Of all the nerdy bits and bobs surrounding “The Dark Knight Rises” over the past weeks and months, this is actually pretty exciting, though at this point, not officially confirmed. That said, according to sources at /Film, ticket holders for “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” will be in for a treat in December, as a six-minute preview/prologue/sequence/something from “The Dark Knight Rises” will apparently unspool before the movie starts. If it sounds too good to be true, it’s not without precedent.
As you might remember, Christopher Nolan and co. put the opening bank heist as well as a montage of other scenes in front of “I Am Legend” in 2007 (the preview was also included in the re-issue of “Batman Begins” on DVD). Moreover, Nolan is using IMAX much more extensively with “The Dark Knight Rises” than he did for “The Dark Knight,” and with ‘Ghost Protocol’ also touting some big sequences in the large scale format, it seems like a perfect marketing marriage, and a way to get even more serious buzz on the film. If we had one minor doubt about all this, it seems odd that Warner Bros. would put a preview on a competing studio’s film, when they have their “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Adventure” arriving on December 16th, the same day ‘Ghost Protocol’ begins a limited IMAX run before going wide. Not only is ‘Sherlock’ a WB movie, it’s also from Legendary Pictures who are behind Nolan’s Batman films as well. It seems strange that the studio’s marketing team will be pushing fanboys to a Paramount movie instead, IMAX or not.
So we guess we’ll see how this all plays out, and if it’s a rumor gone wild or something real. Warner Bros. has remained mum so far and we don’t expect they’ll say anything one way or another. When Sony decided to drop an eight-minute “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” preview in front of “Straw Dogs,” they did not make a big fuss about it and the peek was mostly heard about via word of mouth. So we’ll just have to wait and see, but if it’s indeed true, it looks like the real mission: impossible will be getting tickets for those IMAX screenings.
The rationale behind the decision is solely to increase the number of people who will eventually decide to see Dark Knight Rises on an IMAX screen rather than a regular one. This isn\’t for the sake of IMAX; it\’s simply to make the extra revenue from inflated IMAX prices. If Warners was putting the six minute sneak in front of every print of M:I, you\’d be right to wonder what they\’re doing. But they\’re simply hoping that those who catch M:I on IMAX will decide, after watching both, that IMAX is the only or the premiere place to see DKR. And that they will tell their friends and family the same thing.
THANK YOU! Other than the piece I wrote, you are the only person that has commented on the absurdity of this. If this turns out to be true, it means that Warner Bros is basically sabotaging the opening weekend of one of their only remaining franchises (Sherlock Holmes) and propping up one of Paramount\’s remaining franchises (Mission: Impossible) in order to hype a movie that arguably needs next-to-no promotion outside the usual \’when is it coming out?\’. Is this true? I don\’t know. Will I be shocked if it turns out to be the case? Absolutely. This doesn\’t benefit anyone at Warner Bros and the only plausible reason would be something involving their relationship with IMAX.