title: The Dark Knight

text: With Christopher's help, his brother Jonathan spent six months developing the story into a draft screenplay. After submitting the draft to Warner Bros., Jonathan spent a further two months refining it until Christopher had finished directing "The Prestige". The pair collaborated on the final script over the next six months during pre-production for "The Dark Knight". Jonathan found the "poignant" ending the script's most interesting aspect; it had always depicted Batman fleeing from police but was changed from him leaping across rooftops to escaping on the Batpod, his motorcycle-like vehicle. The dialogue Johnathan considered most important, "you either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain", came late in development. Influenced by films such as "The Godfather" (1972) and "Heat" (1995), and maintaining "Batman Begins" tone, their finished script bore more resemblance to a crime drama than a traditional superhero film.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Comic-book influences included writer Frank Miller's 1980s works, which portray characters in a serious tone, and the limited series "" (1996–1997), which explores the relationship between Batman, Dent, and Gordon. Dent was written as "The Dark Knight" central character, serving as a tragic hero at the center of the battle between Batman, who believes Dent is the hero the city needs, and the Joker, who wants to prove even the most righteous people can be corrupted. Christopher said the title refers to Dent as equally as Batman. He considered Dent as having a duality similar to Batman's, providing interesting dramatic potential.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Focusing on Dent meant Bruce Wayne / Batman was written as a generally static character who did not undergo drastic character development. Christopher found writing the Joker the easiest aspect of the script. The Nolans identified the traits common to his media incarnations and were influenced by the character's comic-book appearances as well as the villain Dr. Mabuse from the films of Fritz Lang. Writer Alan Moore's graphic novel, "" (1988), did not influence the main narrative but Christopher believed his interpretation of the Joker as someone partially driven to prove anyone can become like him when pushed far enough helped the Nolans give purpose to an "inherently purposeless" character. The Joker was written as a purely evil psychopath and anarchist who lacks reason, logic, and fear, and could test the moral and ethical limits of Batman, Dent, and Gordon. Christopher and Jonathan later realized they had inadvertently written their version similarly to Joker's first appearance in "Batman" #1 (1940). The final scene, in which the Joker states he and Batman are destined to battle forever, was not intended to tease a sequel but to convey the diametrically opposed pair were in an endless conflict because they will not kill each other.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Describing how his character had evolved from "Batman Begins", Christian Bale said Wayne had changed from a young, naive, and angry man seeking purpose to a hero who is burdened by the realization his war against crime is seemingly endless. Because the new Batsuit allowed him to be more agile, Bale did not increase his muscle mass as much as he had for "Batman Begins". Christopher had deliberately obscured combat in the previous film because it was intended to portray Batman from the criminals' point of view. The improved Batsuit design let him show more of Bale's Keysi-fighting method training.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Christopher was aware Nicholson's popular portrayal of the Joker would invite comparisons to his version, and wanted an actor who could cope with the associated scrutiny. Ledger's casting in August 2006 was criticized by some industry professionals and members of the public who considered him inappropriate for the role; executive producer Charles Roven said "Batman Begins" positive reception would help alleviate any concerns. Although other actors, such as Lachy Hulme, were looked at, Roven said Ledger was the only person seriously considered. Christopher was confident in the casting because discussions between himself and Ledger had demonstrated they shared similar ideas regarding the Joker's portrayal. Ledger said he had some trepidation in succeeding Nicholson in the role but that the challenge excited him. He described his interpretation as a "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy", and avoided humanizing him. He was influenced by Alex from the crime film "A Clockwork Orange" (1971), and British musicians Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Ledger spent about a month secluding himself in a hotel room while reading relevant comic books. He developed the character's voice by mixing a high-pitch and low-pitch, which was inspired by ventriloquist performances. His fighting style was designed to appear improvised and erratic. Ledger spent a further four months creating a "Joker diary" containing images and elements he believed would resonate with his character, such as finding the disease AIDS humorous. Describing his performance, Ledger said: "It's the most fun I've had with a character and probably will ever have... It was an exhausting process. At the end of the day, I couldn't move. I couldn't talk. I was absolutely wrecked." In a November 2007 interview, Ledger said when committing himself to any role, he had difficulty sleeping because he could not relax his mind, and often slept only two hours a night during filming.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Christopher wanted to cast an actor with an all-American "heroic presence" for Harvey Dent, something he likened to Robert Redford but with an undercurrent of anger or darkness. Josh Lucas, Ryan Phillippe, and Mark Ruffalo were considered, as well as Matt Damon, who could not commit due to scheduling conflicts. According to Christopher, Eckhart had the all-American charm and "aura ... of a good man pushed too far". Eckhart found portraying conflicted characters to be interesting; he said the difference between Dent and Batman is the distance they are willing to go for their causes, and that after Dent's corruption he remains a crime fighter but he takes this to an extreme because he dislikes the restrictions of the law. Eckhart's performance was influenced by the Kennedy family, particularly Robert F. Kennedy, who fought organized crime with a similarly idealistic view of the law. During discussions on the portrayal of Dent's transformation into Two-Face, Eckhart and Christopher agreed to ignore Tommy Lee Jones's "colorful" portrayal in "Batman Forever" (1995), in which the character has pink hair and wears a split designer suit, in favor of a more realistic, slightly burnt, neutral-toned suit.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Describing his role as GCPD sergeant James Gordon, Oldman said Gordon is the "incorruptible, virtuous, strong, heroic, but understated" moral center of "The Dark Knight". He found portraying truly good characters difficult because he had to be restrained but accepted his character is there to support the performances of other characters. Maggie Gyllenhaal replaced Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes, as Holmes chose to star in the crime comedy "Mad Money" (2008) instead. Gyllenhaal approached Rachel as a new character and did not reference Holmes's previous performance. Christopher described Rachel as the emotional connection between Wayne and Dent, ultimately serving as a further personal loss to fuel Wayne's character. Gyllenhaal collaborated with Christopher on the character's depiction because she wanted Rachel to be important and meaningful in her relatively minor role. Musician Dwight Yoakam turned down a role as the bank manager or a corrupt police officer because he was recording his album "Dwight Sings Buck" (2007).


