FYI, I added the "Why So Serious" poster to the "Dark Knight" item below, now that a high res version is available from the studio.

Remember when "Batman" was on the way in the summer of 1989, and people were stealing subway posters left and right?  The anticipation was through the roof!  Well, things are close to that level of anticipation for Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins" sequel, "The Dark Knight."  Or I could just be speaking for myself.

Anyway, this isn't Oscar related -- well, not YET anyway (we can hope) -- but Warner Bros. released these two teaser posters for "The Dark Knight" today (in addition to the creepy "Why So Serious?" Joker poster that's at theaters as we speak).  I'm LOVIN' it:


  

First of all, let me just say the reduction in plastic usage for studio screeners this year is awesome.  Focus and Searchlight, probably others (EDIT:" Yep - Warner is on the same ball as of this morning), have issued their films to voting bodies via slim, sometimes recycled cardboard cases using "vegetable-based" ink.  The green movement is among us.  Lionsgate sent out "3:10 to Yuma" this week, and once again, the consolidation of space deserves some kudos.

The studio infamously flooded the voting market with "Crash" screeners in 2005, sending out some 100,000+ copies to the entire SAG membership.  This year, accompanying their "Yuma" mailers is a "dime store novel" about the making of the film.  And when you open the flaps on the covers, it can be displayed all fancy-like:


Personally, I'm just happy to see the western making some sort of resurgence, and especially, to see that a studio is willing to hang it out there for a film from the genre.  I think it all started up again with the release of Kevin Costner's "Open Range" back in 2003, and then came David Milch's "Deadwood" on HBO the following year (unceremoniously cancelled by the network before it had a chance to play out the story).

This year western fans got "3:10 to Yuma" and "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," while "No Country for Old Men" certainly contains aspects of the genre worth discussing.  Ed Harris is also in the midst of production on New Line's "Appaloosa," starring Harris and Viggo Mortensen.  And "Jesse James" author Ron Hansen might see further interest in his "Desperadoes" should the bottom line on the former become something appealing enough to this studio or that.

Maybe it isn't a passing thing.  Maybe it's back!