Box office
Hours before the midnight release of the film, several box-office analysts suggested as much as a $198 million domestic opening weekend.[198][199][200] However, in the wake of the mass shooting during a midnight screening of the film, Warner Bros. decided to not report further box-office figures for the movie until Monday, July 23, 2012.[201][202] As a result, other distributors also delayed the release of their official estimates as well.[203] The shooting is also speculated to have hurt the ticket sales as E! Online reported that a North Carolina audience member had stated that "this theater was kinda empty".[204] Some reports released on July 21, 2012, said that rival studios estimated that the film grossed $75 million to $77 million on its opening day.[205][206][207] Warner Bros. shortly after released a statement to ABC News stating that they delayed the release of their estimates for the opening day total of the film "out of respect for the victims and their families," and added "Warner Bros. Pictures will not be reporting box office numbers for The Dark Knight Rises throughout the weekend. Box office numbers will be released on Monday."[208]
The Dark Knight Rises earned $448.1 million in North America, and $632.9 million in other countries, summing up to a worldwide total of $1.081 billion.[4] Worldwide, it became the seventh-highest-grossing film of all time[209] and the third-highest-grossing film of 2012.[210] It had a worldwide opening weekend of $248.9 million.[211] The film set a worldwide IMAX opening-weekend record with $23.8 million (overtaken by Avengers: Age of Ultron)[212][213] and also broke the record for the fastest movie to make over $50 million in IMAX theatres. IMAX CEO Richard L. Gelfond explained this by claiming, "Audiences are clearly seeking out and embracing the film the way it was meant to be seen – in IMAX."[214] On the 2012 Labor Day weekend, it became the third film distributed by Warner Bros. and the thirteenth film in cinematic history to cross the $1 billion mark.[215] The film also became the second movie (after Avatar) to reach $100 million in worldwide IMAX grosses.[216]
North America
The Dark Knight Rises opened on Friday, July 20, 2012. It earned an estimated $30.6 million in midnight showings, which was the second-highest midnight gross behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 ($43.5 million).[217][218] It did, however, set an IMAX midnight-gross record with $2.3 million (overtaken by Avengers: Age of Ultron).[219][220] The film made $75.8 million during its opening day, achieving, at the time, the third-highest single and opening day tally of all time.[221] On July 23, 2012, it was announced that the film grossed $160.9 million for its debut weekend, which was the third-highest opening weekend ever, at the time, behind Marvel's The Avengers ($207.4 million) and Deathly Hallows – Part 2 ($169.2 million).[222] However, it did set an opening-weekend record for a 2D film (previously held by The Dark Knight)[223] and an IMAX opening-weekend record with $19.0 million (previously held by Marvel's The Avengers).[224] The film also held the top spot at the box office for its second and third weekends.[225][226] In North America, it is the thirteenth-highest-grossing film,[227] the third-highest-grossing 2012 film,[228] as well as the sixth-highest-grossing superhero film and film based on comics.[229][230] Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold more than 55 million tickets in the US.[231]
Other territories
Outside North America, the film opened with $88.0 million from 7,173 theaters in just 17 markets.[232] It was in first place at the box office outside North America for four consecutive weekends.[233][234] Its three largest markets are the UK, Ireland and Malta ($90.3 million), where it is the highest-grossing superhero film,[235] China ($52.8 million) and Australia ($44.2 million).[236]
Critical response
The Dark Knight Rises received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics.[237][238][239] In a Metacritic review of year-end lists from 133 critics, 17 placed the film in their top ten.[240] Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave The Dark Knight Rises an approval rating of 87% based on 375 reviews, and a rating average of 8/10. The web site's critical consensus reads, "The Dark Knight Rises is an ambitious, thoughtful, and potent action film that concludes Christopher Nolan's franchise in spectacular fashion."[241] Metacritic, another review aggregator, assigned the film a weighted average score of 78 out of 100, based on 45 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[242] CinemaScore reported that audiences gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[243]
Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph granted the film a maximum score of five stars, stating that it is "a superhero film without a superhero" and praising Hardy's performance as well as the film's intricate plot and narrative.[244] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times thought the film was "potent, persuasive and hypnotic" and that it was "more than an exceptional superhero movie, it is masterful filmmaking by any standard."[245] Phil Villarreal from OK! Magazine gave the film a rating of 1.5 out of 4, saying "It's this series' version of The Matrix Revolutions, The Godfather Part III or Caddyshack 2."[246] The Playlists Todd Gilchrist wrote "A cinematic, cultural and personal triumph, The Dark Knight Rises is emotionally inspiring, aesthetically significant and critically important for America itself – as a mirror of both sober reflection and resilient hope."[247] IGN gave it a 9 out of 10, noting similarities in tone and theme to Batman Begins over the trilogy's second installment, The Dark Knight, but also describing Bane as "that bit less interesting to watch" than Ledger's Joker, despite praising his "menacing voice" and "body language-driven performance".[248]