title: The Dark Knight

text: In October 2006, location scouting for Gotham City took place in the UK in Liverpool, Glasgow, London, and parts of Yorkshire, and in several cities in the U.S. Christopher chose Chicago because he liked the area and believed it offered interesting architectural features without being as recognizable as locations in better-known cities such as New York City. Chicagoan authorities had been supportive during filming of "Batman Begins", allowing the production to shut stretches of roads, freeways, and bridges. Christopher wanted to exchange the more natural, scenic settings of "Batman Begins" such as the Himalayas and caverns for a modern, structured environment the Joker could disassemble. Production designer Nathan Crowley said the clean, neat lines of Chicagoan architecture enhanced the urban-crime drama they wanted to make, and that Batman had helped improve the city. The destruction of Wayne Manor in "Batman Begins" provided an opportunity to move Wayne to a modern, sparse penthouse, reflecting his loneliness. Sets were still used for some interiors such as the Bat Bunker, the replacement for the Batcave, on the outskirts of the city. The production team considered placing it in the penthouse basement but believed it was too unrealistic a solution.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Much of "The Dark Knight" was filmed using Panavision's Panaflex Millennium XL and Platinum cameras but Christopher wanted to film about 40 minutes with IMAX cameras, a high-resolution technology using 70 mm film rather than the more-commonly used format 35 mm; the finished film includes 15–20% IMAX footage, running for about 28 minutes. This made it the first major motion picture to use IMAX technology, which was generally employed for documentaries. Warner Bros. was reluctant to endorse the use of the technology because the cameras were large and unwieldy, and purchasing and processing the film stock cost up to four times as much as typical 35 mm film. Christopher said cameras that could be used on Mount Everest could be used for "The Dark Knight", and had cinematographer Wally Pfister and his crew begin training to use the equipment in January 2007 to test its feasibility. Christopher particularly wanted to film the bank heist prologue in IMAX to immediately convey the difference in scope between "The Dark Knight" and "Batman Begins".


