"Dark Knight" plans re-release for Oscar push

Thursday September 11 11:35 AM ET

Batman wants an Oscar. To be precise, Warner Bros. wants a statuette -- or 10 -- for "The Dark Knight." So the studio plans to re-release its blockbuster Batman sequel in January, the height of Academy Awards voting season.

"It's just a matter of bringing it back as a reminder for people," a studio insider explained.

Warner Bros. domestic distribution president Dan Fellman acknowledged ongoing talks with Imax execs over the prospect of restoring the Christian Bale starrer to some giant-screen venues in January. It's uncertain if "Dark Knight" also will reappear in conventional venues at that point.

Directed by Christopher Nolan, the film's huge commercial and critical success has spurred talk of possible Oscar nominations for its director, producers and cast -- most specifically Bale's co-star, Health Ledger, for the late actor's edgy performance as the Joker.

To date, "Dark Knight" has rung up about $512 million domestically and $440 million internationally, including more than $55 million in Imax grosses. A pre-Oscars re-release would help assure its topping $1 billion worldwide.

But with the title set to hit DVD in December, it's now apparent anyone hoping the Batman sequel would soar to "Titanic" heights will be disappointed. "Dark Knight" already ranks as the second-highest-grossing movie ever, after "Titanic's" phenomenal $1.84 billion -- a mix of $600.8 million in domestic box office and $1.24 billion in foreign coin registered in 1997 and 1998.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Choke

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In Choke, Victor Mancini (Rockwell) is a sex addict who works as a reenactor of Colonial Times. To support his hospitalized mother (Huston), Victor cons others by intentionally choking at restaurants to get money from his rescuers.

Cast
Sam Rockwell as Victor Mancini
Anjelica Huston as Ida Mancini
Kelly Macdonald as Paige Marshall
Brad William Henke as Denny
Gillian Jacobs as Beth / Cherry Daquiri

Detail Info
Directed by Clark Gregg
Produced by Beau Flynn, Tripp Vinson, Temple Fennell
Written by Clark Gregg
Music by Nathan Larson
Cinematography Joe Klotz
Editing by Kyle Gilman
Distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release date(s) September 26, 2008
Running time 89 min.
Country United States
Language English
Budget $3.4 million

Warner Bros

Warner Brothers, name commonly applied to Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc., an American motion-picture production company, the first to use sequences of synchronized sound in a silent feature film (see Motion Pictures, History of: Sound Films). The founders were four American brothers: Harry M(orris) Warner (1881-1958), Albert Warner (1884-1967), Samuel L(ewis) Warner (1887-1927), and Jack L(eonard) Warner (1892-1978).

The three oldest brothers were born in Poland and the youngest was born in Canada in London, Ontario. By 1903 the Warners had opened a nickelodeon (early movie theater so named for its nickel admission price) in New Castle, Pennsylvania. In 1912 they began to produce films in New York City. They opened their own studio in Hollywood, California, in 1918, and five years later they founded Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.

In the mid-1920s the brothers acquired the Vitagraph Company, which enabled them to distribute their films directly to theaters. In 1926 they formed Vitaphone to develop a sound-on-disk process by which a recording could be played alongside a film and synchronized with it. They first used the Vitaphone system in a feature-length film during several musical numbers in The Jazz Singer (1927), thus revolutionizing the film industry. Their first all-talking picture was Lights of New York (1928). Early in the 1930s the brothers purchased the Stanley Company, owner of 250 theaters, and First National Pictures, which had large studios in Burbank, California.

During Warner Bros.'s first decade, its typical motion picture—often a musical, a gangster film, or a film biography—was characterized by a relatively low budget, extremely fast pacing, and a working-class setting. Later, as success seemed secure, the studio gained more confidence and expertise, earned a firmer reputation, and hired bigger stars. During the 1940s the studio produced an impressive roster of films featuring popular performers. Among the stars developed in the more than 1500 pictures produced at Burbank were James Cagney, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Errol Flynn, Paul Muni, and Humphrey Bogart. Warner Bros. films of this period range from topical melodrama to elaborate musicals, stylish film noir, and large-scale historical epics. The studio's classic films include Little Caesar (1930), Public Enemy (1931), I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932), 42nd Street (1933), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Dark Victory (1939), Casablanca (1942), Life With Father (1947), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), Bonnie and Clyde (1967), and Deliverance (1972). The company is now part of Time Warner Inc.

(source Encarta)

Appaloosa

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Based on the 2005 Western novel by Robert B. Parker, Appaloosa is centered around lawman Virgil Cole (Ed Harris) and his sidekick Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen), two friends who are hired to defend a town from a murderous rancher (Jeremy Irons) in a lawless 1880s town. Their efforts are disrupted and friendship tested by the arrival of an attractive widow (Renée Zellweger), who tries to woo both of them.

Cast
Viggo Mortensen as Everett Hitch
Ed Harris as Virgil Cole
Renée Zellweger as Allie French
Jeremy Irons as Randall Bragg
Lance Henriksen as Ring Shelton
Timothy Spall as Phil Olson
Ariadna Gil as Katie
James Gammon as Earl May

Detail Info
Directed by Ed Harris
Produced by Ed Harris, Robert Knott
Written by Ed Harris, Robert Knott
Music by Jeff Beal
Cinematography Dean Semler
Editing by Kathryn Himoff
Distributed by New Line Cinema
Release date(s)

• September 17, 2008 (limited)
• October 3, 2008 (wide)

Country United States
Language English

External Links
Official Website