Today’s media coverage is pretty exciting because even my hometown paper has the story… Plus MTV and Total Film.

by Blair on Dec.19, 2008, under NEWS

Well I got to say the campaign is getting a ton of press lately and you guys have done a terrific job spreading the word everywhere. How far is it reaching? Well apparently far enough enough to be featured in the main newspaper in Orlando.

I grew up in Orlando so to be featured in the Orlando Sentinel is a really fun moment for me. Here’s an article from the local critic Roger Moore in which he comments on our campaign but as you’ll see he’s not as big a fan of the film:

Fans push for Dark Knight Oscar- -Warners be damned

Dec 17, 2008 - The marketing folks at Warner Brothers aren’t doing a lot, according to some, to see to it that their summer blockbuster is further validated by grabbing Oscar gold.

But the fans of the film are. The “Dark Campaign” is pushing DK for Academy Awards consideration in what they hope are clever ways—mailing jokers from decks of cards to editors at Variety, what have you.

Plainly, they need to watch the new-to-DVD film and chew on it seriously and maybe get a grip. Good Heath Ledger, decent Christian Bale (I get why he was masking his voice) Aaron Eckhart and Maggie Gyllenhaal, a good third act, but up until then? An under motivated, gloomy muddle. It’s good, an improvement over the first Bale-Bat, but Oscar-worthy? Do yourself a favor. Google “Dark Knight” and “overrated.”

But if grassroots online efforts elected our next president, why not our next Oscar?

See the article and the Orlando reaction here (a lot of people disagree with his comments about the film being a gloomy muddle).

MTV also has an article on the campaign here…

‘The Dark Knight’ Oscar Campaign Gets Fan-Created ‘For Your Consideration’ Ads

Published by Casey Seijas on Tuesday, December 16, 2008 at 5:11 pm.

What do you think of these fan made posters, and more importantly, what do you think “The Dark Knight”’s chances are for Oscar recognition?

As we enter awards season, and now that Heath Ledger has been nominated for a Golden Globe, comic fans now wait with baited breath to see if The Academy will take notice of not only Ledger’s jaw-dropping portrayal of The Joker, but if “The Dark Knight” will do the near-impossible and find itself among the “Best Picture” nominees.

We’ve already seen the “For Your Consideration” ads released by Warner Bros., but apparently that’s not enough for some fans of the film who feel that it should be considered one of the best of the year, so they’re making ads of their own — and they might be even better than the official ones released by the studio.

What do you think of these fan made posters, and more importantly, what do you think “The Dark Knight”’s chances are for Oscar recognition?

And finally Total Film magazine has this super cool article on us:

Dark Knight viral Oscar push starts here

BY Andy Lowe Dec 17th 2008

Why so serious, indeed…

With the Academy’s notorious reputation for favouring weighty chin-strokers over genre movies, fans are throwing their full internet weight behind the campaign to get The Dark Knight the gongs it deserves.

DK shrine Dark Campaign is leading the charge with a beautifully crafted ‘For Your Consideration’ video pushing the film’s case with clips and review quotes.

The fansite have shown their, umm, seriousness by setting up a Facebook group urging fans to post playing cards to trade mag Variety (”Find a deck of cards, remove the joker card, with a red pen, somewhere on the card write, ‘Why So Serious? For Your Consideration: Heath Ledger - Best Supporting Actor. The Dark Knight - Best Picture Of 2008.”

There’s also a terrific pair of spoof promo posters doing the rounds (see them in the gallery on the right).

totalfilm.com thinks Ledger is a lock for Supporting Actor, but there’s still some way to go to get Nolan the recognition he deserves.

Help out by joining the Dark Campaign.

Great work everybody! I can now definitely say without a doubt this campaign is having an impact and reaching a lot of places.

28 comments for this entry:

brideofjoker
December 19th, 2008 on 8:09 am
seriously kick f-in ass. I cant believe how many magazines and newspapers and places are spreading the message. what also shows you how many true fans the film has. I’ve noticed that while a few of them either groan and go “oh those silly fans” BUT most of them they go “RIGHT ON I’M WITH YOU!”
TDKfanatic
December 19th, 2008 on 9:31 am
Whoah MTV is very positive on this. Thats awesome!
sulzanti
December 19th, 2008 on 10:15 am
ROCK OUT! I can SMELL the nomination from here.
bob
December 19th, 2008 on 1:24 pm
ad agency paid for stunt…
this guy works for a self serving small ad agency prone to pr stunts who has warner film as a client.
bob
December 19th, 2008 on 1:28 pm
do the “detective work” morons

batman would be so depressed by you fan boys…

this “fan” is a CD at a agency that did Second Life worlds for Warners Film…!

