So when the first piece of major viral marketing for the movie was released, the Internet went into meltdown. In keeping with the marketing we have seen previously in Nolan’s Batman series, it was a bit of a game. A website was set-up with the name of The Fire Rises and featured a black page with chanting in the background.
Now, I have no idea how long the team behind this idea were expecting it to take for someone to solve, but it was mere minutes. Some bright spark ran the chanting through a visualiser, which revealed a hashtag, #thefirerises. This lead to a Twitter account called @thefirerises, and a process by which you could use the hashtag to reveal the first image from the forthcoming The Dark Knight Rises. We were treated to our first look at Bane, as played by Tom Hardy, and it was a pretty significant look, showing much of his facial apparatus and costume.
Clever stuff, and no doubt only the first salvo in a viral marketing war to be raged upon the internet community. My problem with these events is the timing. The Dark Knight is released in July 2012 – a full 14 months away. It is obviously important from a studio’s perspective to get people excited for a film, but the problem is, in this case, they are not trying to get people excited for The Dark Knight Rises, they are trying to keep them excited, and this is a level they are going to struggle to sustain.
Think about it. When did the excitement start? For some, it started the minute they walked out of the theatres after watching The Dark Knight. We have of course had Inception since then, so for many others it will have been the announcements of the project, and confirmation that Nolan would be directing it. Then came the casting rumours, the reveal of the movie’s name, and then the first solid casting confirmations. More rumours would follow, then more casting. Character names began to be revealed, and speculation was cut back once the main characters had all been announced. This process took place over the course of a year.
So excitement has been building for a long time. the problem is, once all these details have been confirmed, the long shooting period begins, and with a secretive Director like Nolan, there is very little information to come from the process. So after getting the fans all excited with character and cast information, Warner Bros were rightly concerned that it would all be pointless, as things went pretty quiet for the next 12 months.
To counteract this, we were given our first visual clue from the movie, even though some cast names are even now only just being revealed. To release this kind of marketing so quickly into the movie’s production smacks of desperation. Unfortunately, it gets worse. Rumour has it the first trailer for The Dark Knight Rises will be attached to Warner’s other tent-pole franchise, the final Harry Potter film. A trailer, just 3 months into production? It will obviously be merely a teaser, as there will clearly be precious little footage to cut from, so you have to question what the point is?
There is a danger, in these circumstances, of escalation. You release a picture, then a trailer, and there is still twelve months before the film’s release. What do you offer next? There is no way, after this effort has been expended to keep up audience anticipation that things will go dark, so to speak. So there is a very real danger that more puzzles will be offered, and solved, and more precious information will be released. Now, the internet community is pretty smart, and will jump on every tidbit they can find, to try and extrapolate how what is being revealed fits into the Batman continuity, and subsequently the upcoming film. The marketing wizards may think they are being clever, but there will always be someone more clever on the outside, and there is a real danger of something big slipping out.
In this new age of social networking and millions of blogs, with the best will in the world it is impossible to stay spoiler free. Remember, of course, that Nolan himself is probably against all this information being released, and there is always a possibility that if too much information is gleaned by the public it could be a distraction to Nolan from the task at hand. Nolan is pretty powerful nowadays, but the studios will always believe they know best, and this could give rise to some inner conflicts.
I may, of course, be over analysing it all far too much. Only time will tell what the PR gurus have in store, if anything, for us over the next few months. Fans will see the recently released image and teaser trailer, if there is one, as just reward for their continued interest and commitment, and by no means do I think it isn’t deserved. I just hope the right level of caution is exercised by all involved, as it would be a damn shame if we all go into Christopher Nolan’s final Batman film knowing just that little bit too much.
The filmmaker’s work always involves some twists and turns, making it more of a risk with his pictures than with many others. The biggest laugh of it all is that such intense marketing isn’t even necessary. The Dark Knight broke box office records, and when he Rises he may well break more. I will, of course, try and avoid spoilers as much as possible, and my biggest hope is that The Dark Knight Rises, when it finally does hit our screens, is something truly special to behold.
Bazmann – You can follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/baz_mann
An interesting read – and I understand your worries – but with Nolan’s strategies I personally don’t think it’s as much of a problem as we could be making out. Sure, if you don’t want any spoilers, it’s best to steer clear, but by the very nature of such marketing campaigns they’re deisgned to attract those who are already going out of their way seeking out info and sneak peaks.
I was one of those people during the run-up to The Dark Knight. The first teaser trailer for that (the footageless image of the crumbling batsign with Alfred/Bruce talking over it) was released a full year in advance too. The first Joker close up (found virally), though I think it was a bit later than this Bane one, was also released a while in advance. The first full trailer came just before Xmas 2007 (7 months before the film’s release), and I have suspicions they’ll run to exactly the same timetable here. It didn’t ruin The Dark Knight for me, so I have hopes that it won’t ruin this 🙂
The only thing that may kill it is the standard set by the second film… will anything but sheer operfection be considered a let down? We’ll have to wait and see!
