Newark's Subway Stars in THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

The Newark what? you might ask. Not many people know that Newark has it's own subway. Though with only 3 stations underground and a scant 20 minutes from one end of the line to the other, it's not exactly the A train.  But still is was subway-ish enough to get a small starring role in the most recent Batman blockbuster THE DARK KNIGHT RISES.

There's an article about the subway and its' recent claim to fame in the NJ.COM website this week.  Initially, the plan was to shoot Pittsburgh's subway as an NYC double but then director Chris Nolan  saw scouting shots of Newark's system and thought it looked more authentically "Gotham" (as it shares similar white tile walls as the MTA). So the production came in for 2 days in 2011, changed all the signage, and turned underground Newark into a star. At least for a day. It's the scene where Batman meets Anne Hathway underground if you want to check it out on the DVD.

Summer Trailers and Trailers For Trailers

The Christmas movie season is becoming just as well-known for the actual films that screen during this time of year as it is for the previews of next summer's coming attractions.  

There was a lot of "buzz" this weekend as the trailer for the new and supposedly final Christopher Nolan Batman movie THE DARK KNIGHT RISES came out on Friday in theatres only, as a preview attached to the new MI:4 movie. Of course, it took only hours for it to leak all over the Internets so the studio released the trailer online late yesterday afternoon.  Traffic to the Apple website was so heavy they seemed to experience a mini-crash. Anyway, you can watch it a littler easier here on FirstShowing.Net. It looks pretty impressive and even has a note of Occupy Wall Street in it (with Anne Hathaway as Catwoman representing the 99%).

In other trailer news, a new phenomenon in movie previews hit this week as a trailer for the trailer (!) of Ridley Scott's outer space epic PROMETHUS was released on YouTube. This 30 second tease features some scenes from the ALIEN-esque film as well as quick quotes from the director himself.  Release date for this film is June 8 and for THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, July 20.  It's looking like a hot summer at the multiplex!