This film wouldn't have made as much money as it did if Heath Ledger hadn't have died. Now don't take this the wrong way. I respected Ledger and felt grief for his death and his family; I also loved The Dark Knight and am glad it broke a billion dollars. But what if Ledger was still alive?
I mean, once Ledger died, the media was swarming and hype was building up for Ledger's last film (though it actually wasn't his last). This got people's attention. Now don't get me wrong, TDK still would've made a whole lotta money, but I just don't think it would've broken a billion dollars like it did. Ledger still would have gotten universal praise for his performance and everything, but I just can't get over the fact that his death is what put TDK in the top 5 worldwide.
Look at Batman Begins, it made $375,000,000 worldwide. Compared to TDK's one billion, that's a small number. I'm sure it would've made way more than that, just not as much as it did.
Thoughts?
BTW, in case you were wondering about my statement: "though it actually wasn't his last." Ledgers last film was The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus where he died in the middle of filming. For those who didn't know.
BTW, in case you were wondering about my statement: "though it actually wasn't his last." Ledgers last film was The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus where he died in the middle of filming. For those who didn't know.
I'm utterly speechless.
No, wait, I'm not. Everyone knows TDK wasn't Heath's last film. We're not that pathetically ignorant over here and I'm beyond insulted that you would think so. I'm a pretty huge Heath fan and I know I'm not alone there so please don't insult us with such condescending shit.
And as for the rest of this post...everytime this comes up I just want to know what point you think you are making here. It would've been a massive hit no matter what happened and that's the bottom line. The rest is numbers and, really, unless you've got access to some alternate dimension where everything turned out differently, then neither you nor anyone else who spews this 'the film would've have been as success is he hadn't died' idiocy know any better than the rest of us. It could've made more money for all we know.
but I just can't get over the fact that his death is what put TDK in the top 5 worldwide.
BTW, in case you were wondering about my statement: "though it actually wasn't his last." Ledgers last film was The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus where he died in the middle of filming. For those who didn't know.
I'm utterly speechless.
No, wait, I'm not. Everyone knows TDK wasn't Heath's last film. We're not that pathetically ignorant over here and I'm beyond insulted that you would think so. I'm a pretty huge Heath fan and I know I'm not alone there so please don't insult us with such condescending shit.
And as for the rest of this post...everytime this comes up I just want to know what point you think you are making here. It would've been a massive hit no matter what happened and that's the bottom line. The rest is numbers and, really, unless you've got access to some alternate dimension where everything turned out differently, then neither you nor anyone else who spews this 'the film would've have been as success is he hadn't died' idiocy know any better than the rest of us. It could've made more money for all we know.
but I just can't get over the fact that his death is what put TDK in the top 5 worldwide.
As I read the replies, I decided to read your post again and to take this thread more seriously.
MrG wrote: I mean, once Ledger died, the media was swarming and hype was building up for Ledger's last film (though it actually wasn't his last). This got people's attention.
Hype? o_O It wasn't hype, it was what TDK deserved. Movie satisfied the expectations very well.
True, Ledger's death had caught media's attention, however most had already been done by the viral marketing for TDK long before his death. Another part of the marketing was Dentmobil travelling around the States. Also Nolan's successful reboot of the franchise with Batman Begins made TDK one of the most anticipated movies.
Also keep in mind that record breaker movies are the ones which auidence choose to see more than once. I've seen TDK 3 times in theatre and couldn't wait for its DVD release, not because of Ledger's death but as chee mentioned because of his portrayal of the Joker.
Even before Ledger's death the Dark Knight was the most anticipated movie of the year. Yes more people became aware of the film because of Death's death, but for the most part the interest and hype around his death had died off by the time the film came out. It may have had a small effect, but everyone I know saw it because it was the next Batman and because The Joker was awesome in it.
After what Batman & Robin did to the franchise, Begins still did an impressive number slowly but surely gaining the trust back from audiences everywhere.
Literally months after Begins came out the DVD sales skyrocketed in anticipation for the next film. Even before a snippet of Ledger was shown, yahoo searches had 'Batman 2' or 'The Dark Knight' all over it and rumors were crazy during the filming of The Prestige just like it was for Inception. It's completely asinine to think that only Ledger's death put TDK to where its success was on the box office charts. When that first official trailer in Dec of 2007 came out everyone on the internet was going ape-s over it with excitement.