I don’t think there is any need for concerns to be raised, Nolan and his team are now experts at viral marketing (the viral campaign for Dark Knight is in my opinion the most shrewd campaign ever created) So nothing but the most skilled people will be handling it. Expect to be drip fed, its all apart of Nolans craft.
I think Pat’s spot on about this, it is nothing new really.
I also think the effect of these kind of things is often grossly overstated – “…the Internet went into
meltdown”. I appreciate that you probably used that statement in a deliberately hyperbolic way but people genuinely believe this. Of course it didn’t. Most people online last week didn’t even know there was a Dark Knight Rises viral campaign going on, or even what the Dark Kniight Rises is.
I suspect that even the majority of people who watch The
Dark Knight Rises will be unaware of a lot of the marketing. I spoke
to some friends recently and they were surprised to hear that there was going to be another Batman film at all. They all said they’d be going to watch it though.
The bubble that ‘we’ live in is more insular than I think a lot of bloggers etc are willing to acknowledge.
You forget that the first teaser to Super 8 was released at the beginning of of 2010.
Apparently the Bane picture was released exactly 4 years after the first Joker picture was released.
I agree that releasing the picture of Bane early was a mistake… but complaining about the trailer? I think you are forgetting that the first teaser for The Dark Knight was released summer of 2007 around the same time as they are now going to release a teaser for TDK Rises. It was just the Batman logo with some dialogue layered over the top. Im sure thats all we will get from this as well. I can almost guarantee there wont be any actual video footage shown in the trailer.
IN answer of your question….no. Really? These guys are getting desperate? Riiiiiiiiiiight. Not sure where the pulse is, but I know your finger is FAR from it in this case.
To answer the title question, no.
One quick point: you are a retard. This isn’t step it up 12 or another saw, this is batman. They could give away everything and there would still be lines of people days in advance to see this film. So yeah you are a retard
One quick point: you are a retard. This isn’t step it up 12 or another saw, this is batman. They could give away everything and there would still be lines of people days in advance to see this film. So yeah you are a retard
It worked out ok for TDK. I understand that movie did allright.
The timing of TDKR’s marketing campaign is identical to that of TDK so far. The first shot of the Joker was released a full year ahead of TDK’s release – the very same date as the Bane image was revealed, in fact.
Most people aren’t going to pay attention to an online viral campaign, but, for those that do, I’d argue that it creates a sense of involvement with the film like nothing else.
It seems that the start of the viral marketing and the reveal of Bane has created more excitement and will help it gradually build, much like The Dark Knight’s marketing strategy.
The Dark Knight had a great viral campaign that lasted over a year in advance of it’s release. Just wait until the SDCC happens in July. Knowing what happened last time when people dressed up as the Joker in a public place in front the Con, this could get intersting. Why not sit back and enjoy the ride? It’s Batman and the public won’t get tired of the run up to The Dark Knight Rises. In fact, they’ll enjoy it as part of the whole experience. I think you’re way over analysing this stuff or you just need to post something on a topic that has heat.
Wow looking for a reason to write an article about “The Dark Knight Rises” even if it’s a bad one to get page views is low. Every little detail of this movie is in the headlines.
Wow looking for a reason to write an article about “The Dark Knight Rises” even if it’s a bad one to get page views is low. Every little detail of this movie is in the headlines.
Desperate? Id say that sums up your article..desperate for some sort of ride off of TDK… This movie has potential to break that shitfest Avatar for all time best movie.. You have no idea whatsover what you are talking about if you think that releasing the Bane picture early was desperate…Releasing the image of the Joker was MASSIVE..and it made people crave to see the movie.. You have no clue what you are talking about..releasing even small details draws huge crowds for this movie..
Theres pretty much no danger of people losing interest in this movie. I google The Dark Knight Rises literally every time I turn on the internet, it’s almost like an addiction. Even if the filming took another two years I’d still be pumped for it. Everything you’re saying about marketing would probably make sense if we were talking about anything besides Batman.
I think it is genius how they market the Batman movies and this article was a waste of time to write.
its been in production since the beginning of march. when the teaser comes out, it will already have three months of FILMING complete, not production. lots of footage to go on. like theyve said, same timeline as TDK
its been in production since the beginning of march. when the teaser comes out, it will already have three months of FILMING complete, not production. lots of footage to go on. like theyve said, same timeline as TDK
Well, you know, viral marketing seemed to have worked for TDK.
Well, you know, viral marketing seemed to have worked for TDK.
