Batman fans flock to midnight showings of 'The Dark Knight Rises'

For Stephen Rudd, seeing back-to-back screenings of 2005’s “Batman Begins” and 2008’s “The Dark Knight” at the Emagine Novi on Thursday was the only way to prepare for the eagerly awaited midnight opening of “The Dark Knight Rises,” the third and final chapter in director Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster trilogy of Batman movies.
“Batman is the best superhero ever,” said the 18-year-old South Lyon resident, who showed up at the concessions counter in a Batman cape and mask during a brief break between the two films.
“I love the action but also the way everything is so philosophical. There’s meaning in every line.”
For weeks, the buzz about “The Dark Knight Rises,” starring Christian Bale at Batman/Bruce Wayne and Anne Hathaway as cat burglar Selina Kyle, has been electric.
This time out, the Caped Crusader squares off against the villainous Bane (Tom Hardy), a bald-headed, mask-wearing warlord who holds Gotham City hostage with a nuclear bomb.

At the AMC theater in Livonia, Batman fans Kate Bonk, 24, of Livonia (left) and Alex Steinke, 18, are the first persons in line Thursday, July 19, 2012, for the premiere of the latest Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises. As they say on their sign they arrived at 9 a.m. for the midnight (and first) showing of the movie. / Eric Seals/DFP

The movie is expected to make $185 million to $195 million on its opening weekend, breaking the record for a 2D release set four years ago by “The Dark Knight.” As of Wednesday, “The Dark Knight Rises” already had grossed an estimated $25 million in advance ticket sales. Fans all over metro Detroit were taking part in the excitement.
The folks who began arriving at 4:30 p.m. for the midnight screening at the Henry Ford IMAX theater in Dearborn weren't in line for tickets. They have had those since June 11, when all 440 seats were snapped up within 27 minutes.
"I'm here for the best possible seat," said Farmington-based Sean Young, 19, who was first in line with seven friends. "I like the way he re-imagined Batman to make him more realistic, more mainstream. He's not just for comic book lovers anymore."
Young and his friends were typical of the crowd that wound through the Henry Ford lobby, but they were far from the most flamboyant. Among the mostly college-age movie fans hunched over iPhones, four sported the familiar black bat cape and mask. One donned the gruesome makeup of Two-Face. Another was dressed as Bane.
All would tell you that it would have been a lot easier to see the movie at their multiplex. Indeed, like many suburban Detroit theaters, Emagine Novi was showing “The Dark Knight Rises” on all 18 of its screens. An Emagine spokesman said that as of 7:30 Thursday, 2,342 tickets had been sold for the midnight screenings.
But many of the biggest diehards were at the Henry Ford, the most sizable of the handful of Detroit-area theaters equipped with large-format IMAX projectors and screens.
With its 62-by-85-foot screen and booming surround sound, it has become the theater of choice for hard-core fans of blockbusters like "The Dark Knight Rises" and its predecessors. Demand was so great for the Henry Ford’s midnight show that a more recently added 3:15 a.m. screening also sold out.
As with 2008's "The Dark Knight," Nolan has took great care in composing the movie to fit the massive IMAX screen. Many of the key scenes were filmed in IMAX, an unusual approach for a Hollywood blockbuster.
"Christopher Nolan shot the movie with IMAX cameras, so I wanted to make sure to see it here," said Matthew Layne, attending the midnight show with his father Kenny Layne, 56. The tickets were a Father's Day gift.

At the AMC theater in Livonia, Batman fans (l-r) Jack Mastantuono, 18, of Northvile; Angela Alvarez, 18, of Novi, dressed as Bane; and Molly Reitman, 17, dressed as Catwoman, gather for a portrait before going in at 4:30pm to get good seats for the start at 6pm of the Dark Knight trilogy (all three Batman movies), culminating in the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises. / Eric Seals/DFP

Kenny Layne confessed to getting Matthew hooked on Batman by showing him the 1960s TV show and movie starring Adam West. And while both are fond of the Tim Burton-directed "Batman" movies, they recognize something special in Nolan's approach to the iconic comic book crime fighter.
"I always saw Batman as a loner and appreciated his dark side," says Kenny. "I think Nolan captures that."

We’ll be talking all things “The Dark Knight Rises” in a live chat at Friday at noon.
Sharing their Bat-expertise and thoughts on the film will be Chris Marshall (creator of the Collected Comics Library podcast and blog), Rob Allstetter (longtime comics journalist and producer of the “Comics Continuum” TV show and website) and Free Press movie writer Julie Hinds.