The Dark Knight Rises

The Dark Knight Rises is the third and final installation in Christopher Nolan's Batman films after Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. It is currently in post-production and set to be released July 20, 2012.

Plot
Following the death of District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman assumes responsibility for Dent's crimes in order to protect Dent's reputation and is hunted as a fugitive by the Gotham City Police Department. Eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, Gotham has recovered from the Joker's killing spree, and is experiencing a time of peace. A warning from the "enigmatic" Selina Kyle foreshadows a coming cataclysm, prompting Batman to return to the city where he must stop the villain Bane and his plans to destroy Gotham.

Cast

 * Christian Bale as Batman/Bruce Wayne
 * Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth
 * Gary Oldman as Commissioner James Gordon
 * Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox
 * Tom Hardy as Bane
 * Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman
 * Nestor Carbonell as Mayor Anthony Garcia
 * Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake
 * Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate
 * Juno Temple as a to-be-confirmed character
 * Liam Neeson as Ra's al Ghul
 * Josh Pence as a young Ra's al Ghul
 * Alon Aboutboul as Dr. Leonid Pavel
 * Daniel Sunjata as a to-be-confirmed character
 * Diego Klattenhoff as a to-be-confirmed character
 * Burn Gorman as a to-be-confirmed character
 * Matthew Modine as Nixon
 * Tom Conti as a to-be-confirmed character
 * Joey King as a to-be-confirmed character
 * Josh Stewart as a to-be-confirmed character

Individuals

 * Bruce Wayne/Batman
 * Alfred Pennyworth
 * Commissioner James Gordon
 * Lucius Fox
 * Bane
 * Selina Kyle/Catwoman
 * Mayor Anthony Garcia
 * John Blake
 * Miranda Tate
 * Ra's al Ghul
 * Nixon
 * Dr. Leonid Pavel

Organizations

 * Wayne Enterprises
 * Gotham City Police Department

Vehicles

 * The Tumbler
 * Batwing

Locations

 * Gotham
 * Gotham City

Trailers
Video:The Dark Knight Rises Official Teaser Trailer|Teaser Trailer Video:The Dark Knight Rises Official Movie Trailer Christian Bale, Batman Movie (2012) HD|Trailer

Development
Warner Bros. president of production Jeff Robinov had hoped a third film would be released in 2011 or 2012. Nolan wanted the story for the third installment to keep him emotionally invested. "On a more superficial level, I have to ask the question," he reasoned, "how many good third movies in a franchise can people name?" Nolan only agreed to a third film on the basis of finding a worthwhile story, fearing that he would become bored halfway through production if he discovered the film to be unnecessary. By December 2008, Nolan completed a rough story outline, before he committed himself to Inception. Later in December, Alan F. Horn confirmed that while discussions with Nolan about a third film were ongoing, no casting had been done, and Horn denied all such rumors. Before Nolan confirmed his involvement, Gary Oldman had said he was confident Nolan would return. It was not until February 9, 2010 that it was announced that Nolan had "cracked" the story of a sequel to The Dark Knight and was committed to return to the project. Shortly afterward, it was announced David S. Goyer and Jonathan Nolan were working on a screenplay. Goyer would leave the project during pre-production to begin work on Man of Steel; Jonathan continued writing the script based on the story by his brother Chris and Goyer. The film's storyline takes influence from the story arcs in the Batman comics The Dark Knight Returns, Knightfall and No Man’s Land.

Nolan confirmed the Joker would not return in the third film, and dismissed rumors that he considered using unused footage of Heath Ledger from The Dark Knight. The Dark Knight Rises will reunite Nolan with many of his past collaborators, including Cinematographer Wally Pfister, production designer Nathan Crowley, editor Lee Smith, costume designer Lindy Hemming, special effects supervisors Paul Franklin and Chris Corbould, and composer Hans Zimmer.

Filming
The film has an estimated budget of $250 million. Nolan has elected not to film in 3-D, but has instead stated that he intends to focus on improving image quality and scale using the IMAX format. The Dark Knight Rises will feature more scenes shot in IMAX than The Dark Knight; Nolan's wife and co-producer Emma Thomas stated that the film will have between forty and fifty minutes of footage shot in IMAX (by comparison, The Dark Knight contained thirty minutes), depending on the editing process. Nolan has had several meetings with IMAX Vice-President David Keighley to work on the logistics of projecting films in digital IMAX venues. Wally Pfister had expressed interest in shooting the film entirely in IMAX, but because of the considerable noise made by IMAX cameras, 35mm and 70mm cameras had to be used for shooting the film's dialogue scenes, as dialogue had to be dubbed when shot with IMAX cameras.

Filming was scheduled to start in May and conclude in November 2011. Principal photography commenced on May 6, 2011, in Jodhpur, India at the Mehrangarh Fort before moving to Pittsburgh, where it operated under the working title "Magnus Rex". Shooting locations within the city included Heinz Field, the site of an American football game, with members of the Pittsburgh Steelers playing the Gotham Rogues football team. Filming in Pittsburgh also took place at the Mellon Institute and Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. A letter sent out to residents and business owners detailing road closures revealed that the streets of the city would be featured "as the start of [the] film". 9-1-1 operators were told to expect an increase in calls related to gun shots and explosions in the film's production. The Pittsburgh leg of production wrapped after three weeks on August 21, 2011, before moving on to Los Angeles and New York. In November 2011, shooting shifted to Newark, New Jersey. Newark City Hall and Military Park were among the locations used for filming. Other shooting locations include London and Glasgow, the latter of which was used for "additional exterior filming". Principal photography concluded on November 14, 2011.

Production photos from filming in Pittsburgh showed a second Tumbler chassis after the first was destroyed in The Dark Knight. Further set photos revealed a "new vehicle" being transported to Wabash Tunnel, prompting speculation as to its nature. In June 2011, Autoblog confirmed the presence of the new Lamborghini Aventador on the film set.

Several accidents occurred during the production of the film. While filming at Wollaton Hall, a tractor-trailer crashed into the main entrance, though no one was injured. A stuntman parachutist later crashed through the roof of a home in Cairngorm Gliding Club, Feshiebridge in Scotland, and became wedged there after a failed landing during a skydiving stunt; he was not seriously injured. While filming scenes in Pittsburgh, Hathaway's stunt double crashed into an IMAX camera while filming a sequence that required her to ride a Batpod down a flight of stairs during a riot. There were no injuries, but the camera was destroyed. A second accident took place in Pittsburgh when the truck carrying the new, unidentified vehicle went off-course and crashed into a lighting array, damaging the model of the aircraft. Production was delayed while the model was repaired.

Rumors

 * The Dark Knight Rises/Rumors