This is their “audition website” to make more ARGs for Warners.

batman bob
Blair
December 19th, 2008 on 1:45 pm
Hey bob, actually I’ve made no secret of my real world job… it’s even linked in the PR Week article and I’ve openly discussed it. I’m using my social media experience to promote TDK for an Oscar on my own time and dime because I love the film, not for any other reason. I appreciate your concerns, but the situation really not at all like you’re describing. That’s why this is unofficial. But feel free to email me if you have any other concerns.
Steve K
December 19th, 2008 on 2:20 pm
It’s awe-inspiring that we’re getting this much attention. I don’t understand why this much effort from die-hard fans still isn’t enough to prove to the world that this film was amazing. NOBODY’s rooting for Milk, I can say that much.

But basically, even if this film gets nominated for nothing, it has proven to be the best film of the year, if not the decade.
R W O
December 19th, 2008 on 5:16 pm
“NOBODY’s rooting for Milk, I can say that much.” - Steve is so right ! And you can see that TDK is the ONLY movie which could make fans become crazy like this !
Hey Mr Oscar, TDK deserves at least 3 nominations !

Dark Campaign = DC = DC Comics I finally know why you name the campaign like this :p
Anonymous
December 20th, 2008 on 6:28 am
Great Idea ! Perfect way to push a film that some may snob because of it’s genre.
ZAG
December 20th, 2008 on 7:25 am
I hope TDK gets oscar noms for best movie and best direction
Jeff
December 20th, 2008 on 8:29 am
There will always be people to whom siding with the masses is unacceptable. So they intentionally go against the grain to prove they are different, edgy, rogue. While the vast majority love this cinematic gem and believe it has set the bar not just movies in the comic-book genre, but Hollywood films in general, there are many who just will cry “overrated” just for the sake of being different. This is the best reviewed movie of the year critically, it is the highest grossing movie of the decade. No other movie can compare to The Dark Knight. It deserves not just an Oscar nomination, but the win.

http://thetelling.today.com/2008/12/19/whats-a-superhero-gotta-do-to-get-an-oscar-around-here/
josh
December 20th, 2008 on 10:12 am
can’t we have a petition or something to sign? that seems like it would carry more weight to say “a million people signed this petition” than “hey a million people visited the discussion site”.
tc
December 20th, 2008 on 10:21 am
How about a button for bloggers to link to this site?
Enoch Allen
December 20th, 2008 on 10:52 am
I recently wrote an article about why I will no longer watch the Oscars if THE DARK KNIGHT is not at least nominated for Best Picture. Copy and paste this link:

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977536600&nav=Namespace

Or, let’s see if I can make the above link clickable here.
Enoch Allen
December 20th, 2008 on 10:53 am
Guess in both cases, the links were clickable!
ezdzit24@verizon.net
December 20th, 2008 on 2:11 pm
I agree strongly that “Dark Knight” deserves an Oscar, Bale is great as the Knight, and Heath Ledger brought a new twist to a very twisted character, this film far outweighs the other competitors with the exception of maybe Ironman which is also a super hero film but he stands tall among the other “c—” like Juno or the “Bee Story” Peace Paws
Rayne
December 20th, 2008 on 3:03 pm
Here is a better idea everyone!

Why don’t we all mail the Joker cards to the Execs. at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences? It could have a much greater effect, and could almost garuntee some kind of mention during Oscar Night. I am with all of you on this one. I believe that The Dark Knight should win Best Picture, and at the very least Best Supporting Actor for the late Heath Ledger. I watched this movie 13 times in the theater, and I have it on Blu-Ray where I now watch it every day. I am mailing about 130 Joker cards myself to the Academy.

Hey Academy!!! Why so Serious???
Tracey
December 20th, 2008 on 7:52 pm
[quote]#
Phillip
December 15th, 2008 on 12:20 am

Yeah, don’t mail these to any Academy members. We’re only trying to influence those that are influenced by media coverage. If an Academy member cares only about his/her own opinion and not about ‘buzz’ then something like this, if seen first hand, will only annoy them.
[/quote]
K.O.
December 20th, 2008 on 8:01 pm
As much as I love this movie and it, Mr. Nolan and Mr. Ledger deserve Oscars… that is just not going to happen. The Academy Awards members have long held that any movie that is not a long draw out dusty epic affair about “serious” issue faced by “real” people then it isn’t worth their shiny “gold” statue. Some will site how I’m wrong about that bringing up The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King… which they gave Best Director and Best Picture when every one knows that they only did that to cover themselves after not giving it to the right Lord of the Rings movie, Fellowship of the Ring. They’ll do the same thing here they’ll nominate it for a bunch of unless awards let it win some and then screwed it, director, and cast over where it counts. Later when the last movie that Heath Ledger was in comes out they’ll give him an Oscar for that, even though it probably won’t be an Oscar worthy performance and definitely not the performance of a lifetime like this was. They’ll throw a Best Director at Nolan when and if he directs a “grown-up movie involving real people with real issue that are relevant”, like crime, corruption, politics, justice, and the lengths that good men will go to preserve the latter and destroy the former aren’t “real issues”. And if you don’t believe me just ask Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez about how slimy the Academy can be when you stick to your guns and direct what the people want, what the vision of a movie should be, and give credit where credit is due regardless of the Academy’s feelings.