I don’t believe that the TDKR viral marketing will meet the scope of the TDK viral marketing campaign, and they did an exceptional job in 2007/2008 (also 14 months) keeping us hardcore fans excited and providing us with background information without spoiling the movie too much. But then again, if you were aware of what WB and 42Entertainment did with TDK, it wouldn’t have even occurred to you to write this article. 😉 If you need background, visit http://www.whysoseriousredux.com/ or
The only bad result I could see is if we spend all the time/effort following an intricate viral marketing game, and the movie sucks. Luckily it didn’t happen for TDK!
how was it a bad idea? many fans are pumped. And regardless of what they give us the movie is going to do amazingly well, and make a load of money still. You obviously don’t kno batman fans. we fiend for this shit. and nolan knows that. little by little he gives us what we want.
how was it a bad idea? many fans are pumped. And regardless of what they give us the movie is going to do amazingly well, and make a load of money still. You obviously don’t kno batman fans. we fiend for this shit. and nolan knows that. little by little he gives us what we want.
Wow. Did u miss the dark knight marketing campaign which lasted until about a week before the release on July 16th? It was insane and added so much to the movies backstory and mythology. This article made zero sense. Did u miss the Gotham times or the Harvey dent campaign or the comcast Gotham tonight episodes? I think the marketing team can outlast us the fans for way longer than they even have to. They clearly have no shortage of ideas.
If movie is great, spoiling info on plot is not going to matter. I saw Dark Knight 6 times in IMAX and it was fantastic each time. Spoiling the film is not going to stop me from basking in the exhilarating event of a Nolan-made, Batman film.
Well the viral marketing for The Dark Knight, which started a year in advance worked pretty well. They are creating such a buzz by revealing so very little. It’s very clever marketing.
indeed, i fully agree, people don’t know Batman.
same here dude!
It’s clear this article was written to garner attention for your site and you’ve done that. Congratulations to you.
But if you remember the first six minutes of The Dark Knight were released a full 12 months before it opened. This is why WB are making a viral campaign – because it worked before, it will work again.
This is the most eagerly awaited movie for many years and fans actually WANT the viral marketing to keep them happy until the movie’s release.
Poor article. Poor writing.
“Think about it. When did the excitement start? For some, it started the
minute they walked out of the theatres after watching The Dark Knight.”
I’ll tell you when the excitement started for most of us… practically a year earlier when TDK’s viral started. So it’s nothing new that someone was able to solve this so quickly… We’ve been doing this a long time. Also, We’ve been waiting for this! I say bring us more. We Are Ready!
“Think about it. When did the excitement start? For some, it started the
minute they walked out of the theatres after watching The Dark Knight.”
I’ll tell you when the excitement started for most of us… practically a year earlier when TDK’s viral started. So it’s nothing new that someone was able to solve this so quickly… We’ve been doing this a long time. Also, We’ve been waiting for this! I say bring us more. We Are Ready!
God this article was a waste of time
You fail to realize that they are following te exact same timeline of The Dark Knight. Nothing secret was given away then. And look what happened with that film.
There is a very good reason why images of characters are being officially released so early: because its only a matter of time before unofficial amateur set pictures find their way onto the internet. The first image of the Joker was actually a crappy set photo that didn’t look very good. WB are clearly in the game of pre-empting that this time around, and wisely so.
I think the marketting will definately wwork..Previously for Inception as well the first look or Teaser was released with the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen…i.e., an year ago…so wha’t the big deal if they release a teaser for TDKR with HP7-2??
I think this is what people mean when they say that people confuse opinion writing with journalism. It wouldnt’ hurt you to research a topic before writing such a long article on it.
When the Dark Knight’s viral marketing campaign began, the purpose (and the function of it) was to distract people from trying to get spoilers about the film. Story lines, plot twists, characters, and activities were introduced that the movie barely touched on. All of us crazy fanboys who needed to spend energy uncovering something were able to focus on that and virtually no one (that I know of, despite my rabid interest in the films) went into the theater even remotely spoiled for the plot twists and intense story that Nolan produced.
Please research, do not speculate, whether Christopher Nolan has creative control over the marketing of his film. It’s ignorant to say he releases virtually no information about his movies when we went into the Dark Knight knowing more about the world it emerged from, the mythology, the characters with only 5 minutes of screen time, and the philosophy of villains and heroes than any other movie I (or probably you) can think of.
I can’t say it will be the same for TDKR. I hope it will be, because the experience was Very rewarding. I just don’t like to see people spew irrational bs all over the internet.
Thanks for that, funny shit. I got no insight or so clever point to make. Just think it funny that this many people have opinions about this topic. But you and your 500 words telling the writer that his 500 words were pointly is by far the most funny. Rock on you crazy bastard.
Thanks for that, funny shit. I got no insight or so clever point to make. Just think it funny that this many people have opinions about this topic. But you and your 500 words telling the writer that his 500 words were pointly is by far the most funny. Rock on you crazy bastard.