Is there pressure coming up with another Batman movie, especially when the last one set the bar incredibly high? What do you think? Of course there’s pressure!
Try imagining having to follow up the last Batman, with Warner Brothers expecting another huge billion dollar blockbuster, and geeks everywhere standing with their arms crossed, saying, “Go ahead, impress me.”
In fact, the cast members of The Dark Knight Rises, due in theaters July 20, recently told the L.A. Times they are indeed feeling the pressure of following up the last one. Don’t forget this is the last of the series that will be directed by Chris Nolan, and the final Batman movie starring Christian Bale.
Bale told the Times, “In terms of box office, I don’t feel any pressure. I never saw Batman and Bruce Wayne as a big tent pole. It was just another character I love playing. But I do feel a creative pressure. It would be wrong if I didn’t feel that.”
Movie sequels can be like marriage in that when you get up into your third and fourth, you’re pushing your luck, but Gary Oldman also told the Times that the fans shouldn’t worry. “Chris [Nolan] is too classy to make a movie for the sake of doing a third one. It’s a terrific story, and it’s going to be epic.”
There’s pressure on the geek community too, of course, in that we’re all going to be on serious pins and needles before the word gets out the pic’s a winner and we can all breathe easier.
Oldman joked, “I think it’s already won a prize for most anticipated film or something,” but hopefully the six minute prologue that’s going to hit theaters on December 16 in certain Imax showings of Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol will live up to geek expectations.
Remember, the last Nolan Batman blew the first one out the door, and if three caps off the trilogy in fine style, the director will have geek loyalty for the rest of his life.