title: The Dark Knight

text: Principal photography began on April 18, 2007, in Chicago on a $185million budget. For "The Dark Knight", Pfister chose to combine the "rust-style" visuals of "Batman Begins" with the "dusk"-like color scheme of "The Prestige" (cobalt blues, greens, blacks, and whites), in part to address over-dark scenes in "Batman Begins". To avoid attention, filming in Chicago took place under the working title "Rory's First Kiss" but the production's true nature was quickly uncovered by media publications. The Joker's homemade videos were filmed and mainly directed by Ledger. Caine said he forgot his lines during a scene involving one video because of Ledger's "stunning" performance.


title: The Dark Knight

text: The first scene filmed was the bank heist, which was shot in the Old Chicago Main Post Office over five days. It was scheduled early to test the IMAX procedure, allowing it to be refilmed with traditional cameras if needed, and it was intended to be publicly released as part of the marketing campaign. Pfister described it as a week of patience and learning because of the four-day wait for the IMAX footage to be processed. Filming moved to England throughout May, returning to Chicago in June.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Filming took place in the lobby of One Illinois Center, which served as Wayne's penthouse apartment; bookcases were built to hide the elevators. A floor of Two Illinois Center was decorated for Wayne's fundraiser. The crew was described as excited as this scene depicted the first meeting between Batman and the Joker. The windows in both settings were covered in green screen material, allowing Gotham City visuals to be added later. In July, three weeks were spent filming the truck chase scene, mainly on Wacker Drive, a multi-level street that had to be closed overnight. During filming, Christopher added a set-piece of a SWAT van crashing through a concrete barricade. The sequence continued on LaSalle Street, which was also used for the GCPD funeral procession, for a practical truck-flip stunt and helicopter sequence. Additional segments were filmed on Monroe Street and Randolph Street, and at Randolph Street Station.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Navy Pier, along the shore of Lake Michigan, served as Gotham Harbor in a climactic ferry scene. Scouts spent over a month searching for suitable vessels but were unsuccessful, so construction coordinator Joe Ondrejko and his team built ferry facades atop barges. The entire sequence was filmed in one day and involved 800 extras, who were moved through makeup and clothing departments in shifts. Exterior footage of the Gotham Prewitt Building, the site of Batman's and the Joker's final confrontation, was filmed at the in-construction Trump International Hotel and Tower. The owners refused permission to film a stunt in which Batman suspends a SWAT team from the building, so this was filmed from the fortieth floor of a separate building site. A former Brach's candy factory on Cicero Avenue scheduled for demolition was used to film the Gotham General Hospital explosion in August 2007. Filming in Chicago concluded on September 1, ending with scenes of Wayne driving and crashing his car, before the production returned to England.


title: The Dark Knight

text: "The Dark Knight" includes Chicago locations such as Lake Michigan, which doubled as the Caribbean Sea where Wayne boards a seaplane; Richard J. Daley Center (Wayne Enterprises exteriors and a courtroom); The Berghoff restaurant (GCPD arresting mobsters); Twin Anchors restaurant; the Sound Bar; McCormick Place (Wayne Enterprises interiors); and Chicago Theatre. 330 North Wabash served as offices used by Dent, mayor Garcia, and commissioner Loeb; and its thirteenth floor appears as Wayne Enterprises' boardroom; Pfister enhanced its large, panoramic windows and natural light with an glass table and reflective bulbs. A Randolph Street parking garage is where Batman captures Scarecrow and Batman impersonators. Christopher wanted several Rottweiler dogs in the scene but locating a dog-handler willing to simultaneously manage several dogs was difficult. A scene of Batman surveying the city from a rooftop edge was filmed atop Willis Tower, Chicago's tallest building. Stuntman Buster Reeves was due to double as Batman, but Bale persuaded the filmmakers to let him perform the scene himself. The thirteen weeks of filming in Chicago was estimated to have generated $45million for the city's economy and thousands of local jobs.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Many interior locations for "The Dark Knight" were filmed on sets at Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire, and Cardington Airfield, Bedfordshire; these locations include the Bat Bunker, which took six weeks to build in a Cardington hangar. The Bat Bunker was based on 1960s Chicago building designs, and was integrated into existing concrete floor, and used the long, tall ceiling to create a broad perspective. The tall hangar was unsuitable for suspending the bunker roof, and an encompassing gantry was built to hold it and the lighting. After moving from Chicago in May, scenes filmed in the UK also include Criterion Restaurant, where Rachel, Dent, and Wayne share dinner, and a Gotham News scene that was filmed at the University of Westminster. The GCPD headquarters was rebuilt in the Farmiloe Building. During the interrogation scene, Ledger asked Bale to actually hit him, and although he declined, Ledger cracked and dented the walls by throwing himself around.