Film critic Richard Roeper gave the film an "A", calling it "a majestic, gorgeous, brutal and richly satisfying epic", and citing the final scenes of the picture as "the best five minutes of any film this year."[249] The London Film Review gave the film a B and said "Nolan's film is a reminder that superheroes aren't merely a frivolous distraction, but an embodiment of our best selves."[250]
The Guardian scored the film four out of five stars, calling it a film of "granite, monolithic intensity", yet also calling it a "hammy, portentous affair".[251] Andrew O'Hehir of Salon writes "if The Dark Knight Rises is a fascist film, it's a great fascist film, and arguably the biggest, darkest, most thrilling and disturbing and utterly balls-out spectacle ever created for the screen".[252] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars, stating "the film begins slowly with a murky plot and too many new characters, but builds to a sensational climax."[253]
It was selected for the American Film Institute's top 10 films of 2012.[254]
CNN's Tom Charity said the film was a "disappointingly clunky and bombastic conclusion to a superior series" and called it Nolan's worst film.[255] Anthony Lane of The New Yorker says that the "story is dense, overlong, and studded with references that will make sense only to those intimate with Nolan's previous excursions into Batmanhood".[256] In reaction to fan backlash to some of the negative reviews, Rotten Tomatoes chose to disable user commentary for the film leading up to its release.[257] Some fans had threatened violence against critics while others threatened to take down the websites of movie critics who had given the film a negative review.[258]
Outside of the positive critical and audience reception that The Dark Knight Rises has received upon release, some retrospective have been positive[259][260] and some reviews have been mixed or negative.[261][262][263]
Analysis
Writing in Salon, David Sirota, a progressive political commentator,[264] compared The Dark Knight Rises and the game Call of Duty to 1980s popular culture reflecting the political period of the time, accusing them of perpetuating a conservative agenda: "Just as so many 1980s pop culture products reflected the spirit of the Reagan Revolution's conservative backlash, we are now seeing two blockbuster, genre-shaping products not-so-subtly reflect the Tea Party's rhetorical backlash to the powerful Occupy Wall Street zeitgeist."[265] An article in Variety reported Chuck Dixon, the cocreator of the Bane character, as saying that Bane is "far more akin to an Occupy Wall Street type if you're looking to cast him politically."[266]
Catherine Shoard of the center-left[267] British publication The Guardian said the film "is a quite audaciously capitalist vision, radically conservative, radically vigilante, that advances a serious, stirring proposal that the wish-fulfilment of the wealthy is to be championed if they say they want to do good."[268] In contrast, liberal commentator Jonathan Chait opined in New York that "What passes for a right-wing movie these days is The Dark Knight Rises, which submits the rather modest premise that, irritating though the rich may be, actually killing them and taking all their stuff might be excessive."[269] Writing in USA Today, Bryan Alexander called Bane "the ultimate occupier" and reported that Christian Bale was amazed that the script had "foreseen" the Occupy movement.[270]
Nolan has denied that the film criticizes the Occupy movement, and insists that none of his Batman films are intended to be political: "I've had as many conversations with people who have seen the film the other way round. We throw a lot of things against the wall to see if it sticks. We put a lot of interesting questions in the air, but that's simply a backdrop for the story. What we're really trying to do is show the cracks of society, show the conflicts that somebody would try to wedge open. We're going to get wildly different interpretations of what the film is supporting and not supporting, but it's not doing any of those things. It's just telling a story. If you're saying, 'Have you made a film that's supposed to be criticizing the Occupy Wall Street movement?' – well, obviously, that's not true."[271]
Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek pointed out that the film was inspired by the French Revolution as portrayed by novelist Charles Dickens.[272]
Internet meme
In 2011, Aidan Gillen's character in the film, CIA operative Bill Wilson, became the subject of an Internet meme popular among 4chan users known as "Baneposting", which references the dialogue between Wilson and Bane in the film's opening plane scene.[273][274][275]
Accolades
The film received numerous accolades, including a nomination for Special Visual Effects at the British Academy Film Awards,[276] four nominations at the Critics' Choice Awards,[277] two Satellite Awards,[278] five Saturn Awards (winning one),[279][280] and a Grammy Award.[281] It also received nominations for five Teen Choice Awards (winning one),[282][283][284] six MTV Movie Awards[285] and a Kids Choice Award.[286] It was named one of the top 10 films of 2012 by the American Film Institute.
