News breaking today, now confirmed from an earlier rumor posted by /Film, that Warner Brothers plans to attach a 6-minute sneak preview of THE DARK KNIGHT RISES to Paramount’s MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL when it makes its week-early debut exclusively in IMAX this December. First reports by /Film that this preview was going to be an 8-minute sequence have been corrected, according their source (an unnamed exhibitor).
Similar to Warner’s 2007 IMAX-only preview of THE DARK KNIGHT, the studio and Christopher Nolan are once again promoting the ultra-large screen format with this exclusive early look at his third and final installment of the rebooted Batman saga which has earned nearly $1.4 Billion worldwide.
Naturally this exclusive IMAX event will benefit Brad Bird‘s first live-action project, drawing DARK KNIGHT fans to his film while also creating a cooperative publicity buzz around GHOST PROTOCOL opening in IMAX December 16th, five days before its scheduled wide release on the 21st. Paramount’s superspy franchise starring Tom Cruise has nabbed over $1.4 Billion around the globe since its 1996 launch.
Likely the big winner (at least in the short-term) will be IMAX itself and theaters screening both films in the format as Warner and Paramount pair up to create an exclusive event drawing a larger genre audience directly to the brand. Moviegoers (and Batfans specifically) have proven they will pay for the higher-priced IMAX ticket to support The Dark Knight both for a preview quick fix and in full theatrical release form. Consider this an early holiday gift from Gotham.
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES starring Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway and Joseph Gordon-Levitt opens in the U.S. on July 20, 2012.