title: The Dark Knight

text: After returning to England in the middle of September, scenes were filmed for the ferry, hospital, and Gotham Prewitt building interiors. By mid-October, interior and exterior scenes of Rachel being held hostage surrounded by barrels of gasoline were filmed at Battersea Power Station. To avoid damaging the power station, a listed building, a false wall was built in front of it and lined with explosives. Nearby residents contacted emergency services believing the explosion was a terrorist attack. Filming in England concluded at the end of October with a variety of green-screen shots for the truck-chase sequence, and shots of Rachel being thrown from a window were filmed on a set at Cardington.


title: The Dark Knight

text: The final nine days of production took place in Hong Kong and included aerial footage from atop the International Finance Centre, as well as filming at Central to Mid-Levels escalator, The Center, Central, The Peninsula Hong Kong, and Queen's Road; and a stunt involving Batman catching an in-flight C-130 aircraft. Despite extensive rehearsals of Reeves jumping from the McClurg Building in Chicago, a planned stunt to depict Batman leaping from one Hong Kong skyscraper to another was canceled because local authorities refused permission for helicopter use; Pfister described the officials as a "nightmare". Christopher disputed a report that said a scene of Batman leaping into Victoria Harbour was canceled because of pollution concerns, saying it was a script decision. The 127-day shoot concluded on November 15, on time and under budget.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Editing was underway in January 2008 when Ledger, aged 28, died from an accidental overdose of a prescription drug. A rumor his commitment to his performance as the Joker had affected his mental state circulated, but this was later refuted. Christopher said editing the film became "tremendously emotional, right when he passed, having to go back in and look at him every day [during editing]... but the truth is, I feel very lucky to have something productive to do, to have a performance that he was very, very proud of, and that he had entrusted to me to finish". Because Christopher preferred to capture sound while filming rather than re-recording dialogue in post-production, Ledger's work had been completed before his death, and Christopher did not modify the Joker's narrative in response. Christopher added a dedication to Ledger and stuntman Conway Wickliffe, who died during rehearsals for a Tumbler (Batmobile) stunt.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Alongside lead editor Lee Smith, Christopher took an "aggressive editorial approach" to editing "The Dark Knight" to achieve its 152-minute running time. Christopher said no scenes were deleted because he believed every scene was essential, and that unnecessary material had been cut before filming. The Nolans had difficulties refining the script to reduce the running time but after removing so much material they believed it had become incomprehensible, they had added more scenes.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Unlike the design process of "Batman Begins", which was restrained by a need to represent Batman iconography, audience acceptance of its realistic setting gave "The Dark Knight" more design freedom. Chris Corbould, the film's special effects supervisor, oversaw the 700 effect shots Double Negative and Framestore produced; there were relatively few effects compared to equivalent films because Christopher only used computer-generated imaging where practical effects would not suffice. Production designer Nathan Crowley designed the Batpod (Batcycle) because Christopher did not want to extensively re-use the Tumbler. Corbould's team built the Batpod, which is based on a prototype Crowley and Christopher built by combining different commercial model components. The unwieldy, wide-tired vehicle could only be ridden by stuntman Jean Pierre Goy after months of training. The Gotham General Hospital explosion was not in the script but added during filming because Corbould believed it could be done.