Titan Books has announced that it will be publishing an adaptation of Warner Bros. upcoming Batman trilogy conclusion, The Dark Knight Rises.
The book is written by award-winning adaptation author Greg Cox, who is responsible for many other novelizations of comicbook, film, and television properties – including Final Crisis, Terminator: Salvation, Star Trek, Underworld, CSI, and Warehouse 13.
“Batman is one of the most iconic characters of popular culture,” Titan rep Nick explained. “We’re tremendously excited to work with Warner Bros. on the novelization of ‘The Dark Knight Rises,’ especially since it is the culmination of everything Christopher Nolan has done with his amazing trilogy. This is a part of motion picture history.”
Who the audience is for this is a mystery to me. I’d think that if they wanted a tie-in novel, it would be of the graphic variety, but a straight-up Batman novel actually sounds kind of boring. Batman is a visual story, and translating that into pure text seems difficult, arduous, and entirely unnecessary.
Of course, they had novelizations out for the other two Nolan Batman films as well, and those sold well, despite not being particularly good, though that could be because they released the books before the films came out, and many buyers just got them to spoil the film for themselves. This one, however, isn’t being released until the day of the film’s release, so that appeal may not be there to sustain the novel.
It’s a different author from those first two novels, however. They were written by Dennis O’Neil, a Batman comics writer. Perhaps a veteran adaptation writer will deliver a better book.
The synopsis for the film is thus:
Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ “The Dark Knight Rises” is the epic conclusion to filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, Leading an all-star international cast, Oscar winner Christian Bale (“The Fighter”) again plays the dual role of Bruce Wayne/Batman. The film also stars Anne Hathaway, as Selina Kyle; Tom Hardy, as Bane; Oscar winner Marion Cotillard (“La Vie en Rose”), as Miranda Tate; and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as John Blake. Returning to the main cast, Oscar winner Michael Caine (“The Cider House Rules”) plays Alfred; Gary Oldman is Commissioner Gordon; and Oscar winner Morgan Freeman (“Million Dollar Baby”) reprises the role of Lucius Fox. The screenplay is written by Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan, story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer. The film is produced by Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan and Charles Roven, who previously teamed on “Batman Begins” and the record-breaking blockbuster “The Dark Knight.” The executive producers are Benjamin Melniker, Michael E. Uslan, Kevin De La Noy and Thomas Tull, with Jordan Goldberg serving as co-producer. The film is based upon characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by Bob Kane.
The Dark Knight Rises, the novel and film, will be released on July 20th, 2012.
