The prologue of the film was shot on 70mm IMAX forma and presented in IMAX form to journalist. The opening scene featured a bank robbery and offered the first look at the Joker in action while the Batmobile, Batcycle and Lt. Gordon were shown as well.
At the IMAX presentation director Christopher Nolan was on hand to discuss using the format in the film and SCI FI Wire got the scoop.
"I wanted to really show people the way that the format works, the way we're actually photographing things, and get that out there early and get people that incredibly immersive experience," Nolan told SCI FI Wire "I wanted to construct a prologue for the film that would play as a short film on its own, as it does. And the introduction of the Joker seemed perfect for that. Because we're not dealing with the origin of the Joker, we're dealing with the rise of the Joker. So I really wanted to introduce people to Heath's interpretation in a very overwhelming way, that really showed the power of what he's doing, threw them into the situation. So when you first see him, when you first see his face, you can smell his breath, practically. I mean, it's just right in there, nose to nose with him. It just seemed like an exciting thing to do because he's such an incredibly iconic character."
(The prologue of the film will be screened in theaters with "I Am Legend" on Dec. 14.)
Nolan continued to discuss the challenges of working on a sequel and how he approached the project.
"There's a big responsibility in taking on a sequel," he said. "It's something I've never done before. And I just got really fascinated by moving the story forward. It sort of set up an interesting set of characters and a world that I was keen to return to. But there's a huge responsibility, because we were very happy with the first film. We were happy with the way it was received. So yeah, we did feel we had to have a reason to send people back into this world. There's got to be something here. There's got to be a lot to see. And I wanted to get a feeling of scale. I wanted this to feel suitably big and important for a character like the Joker, who is an icon. We dealt with Batman in the first one, and he's very important in this one. It's still very much his movie. But the Joker is an incredible icon to place opposite him. So I felt we had to give them a really grand canvas in which to face off."
When "Batman: The Dark Knight" comes out to theatres it will be available on 150 IMAX screens worldwide.