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Hemming, Crowley, Christopher, and Jamie Rama re-designed the Batsuit to make it more comfortable and flexible, developing a costume made from a stretchy material covered in over 100 urethane armor pieces. Sculptor Julian Murray developed Dent's burnt-facial design, which is based on Christopher's request for a skeletal appearance. Murray went through designs that were "too real and more horrifying" before settling on a more "fanciful" and detailed but less-repulsive version. Hemming designed Joker's overall appearance, which he based on fashion-and-music celebrities to create a modern and trendy look. Influence also came from the 1953 painting "Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X" by Francis Bacon—suggested by Christopher— and the character's comic-book appearances. The outfit consists of a purple coat, a green vest, an antique shirt, and a thin, 1960s-style tie that Ledger suggested. Prosthetics supervisor Conor O'Sullivan created Joker's scars, which he partly based on a scarred delivery man he met, and used his own technique to create and apply the supple, skin-like prosthesis. John Caglione Jr designed Joker's "organic" makeup to look as though it had been worn for days; this idea was partly based on more of Bacon's works. Caglione Jr used a theatrical makeup technique for the application; he instructed Ledger to scrunch up his face so different cracks and textures were created once the makeup was applied and Ledger relaxed. Ledger always applied the lipstick himself, believing it was essential to his characterization.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Composers James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer, who had also worked on "Batman Begins", scored "The Dark Knight" because Christopher believed it was important to bridge the musical-narrative gap between the films. The score was recorded at Air Studios, London. Howard and Zimmer composed the score without seeing the film because Christopher wanted them to be influenced by the characters and story rather than fitting specific on-screen elements. Howard and Zimmer separated their duties by character; Howard focused on Dent and Zimmer focused on Batman and the Joker. Zimmer did not consider Batman to be strictly noble and wrote the theme to not seem "super". Howard wrote about ten minutes of music for Dent, wanting to portray him as an American who represents hope, but undergoes an emotional extreme and moral corruption. He used brass instruments for both moral ends but warped the sound as Dent is corrupted.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Zimmer wanted to use a single note for the Joker's theme; he said, "imagine one note that starts off slightly agitated and then goes to serious aggravation and finally rips your head off at the end". He could not make it work, however, and used two notes with alternating tempos and a "punk" influence. The theme was influenced by electronic music innovators Kraftwerk and Zimmer's work with rock band The Damned. He wanted to convey elements of the Joker's corrosion, recklessness, and "otherworldliness" by combining electronic and orchestral music, and modifying almost every note after recording to emulate sounds including thunder and razors. He attempted to develop original sounds with synthesizers, trying to create an "offputting" result by instructing musicians to start with a single note and gradually shift to the second over a three-minute period; the musicians found this difficult because it was the opposite of their training. It took several months to achieve Zimmer's desired result. Following Ledger's death, Zimmer considered discarding the theme for a more traditional one but he and Howard believed they should honor Ledger's performance.


title: The Dark Knight

text: "The Dark Knight"s marketing campaign was developed by alternate reality game (ARG) development company 42 Entertainment. Christopher wanted the team to focus on countering the negative reaction to Ledger's casting and controlling the revelation of the Joker's appearance. Influenced by the script and the comic books "The Killing Joke", "The Long Halloween", and "" (1989), 42 Entertainment paced the ARG over annual events, although Warner Bros. rejected their ideas to use Jokerized Santas at Christmas, coffins filled with chattering teeth on Mother's Day (mocking Wayne's late mother), and Batman actors on rooftops due to safety concerns.


