The Dark Knight Rises Trailer Drives $43.5 Million Box Office

Batman fans turned out in record force on Thursday night to catch midnight showings of the first official trailer for The Dark Knight Rises. Anticipation is so high to catch a glimpse of Christopher Nolan's third Batman film that rabid comic book fans drove some movie about a little known wizard to a $43.5 million opening box office night. Instead of leaving after watching The Dark Knight Rises trailer, a surprising number stayed around to watch the movie that followed, which led to some wild speculation that some in the audience were actually there to see the boy wizard movie. The $43.5 million box office set a midnight opening record for a movie trailer (and for a movie as well). If you are planning to catch The Dark Knight Rises trailer this weekend, then you might want to stop reading, because spoilers follow. Also, here's an tip, and you might want to write this down if you do plan to catch a showing of the trailer, because the name of the movie that the trailer precedes is a rather long and obscure title. The movie is apparently called Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2. The Dark Knight Rises trailer kicks off with a series of scenes from Batman Begins. Ra's al Ghul (played by Liam Neeson) says, "If you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, then you become something else entirely, a legend, Mr. Wayne, a legend." The titles "Every hero has a journey" and "Every journey has an end" flash across the screen. The scene then cuts to Commissioner Gordon (as played by Gary Oldman) in a hospital bed. Gordon has on an oxygen mask and appears to be knocking on death's door. Gordon gasps something along the lines of, "We were in this together, then you were gone. Now, there is evil rising. The Batman must come back." From offscreen, Bruce Wayne (as played by Christian Bale) says "What if he doesn't exist anymore?" Gordon replies, "He must..he must." The scene then flashes first to Bane (as played by Tom Hardy), then to buildings falling down like in the poster, and finally to Batman. In the ending scene, Bane steps into view with Batman. The final title says, "The epic conclusion to the Dark Knight legend." With the huge opening night, it's possible that The Dark Knight Rises trailer could actually lead the wizard movie to a bigger opening box office weekend then The Dark Knight. Please leave your comments below telling us that people were actually there to see Harry Potter and the The Dark Knight Rises trailer isn't responsible for the huge box office.