'Dark Knight' Rerelease Could Result in Box Office and Oscar Gold

With the Dark Knight, you can envision the Joker shooting golden statuettes from the depths of his sunken eyeballs directly at Batman's heart. And now, Warner Bros. will take its box office money maker straight to the Academy Awards Bank & Trust. Or more specifically, generate even more Batman fever, turning already stricken movie goers into Oscar induced zombies. What?

Let me explain: The Dark Knight will be re-released in January 2009. Which happens to be prime voting season for Academy Award voters, who will be feeling sentimental because January also happens to be a year to the month of the untimely demise of Heath Ledger, who happens to deliver a performance as the Joker, unmatched by any previous actor fulfilling the same role. If Warner Bros. is right (and they are), the buzz of Oscar season, combined with typically slow ticket sales in January may insure an unmatched box office and a posthumous Academy Award for Ledger.

"To date, Dark Knight has rung up about $512 million domestically and $440 million internationally," reports the Hollywood Reporter. This leaves the Dark Knight second only to the once unsinkable box office record of Titanic ($600.8 mil. domestic/$1.24 bil. international). While the Hollywood Reporter appears skeptical that the Dark Knight can surpass Titanic in worldwide ticket sales, I believe the re release will make for one close race. James Cameron better not hold his breath.

Dark Knight plan re release [The Hollywood Reporter]