title: The Dark Knight

text: The ARG began in May 2007 with campaign posters for Dent and Joker playing cards bearing the phrase "I believe in Harvey Dent" were hidden inside comic books at stores around the U.S. This led people to a website where they could submit their e-mail addresses to reveal a pixel of a concealed Joker image; about 97,000 e-mail addresses and 20 hours were required to reveal the image in full, which was well-received. At the San Diego Comic-Con, 42 Entertainment modified 11,000 one-dollar bills with the Joker's image and the phrase "Why So Serious?" that led finders to a location. 42 Entertainment's initial plan to throw the bills from a balcony was canceled due to safety concerns, so the bills were covertly distributed to attendees. Although the event was expected to attract a few thousand people, 650,000 arrived and participated in activities that included calling a number taken from a plane flying overhead and wearing Joker makeup to commit disruptive acts with actors. Globally, fans photographed letters on signs to form a ransom note. A U.S.-centric effort involved people recovering cellphones made by Nokia—a brand partner to the film—from a cake, which led to an early screening of the film's bank-heist prologue before its public release in December. Ledger's appearance in the prologue was well-received and positively changed the discourse around his casting.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Following Ledger's death, the campaign continued unchanged with a focus on Dent's election, which was influenced by the ongoing 2008 United States presidential election. Warner Bros. was concerned public knowledge of Dent's character was poor; the campaign included signs, stickers, and "Dentmobiles" visiting U.S. cities to raise his profile. The campaign concluded in July with displays of the Bat-Signal in Chicago and New York City that were eventually defaced by the Joker. Industry professionals considered the campaign innovative and successful.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Warner Bros. dedicated six months to anti-piracy methods; the film industry lost an estimated $6.1billion to piracy in 2005. Delivery methods of film reels were randomized and copies had a chain of custody to track who had access. Some theater staff were given night-vision goggles to identify people recording "The Dark Knight", and one person was caught in Kansas City. Warner Bros. considered its strategy a success, delaying the appearance of the first "poorly-lit" camcorder version until 38–48 hours after its earliest global release in Australia.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Compared to 2007's $9.7billion box-office take, in 2008, lower revenues were expected due to the large number of comedies competing against each other and the release of films with dark tones, such as "The Dark Knight", during a period of rising living costs and election fatigue in the U.S. Fewer sequels, which generally performed well, were scheduled and only four—"The Dark Knight", "", "", and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"—were predicted to be blockbusters. "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" was the only film expected to easily earn over $300million.


title: The Dark Knight

text: "The Dark Knight" was expected to sell well based on high audience anticipation, positive pre-release reviews, and a record $3.5million in IMAX pre-sales. Predictions placed its opening-weekend take above that of "Iron Man"s $102.1million but below that of "Spider-Man 3"s (2007) record $151.1million. Analysts said its success would be influenced by the lengthy running time that limited the number of screenings per day, and counter-programming from the romantic comedy "Mamma Mia!"—which surveyed well with females—and the family comedy "Space Chimps". There was also a perceived limit on financial success for "Batman" films; the 1989 installment remained the franchise's highest-grossing release. "The Dark Knight"s premiere took place on July 14, in IMAX in New York City. A block in Broadway was closed for the event, which included a live performance of the film score by Howard and Zimmer. "The Hollywood Reporter" said Ledger received several ovations, and that during the after-party, Warner Bros. executives struggled to maintain a balance between celebrating the successful response and commemorating Ledger.


title: The Dark Knight

text: On July 18, 2008, "The Dark Knight" was widely released in the U.S. and Canada in a record 4,366 theaters on an estimated 9,200 screens. It earned $158.4million during the weekend, a per-theater average of $36,282, breaking "Spider-Man 3"s record and making it the number-one film ahead of "Mamma Mia!" ($27.8million) and "Hancock" ($14million) in its third weekend. It set further records for the highest-grossing single-day ($67.2million on the Friday), Sunday ($43.6million), midnight opening ($18.5million, from 3,000 midnight screenings), and IMAX opening ($6.3million from about 94 locations), as well as the second-highest-grossing Saturday ($47.7million) behind "Spider-Man 3", and contributed to the highest-grossing weekend on record ($253.6million). The film benefited from repeat viewings by younger audiences and had broad appeal, with 52% of the audience being male and an equal number of those under 25 years old, and those of 25 or older.


