by the masses. Yes, The Dark Knight was a superhero movie, but once you look past its comic book origins the film truly is an artistic masterpiece. The truth is, very few films in recent memory have resonated with the American people like The Dark Knight did this past summer, and I really believe that grossing as much money as The Dark Knight did says something about the quality of the film.

Thankfully the real star of that movie, the amazing Heath Ledger who was taken from his friends and family too soon, received the Best Supporting Actor nomination he so richly deserved. I will be tuning in to the Oscar telecast next month if for no other reason than to see Mr. Ledger win this award. I have no idea who will be accepting the award on his behalf, but I expect a rousing tribute to an amazing talent.

I was also unbelievably shocked to find out that Bruce Springsteen was not nominated for his song “The Wrestler” from the movie of the same name considering he just won a Golden Globe for the very same song a few weeks ago. Not only that, but the Academy only nominated three songs this year for its Best Song category. Something about that just doesn’t sit well with The Blot!


Regardless, I was really happy to see a Best Actor nomination go to Mickey Rourke for his performance in The Wrestler and a surprising nomination in that very same category go to Richard Jenkins for his role in The Visitor. I also thought Robert Downey Jr.’s Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role in Tropic Thunder was the perfect way to cap off his 2008 comeback. The other interesting storyline brewing is if Kate Winslet will finally win an Oscar this year after having lost 5 times before. All in all, it should be a very interested awards ceremony to say the least!

The 81st Annual Academy Awards will be hosted by Hugh Jackman and air on February 22nd at 8/7c on ABC.

The 2009 Oscar Nominations
Best Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Actor
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Actress
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, The Reader

Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin, Milk
Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road

Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, Doubt
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

Director
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant, Milk
Stephen Daldry, The Reader
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

Original Song
“Down to Earth” from WALL-E (Peter Gabriel and
Thomas Newman)
“Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire (A.R. Rahman and Gulzar)
“O Saya” from Slumdog Millionaire (A.R. Rahman and M.I.A.)

The Dark Knight Surpasses The $500 Million Mark

The Dark Knight has now officially passed the $500 million plateau in domestic box office grosses, becoming just the second movie in Hollywood history to do so. This is a pretty huge statistic in that no other movie, besides Titanic, has ever brought in this much money in the U.S. It is safe to say that The Dark Knight has no chance at catching Titanic’s $600.8 million domestic gross, but second place isn’t a bad place to be. As of Sunday, The Dark Knight has brought in $502.4 million.


While the numbers for the latest Batman film are staggering, they are also a little misleading. If you factor in ticket price inflation or look strictly at the amount of tickets sold, which in my opinion is the most important statistic of them all, The Dark Knight falls down in the rankings significantly. Regardless, grossing over $500 million in the United States alone is a huge achievement and says a lot about the quality of Christopher Nolan’s Batman opus. What's unfortunate is that Heath Ledger is no longer here to appreciate it. I cannot image the pressure now on Warner Brothers, Nolan and Christian Bale to come up with something even more amazing for their third Batman movie. How can you possibly top The Dark Knight!?!

And Here We Go - The Dark Knight Breaks All Opening Weekend Records

I could go on and on about The Dark Knight, but I probably don’t need to because according to the numbers from this past weekend everyone and their mother has already seen the film. It is no surprise that The Dark Knight out grossed previous record holder Spider-Man 3 to claim the title of highest grossing opening weekend ever with a tally of $158.4 million. (link) The Dark Knight also claimed three other impressive records, “including biggest single-day haul ($66.4 million), biggest midnight screening ($18.5 million) and best debut in IMAX ($6.4 million).” (link) It was also the centerpiece to the biggest three-day weekend over all box office ever, with a record industry intake of $258 million. (link)

I am really interested in seeing if The Dark Knight is able to build upon this impressive opening weekend. With the amazing buzz it has garnered already, it should hopefully make a strong push to some huge domestic and international numbers. I think its dark tone does hurt it some, and I will be interested in seeing how the movie’s audience broke down by age. If parents ended up being ok with their children seeing the movie then the sky is the limit for its eventual final numbers. But, it will be really hard to live up to its huge opening weekend numbers without the under 13 demographic.


Aly and I were debating all weekend the impact Ledger’s death had on the movie, but both of us agreed on how amazing his performance of the Joker truly was. The movie was great, but it was his portrayal of the Clown Prince of Crime that really put it over the top. To be honest I didn’t love the ending. But with a third installment in the Batman franchise all but guaranteed, I guess that’s the type of ending we had to have to leave the door open for Batman’s return to the silver screen few years down the road. The Dark Knight might just be my favorite movie in recent memory. I think I am going to have to see it again this weekend to truly appreciate all of the Joker’s little nuances. If this is to be Ledger’s final performance, oh what a performance it was!

The Blot’s Birthday With The Dark Knight

It’s July 1st and in the world of The Blot that means it’s the official start of my birthday month. While my birthday is still a few weeks away (it’s on Saturday, July 19th), it’s never too early to start the celebration. It helps that my birthday this year falls on the opening weekend of the summer’s biggest blockbuster, The Dark Knight.


And so today Aly gave me the first part of my birthday present when she ordered us two opening night tickets to see The Dark Knight in IMAX. I'm pretty excited, so I thought I'd share it with the blogosphere. After seeing Batman Begins in IMAX a few years ago I knew there was no other way to experience the world premier of Heath Ledger as the Joker. So far the birthday weekend is looking pretty good with Friday night's scheduled viewing of The Dark Knight. Look for a full review of Christian Bale’s second Batman film, The Dark Knight, in just under three weeks.

