Generational word-of-mouth fueling Dark Knight
Before seeing The Dark Knight, I asked my 29 and 30 yr. old film-mates if they thought the incredible domestic take ($395 million after only three weekends of release) was largely fueled by Heath Ledger’s sudden passing from a prescription-drug overdose while filming the movie. You know, the James Dean/Janis Joplin “die young, die legendary” phenomena we’ve seen before. They didn’t think so; they thought this latest Batman flick installment was something more, a cultural phenomenon of sorts.
They were right. My first clue was the line to get in; for a 10 p.m. mid-week performance, the place was sold out. 500 IMAX seats filled, with plenty of folks turned away.
Most movies die a quick death after one or two weeks; a handful top the $200 million gross mark. But this one is massive. The Dark Knight needs another $200 million to tie the Titanic’s epic record $600 million domestic take. That’s a lofty goal; I bet it’s good for another $100 million. That would make it the # 2 movie of all time, measured by domestic gross. To put this in perspective, Star Wars at $461 million is the current runner-up.
The thing is, this movie isn’t bulletproof. The voice Christian Bale uses as the Caped Crusader sounds curiously ludicrous. The introduction of Two-Face toward the end of the film de-focused a tight, compelling story.
I had heard so much about Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker, I sat down with low expectations. But for once, the hype was justified. Ledger tackled a near hackneyed role (from Cesar Romero to Jack Nicholson) and made it his own. Arguably, he has created the most intense, fearless movie villain since Hannibal Lecter. He deserves a lip-smacking Oscar nod.
This baby has amazing word-of-mouth buzz going for it. Irfan Kamal’s post was interesting: he measured the movie’s word-of-mouth volume index using blogpulse and found it was off-the-charts three days prior to its release.
Here’s another barometer: when’s the last time a major summer motion picture centered on a comic book hero got a 94 percent “tomatometer” rating from Rotten Tomato? 235 critics out of 235 give it a favorable rating.
In the movie the Joker says, “Tonight, you are all going to be part of a social experiment.” That’s what this movie feels like to me. It’s bigger than Ledger’s nut job performance, cool gadgets and mesmerizing special effects. The Dark Knight is a Malcolm Gladwellian, critical mass, contagious, generational, societal thing.
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