halfwhiteboy

It's no secret that I'm such a fan of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy -- all the way since he first recreated the Caped Crusader in Batman Begins , to his immortalizing The Joker in The Dark Knight , and up until the just-released epic conclusion to the series,  The Dark Knight Rises . So last Friday, a day after I watched TDKR, I donned a cape and cowl.

Set eight years after the events of The Dark Knight , Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy comes full circle with The Dark Knight Rises . As has been said, it's peacetime. Gotham's crime rate is at an all time low and everything seems alright. However, it all but seems like a lull between the storm because a carefully-orchestrated grand plan to bring the city down has been brewing all along. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) has been reduced to a cane-toting, bearded recluse, languishing in sorrow inside his now-rebuilt mansion, Wayne Manor. His co-conspirator in the cover-up surrounding Harvey Dent's death, Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman), has likewise not been the happiest either. Then the arrival of Selena Kyle (Anne Hathaway), who's been referred to in the film as a cat burglar but never as 'Catwoman,' suddenly pulls Wayne out of his hermit life. Soon enough, everyone else in Gotham is jolted by the brazen -- and very public -- terrorist ma...

I have never, ever in my entire life dress up for Halloween.  And after 31 freakin' years, I finally did - as The Joker !  To top it off, I did it at the office! Yes, I so loved the late Heath Ledger's character in Th e Dark Knight that even after months following the movie's release, I was still so obsessed about the character that I had the balls to dress up as him.  At the office. How did I fare?  Strictly speaking, it wasn't really close to the original - the hair, the makeup, the scars, etc.  But for the sake of fun, it was okay.  In fact, it was a blast.  Kids were scared of me (even some adults), everyone wanted to have their photo with me taken... I mean, common, that was Hollywood and this was just me and MBK.   Why so serious?

Another week at the box office and my favorite film The Dark Knight pushes past Phantom Menace , The Two Towers , and Order of the Phoenix to land at no. 6 in the global box office charts with $949.2 million. Well, since it's still showing in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world, it could overtake Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (cume: $961M) by next week. I'm being conservative here so let's just see if it could beat the first Harry Potter movie (cume: $976.5M).

And here we...GO! The Dark Knight has breached the $500-million mark at the U.S. box office - and the fastest at that! I don't know why this excites me. It has also hauled in $417M outside the U.S., bringing it's global box office total to $921.8M. That's enough to catapult it to 9th place at the charts, six spots up from last week's no. 15. At the rate it's going, Dark Knight could easily overtake Phantom Menace and LOTR: The Two Towers by next week. And it could probably rest at no. 5 or 6 when its run is due.

Box office estimates for the Aug. 22-24 weekend showed that The Dark Knight had already grossed $489 million in the U.S. alone. For two weeks now it has already overtaken Star Wars as the second highest-grossing movie of all time (in the States, that is). It's still a long shot, though, from Titanic 's $600 million. I wasn't expecting Dark Knight to earn that much, judging from the performance of its predecessor Batman Begins . So, great! But personally, I don't think it could make another $100 million to dislodge Titanic from the top spot. But if it does, well great again! I'll be more than happy 'cause I just love the movie!