A teaser for Dark Knight Rises has been floating around the internet since Friday, but no one can present a good case as to its authenticity.
The claim, when this video was ‘leaked’ on Friday was that it was bootleg filmed in a theater in Italy right before a showing of Green Lantern.
It seems authentic at first glance. The shaky camera effect is reminiscent of the few true bootleg theater recordings I’ve had the displeasure to see, the audience reactions are there, and it is tellingly vague about the upcoming film, which makes sense, since principal photography has only just begun.
It also lines up with rumors we’ve heard earlier concerning the marketing plans for the film, saying the there are plans to start the teasers and building of anticipation much sooner than most other films.
None of that is really proof of the legitimacy of the footage however, and there are those who argue vehemently that it is surely fake. The arguments for that side, however, are just as bad. Of all the sites that claim the footage couldn’t possibly be real, the arguments boil down to these few points:
First, Nolan, they say would never be ‘dumb’ enough to put out a stupid line like “The storm is coming to Gotham.” The problem with that argument is that Not only does Nolan have nothing to do with marketing the film – that’s a whole different department in the studio – it’s not really all that stupid a line; seems pretty typical of early teasers actually.
Second, commenters point to the fact that the teaser is in English while the poster claims to have shot it in Italy. That doesn’t hold up at all, since showing English trailers and teasers in foreign theaters is pretty normal. The world is used to the best movies being in English.
Finally, some point to the footage of the bats being from either Batman Begins or from some education programming – there seems to be some disagreement. Either way, that’s not strange either, reusing stock footage from the first movie in the teaser for the sequel is pretty typical.
While many blogs and other sources are declaring conclusive proof of one side or another, the truth is that no one really knows yet, and unless Warner Bros. steps in with a statement, or we start seeing the teaser for ourselves in American theaters, we can’t know for sure.
