What to know
The Dark Knight is the sequel to Batman Begins (2005). Christopher Nolan wrote the screenplay with his brother Jonathan and developed the story with David S. Goyer, the co-writer of the first film; the writers drew on 1980s Batman comics and crime dramas. Syncopy is credited as the production company, with Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures as co-financiers and co-producers.
Filming ran from April to November 2007, mostly in Chicago (under the cover title Rory’s First Kiss), as well as in Hong Kong and on sets in England, including a hangar at Cardington and Battersea Power Station in London. It was the first major motion picture to be partly filmed with high-resolution IMAX cameras. Nolan used computer-generated imagery only where necessary, so the flipping of an 18-wheel truck and the destruction of a factory were done for real.
Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard returned to write the score. Heath Ledger died on 22 January 2008, six months before the release, and the film is dedicated to his memory. It opened in Ukraine on 14 August 2008, dubbed by Adioz production. The criticism of its missing Best Picture nomination was such that from 2010 the Academy raised the number of Best Picture nominees from five to ten. The trilogy ends with The Dark Knight Rises (2012).