The Dark Knight - New Joker Movie Poster

The Blot can’t believe the amount of promotional posters, banners and viral websites that are being produced for July's Batman movie, The Dark Knight. I can’t think of the last summer blockbuster that had this much fanfare and yet might not even be the highest grossing film of the summer. Regardless, this type of overexposure is not near as bad, or in your face, as the horrible and annoying advertising for last year’s Bee Movie. If I had to see one more Jerry Seinfeld appearance to promote Bee Movie I was going to cancel my cable. But I digress…this new The Dark Knight promo poster featuring Heath Ledger’s Joker is a beauty.


I’m glad to see The Dark Knight’s PR team is not shying away form using Ledger’s photo in the film’s promotional products. As we’ve learned from previous Batman movies, the villains often become the stars of the show, and the Joker will definitely be no exception to that rule. The Dark Knight flies into theaters Friday, July 18, 2008.

The Dark Knight Character Promo Posters

I don’t know why this is, but I always seem to post on certain topics in bunches. After posting on the new “Welcome To A World Without Rules” Batman poster yesterday, I stumbled upon these great new The Dark Knight character promotional posters and a UK promo poster of Batman on his new Batpod.


The new three piece poster set features headshots of Heath Ledger as The Joker, Christian Bale as Batman and Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent, with all three characters holding something up in their right hands covering the right side of their faces. I am assuming the symbolism of the covering of the right side of the characters’ faces foreshadows Harvey Dent’s eventual turn to the dark side as the enigmatic Two-Face.



I’ve been keeping my eyes open for leaked photos of Eckhart as the disfigured villain Two-Face, but the only photos I’ve found has been Eckhart as Gotham City’s mild mannered District Attorney. I don’t know how they’ve kept the Two-Face scene so top secret, but hopefully their hard work will pay off big time when the movie is finally released to theaters.

Heath Ledger Found Dead In His NYC Apartment

Heath Ledger, the Oscar nominated Australian actor, was found dead today at 3:35 PM ET in his downtown Manhattan residence. The NYPD is stating that the death is possibly drug related. Ledger, best known for his work in A Knight’s Tale, Monster’s Ball, and Brokeback Mountain, was 28 and is survived by his 2 year old daughter Matilda with fellow actress Michelle Williams (Dawson’s Creek, Brokeback Mountain). (link, link)

Initially, the New York Times was reporting that the apartment Ledger was found dead in was owned by fellow celebrity Mary Kate Olsen, but that Heath had been living there. That erroneous report has since been denied by Olsen’s publicist. (link) For more details on how his death was discovered please click here, here or here.

Here are some interesting quotes from an AP article appearing on USA Today.com:

Curiosity about Ledger's final performance will likely stoke further interest in the summer blockbuster. Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan said this month that Ledger's Joker would be wildly different from Nicholson's. "It was a very great challenge for Heath," Nolan said. "He's extremely original, extremely frightening, tremendously edgy. A very young character, a very anarchic presence that taps into a lot of our basic fears and panic."

Ledger told The New York Times in a November interview that he "stressed out a little too much" during the Dylan film and had trouble sleeping while portraying the Joker, whom he called a "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy."

"Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night," Ledger told the newspaper. "I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going." He said he took two Ambien pills, which worked for only an hour, the paper said. (link)

What a sad, sad loss. I’m at a loss for words considering I’ve blogged so much about Ledger and his upcoming role as The Joker in The Dark Knight the past few months. He was a very talented actor and still had a long, distinguished career ahead of him. I have always enjoyed his work and was really looking forward to his latest performance. I really hope his death is not drug related, but as we’ve seen too many times before, for some reason drugs and young performers seem to go hand in hand. It's such a shame too, because we’ve already lost so many talented young artists to drugs and it doesn’t seem to be letting up any time soon. As details leak out, I’ll update this post with more information.

Two New The Dark Knight Promo Posters Hit The Web

New promotional posters for The Dark Knight, the sequel to 2005's Batman Begins, have been released as we inch closer and closer to the movie's summer launch. I just can't get enough of Heath Ledger as The Joker. I was really skeptical of the casting at first, but the more I see of him in the white face paint and stringy hair the more I realize what a genius move it was picking him for the role. I now know I should have never questioned Christopher Nolan's vision.


If you haven't heard already or haven't yet seen Will Smith's new movie I Am Legend, the first official trailer for The Dark Knight is being shown before the start of Legend. I've read the trailer will be released for all to see online Monday, and if so I'll do my best to post it at The Blot Says...

You can still check out the first The Dark Knight teaser promo poster here, the two new Why So Serious? Joker posters here, and the new trailer being shown before I Am Legend can be found here.

The Dark Knight Returns

The great comic book news site Newsarama.com has revealed the first teaser promo poster for the 2008 new Batman movie The Dark Night.
If you haven't seen the leaked photos of Heath Ledger as the Joker then I suggest getting on google and finding some immediately, you won't be disappointed. He looks as freaky and crazy as you would hope the Joker would look like. Trust me, with Christopher Nolan (Memento, Batman Begins, The Prestige) directing/writing this movie, this Joker will be nothing like the Jack Nicholson or Cesar Romero Jokers of the past.