The Dark Knight Trilogy

The Dark Knight Series is a set of three Christopher Nolan Batman movies.^[1] It includes Batman Begins (2005),^[2] The Dark Knight (2008), and The Dark Knight Rises (2012).^[3] Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, and Cillian Murphy appeared in all three movies.

Background

All cast and crew members worked on all three movies, except for music composer James Newton Howard who did not work on The Dark Knight Rises. Composer Hans Zimmer worked together with Howard on the first two films and made the soundtrack for the last movie by himself. Katie Holmes played Rachel Dawes in Batman Begins, but was replaced by Maggie Gyllenhaal in The Dark Knight. Liam Neeson appeared as Ra's al Ghul in Batman Begins and in The Dark Knight Rises.

Heath Ledger received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as The Joker in The Dark Knight. Ledger died before the movie was released and the award was given posthumously.

Each of the three movies was a success in the box office; The Dark Knight was the number one grossing movie in 2008.^[4] The Dark Knight Rises is the third highest grossing movie of 2012. Batman Begins is the ninth highest grossing movie in 2005. Batman Begins earned $372,710,015 worldwide. The Dark Knight earned $1,023,045,358. The Dark Knight Rises earned $1,081,041,287, passing the receipts of The Dark Knight.

In both Batman Begins and in The Dark Knight, Gotham City was shot in Chicago, Illinois. In The Dark Knight Rises, Gotham City was shot in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, New York City, New York, and Los Angeles, California.

Cast

• Christian Bale^[1] as Batman
• Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth
• Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon
• Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox
• Katie Holmes (Batman Begins) and Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Dark Knight) as Rachel Dawes
• Liam Neeson as Ra's al Ghul
• Heath Ledger^[1] as Joker
• Tom Hardy^[1] as Bane
• Anne Hathaway as Catwoman
• Marion Cotillard as Talia al Ghul
• Aaron Eckhart^[1] as Harvey Dent/Two-Face
• Cillian Murphy as Dr. Jonathan Crane / The Scarecrow
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Robin John Blake
• Colin McFarlane as Gillian B. Loeb
• Néstor Carbonell as Mayor Anthony Garcia
• Tom Wilkinson as Carmine Falcone
• Eric Roberts as Sal Maroni
• Ben Mendelsohn as John Daggett
• Matthew Modine as Peter Foley

Reception

Box office performance

Film	Release Date	Budget	Box Office Gross			All Time Ranking		References
			Domestic	Foreign	Worldwide	Domestic	Worldwide
Batman Begins	June 15, 2005	$150 million	$206,852,432		$374,218,673	195	326	[5]
The Dark Knight	July 18, 2008	$185 million	$535,234,033		$1,004,934,033	12	43	[6]
The Dark Knight Rises	July 20, 2012	$250 million	$448,139,099	$636,800,000	$1,084,939,099	19	29	[7]
Total		$585 million	$1,188,341,317	$1,275,374,899	$2,463,716,216			[8]

Critical response

Film	Rotten Tomatoes	Metacritic	CinemaScore
Batman Begins	84% (279 reviews)[9]	70 (41 critics)[10]	A[11]
The Dark Knight	94% (334 reviews)[12]	84 (39 critics)[13]	A[11]
The Dark Knight Rises	87% (359 reviews)[14]	78 (45 critics)[15]	A[11]

References

1. Nandi, Swagota (14 July 2023). "60 Best action movies you need to watch in 2023". Pinkvilla. Archived from the original on 22 July 2023. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
2. Michael Flemming (January 27, 2003). "Batman captures director Nolan". Variety. Archived from the original on October 19, 2008. Retrieved October 17, 2008.
3. Bowles, Scott (December 7, 2008). "For now, Nolan and Batman will rest in 'Dark' glory". USA Today. Archived from the original on 2011-03-21. Retrieved 2017-08-31.. .
4. "All Time Worldwide Box Office Grosses". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on May 30, 2010. Retrieved May 31, 2010.
5. "Batman Begins (2005)". Box Office Mojo.
6. "The Dark Knight (2008)". Box Office Mojo.
7. "The Dark Knight Rises (2012)". Box Office Mojo.
8. "The Dark Knight Trilogy Movies at the Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 2019-07-07. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
9. "Batman Begins (2005)". Rotten Tomatoes.
10. "Batman Begins Reviews". Metacritic.
11. "Home - Cinemascore". cinemascore.com.
12. "The Dark Knight (2008)". Rotten Tomatoes.
13. "The Dark Knight Reviews". Metacritic.
14. "The Dark Knight Rises (2012)". Rotten Tomatoes.
15. "The Dark Knight Rises Reviews". Metacritic.

Other website

• Batman franchise overview at Box Office Mojo
• The Dark Knight Rises on IMDb
• Behind Batman: Public Domain Analysis of the Film Franchise