Legend Gives 6-minutes to Dark Knight

Written by: Michael Hickerson (SoSF Staff Journalist)

Still wondering if you should spend the extra money to see “I Am Legend” on the IMAX screen?

Warner Brothers is offering an incentive beyond a sixty-foot tall Will Smith. Fans who check out the new adaptation of Richard Matheson’s classic story on the IMAX screen will get another bonus–a preview of the first six minutes of next year’s “Dark Knight.”

“Dark Knight” is the highly-anticipated follow-up to the successful “Batman Begins” and will feature Batman taking on his most famous nemesis, the Joker.

The footage, which was previewed Tuesday evening at invitation-only event at Los Angeles’ Universal City’s IMAX theater, is one of five sequences specially filmed to take advantage of IMAX technology. According to reports in the Los Angeles Times, the footage features a much-anticipated look at Heath Ledger’s take on the Joker.

“Heath’s Joker is like none we’ve seen before, but it’s also very true to the iconography of this character,” director Christopher Nolan said. “His work is very compelling, and it’s not easy to describe what Heath has accomplished with it . . . we don’t know much about the Joker’s past. He is more interesting in the present, I think . . . he’s relentless, he tears through the movie like the shark in ‘Jaws.’ ”

According to reports, “Dark Knight” will differ from Tim Burton’s original “Batman” in that we’ll see the Joker arrive on the scene as a full-time villain with a mysterious background. The film will not spend time setting up and creating the Joker character, unlike Burton’s take in the late 80s.

Fans can get a look at this footage starting Friday when “I Am Legend” opens in theaters.