A 2008 American superhero film in which Batman, the Gotham district attorney, and the police commissioner together face a chaos-driven criminal called the Joker.
Production
Christopher Nolan directed and co-wrote with his brother Jonathan, releasing through Warner Bros. The film was shot in part on IMAX cameras for major action sequences. Heath Ledger played the Joker in his last completed performance; he died in January 2008 before release.
Reception
The film opened in July 2008 and earned around $1.01 billion worldwide, becoming the second film after Titanic to cross the $1 billion mark. Ledger won the posthumous Best Supporting Actor Oscar.
Legacy
The Dark Knight is frequently credited with broadening the critical respectability of superhero films and contributed to the expansion of the Academy’s Best Picture field after its absence from the 2009 nominees.