Good luck, Dark Knight, Mr. Ledge, and Mr. Nolan you will need them in this battle against a real group of villains and jokers.
Rayne
December 20th, 2008 on 10:14 pm
To influence as many people to see the movie, and see first hand what all the support and buzz is about is my personal goal. Let us not forget that 42 years ago, a worldwide mail campaign saved one of the most beloved Sci-Fi shows in history, and proved a point to Studio Execs that it was worth a damn. While I support this campaign, I am also venturing forth on a similar mission. For some reason unkown to anyone, this film has grasped everyone by the shorthairs, and captured our hearts as well as our minds. I am a Film Critic myself, and in my opinion The Dark Knight is part of a very elite group of films. Worldwide, this film has grossed over One Billion Dollars. This is a direct result of what I call “open suggestion”. People suggested this film to their friends and family to see because it was a good movie. Ignore the fact that it was Batman, and you will see a great crime drama. Heath ledger was a great Joker, and his acting in this film was exemplary. The screenplay showed very little to no gaps that made you go “what the hell???” The sound editing and visual effects while not like the Matrix, proved to be outstanding. Only great Directing would have made this film as great as it is. The Nominations for this film should be many because they were that damn good. That is what I am saying by mailing these cards to the Academy.
zphillipsburg@aol.com
December 21st, 2008 on 2:55 pm
great job, this movie deserves all the awards, movie of the year and especially heath ledger he was awesome as the joker that was unbelievable, thanks for making this site and lets go dark knight
Rayyan_javeed@hotmail.co.uk
December 21st, 2008 on 4:19 pm
I really hope heath ledger win an oscar for his role as the joker. and the dark knight gets an award for best picture. The dark knight was simply a masterpiece. I just got it today on blue-ray disc and in HD its awsome. Its surely my best super hero movie of all time.

RIP heath :’(
RayyJayy
December 21st, 2008 on 4:28 pm
Heath ledger was the best Joker ever. This wasn’t any typical super hero film. This was a unique masterpiece that can’t get duplicated. I hope heath ledger get an oscar for best actor and the dark knight for best picture. Just so u guys know! magazines and newspapers don’t lie about movies like this.
Sahoyah
December 21st, 2008 on 6:30 pm
Congrats man! Glad you’re starting to get some major recognition!

Plus, I think it can totally get best picture at this point.
Grant V
December 22nd, 2008 on 10:13 am
This movie does not deserve an academy award on any level! To begin: more than half of the people who are now obsessed with Heath Ledger had never heard of him until his tragic death. He has been in much better roles in films like Brokeback Mountain and The Patriot. To certain extents you could also say that the only reason the movie received the amount of hype that it did was because of Heath’s young death.
Next off, the reality of a movie like this winning best picture is impossible. Yes it was a “good” movie, but so was last years action flick The Bourne Ultimatum. (with that said The Dark Knight stands a slim chance at winning technical awards in sound editing at most).
Go ahead and take a look at the Golden Globe nominees: Only one nomination for The Dark Knight in the best supporting actor category (for the late Heath Ledger).
Nice attempt at getting a few awards, but it isn’t going to happen.
Rayne
December 25th, 2008 on 1:52 am
BREAKING NEWS!!!!!

Upon emails, and various attempts at reaching the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, I have recieved word back. The following is what was told to me via e-mail from the A.M.P.A.A.S.:

“Due to the vast amounts of emails, and requests for consideration, You have succeeded in catching our attention. Academy Members will give respectable thought to this years movies. Films such as “The Dark Knight” will be given equal consideration along with other competing films. We applaud the hearts of those with so much dedication, and love for a film of this caliber. Thank you for your feedback, and good luck.”

Well, everyone there you have it. This is straight from the Academy itself. I fought hard for this response. I hope it pleases a lot of you out there for all your hard work.
Rayne
January 3rd, 2009 on 11:56 pm
Entertainment Weekly Magazines picks The Dark Knight as a Nominee for Oscar!!!
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