title: The Dark Knight

text: "The Dark Knight" broke more records, including for the highest-grossing opening week ($238.6million), and for three-, four-, five-, six-, seven-, eight-, nine-, and ten-day cumulative grosses, including the highest-grossing non-holiday Monday ($24.5million) and non-opening Tuesday ($20.9million, as well as the second-highest-grossing non-opening Wednesday ($18.4million), behind "Transformers" ($29.1million). It retained the number-one position in its second weekend with a total gross of $75.2million, ahead of the debuting "Step Brothers" ($31million), giving it the highest-grossing second weekend. It retained the number-one position in its third ($42.7million) and fourth ($26.1million) weekends, before falling to second place in its fifth, with a gross of $16.4million, behind the debuting "Tropic Thunder" ($25.8million). "The Dark Knight" remained in the top-ten highest-grossing films for ten weeks, and became the film to surpass $400million soonest (18 days) and $500million (45 days). The film was playing in fewer than 100 theaters when it received a 300-theater relaunch in late January 2009 to raise its profile during nominations for the 81st Academy Awards. This raised its total box office to $533.3million before it left theaters on March 5 after 33 weeks, making it the highest-grossing comic-book, superhero, and "Batman" film; the highest-grossing film of 2008; and the second-highest-grossing film ever (unadjusted for inflation), behind the 1997 romantic drama "Titanic" ($600.8million).


title: The Dark Knight

text: "The Dark Knight" was released in Australia and Taiwan on Wednesday, July 16, 2008, and opened in twenty markets by the weekend. It earned about $40million combined, making it second to "Hancock" ($44.8million), which was playing in nearly four times as many countries. "The Dark Knight" was available in sixty-two countries by the end of August, although Warner Bros. decided not to release it in China, blaming "a number of pre-release conditions... as well as cultural sensitivities to some elements of the film". "The Dark Knight" earned about $469.7million outside the U.S. and Canada, its highest grosses coming from the United Kingdom ($89.1million), Australia ($39.9million), Germany ($29.7million), France ($27.5million), Mexico ($25million), South Korea ($24.7million), and Brazil ($20.2million). This made it the second-highest-grossing film of the year behind "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull".


title: The Dark Knight

text: The film had grossed $997 million worldwide by January 2009. Its reissue in the run-up to the Oscars enabled the film to exceed $1billion in February, and it ultimately earned $1.003billion. It was the first superhero film to gross over $1billion, the highest-grossing film of 2008 worldwide, the fourth film to earn more than $1billion, and the fourth-highest-grossing film of its time behind "" ($1.066billion), "" ($1.119billion), and "Titanic" ($1.842billion). Rereleases have further raised its box-office take to $1.006 billion.


title: The Dark Knight

text: "The Dark Knight" received critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a approval rating from the aggregated reviews of critics, with an average score of . The consensus reads; "Dark, complex and unforgettable, "The Dark Knight" succeeds not just as an entertaining comic book film, but as a richly thrilling crime saga". The film has a score of 84 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 39 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+-to-F scale.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Several publications called "The Dark Knight" the best comic-book hero adaptation ever made. Roger Ebert said it, alongside "Iron Man", had redefined the potential of superhero films by combining comic-book tropes with real world events. Some appreciated its complex moral tale about the effects of vigilantism and terrorism on contemporary society. Emanuel Levy and Manohla Dargis praised the depiction of the characters as possessing both positive and negative aspects, such as Batman's efforts to end crime provoking unintended consequences and a greater response from criminals; Dargis believed "The Dark Knight"s exploration of chaos, fear, and death, following the September 11 attacks in 2001, represented "that American movies have entered a new era of ambivalence when it comes to their heroes or maybe just superness." Others criticized the dark, grim, intense, and self-serious tone as lacking any elements of fun or fantasy. David Denby said "The Dark Knight" was a product of a "time of terror", but focused on embracing and unleashing it while cynically setting up a sequel. Stephanie Zacharek and David Edelstein criticized a perceived lack of visual storytelling in favor of exposition, and aspects of the plot being difficult to follow amid the fast pace and loud score. Christopher's action direction was criticized, especially during fight scenes where it could be difficult to see things clearly, although the prologue bank heist was praised as among the film's best.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Ledger's performance received near-unanimous praise with the caveat that his death made the role both highly-anticipated and difficult to watch. Dargis, among others, described Ledger as realizing the Joker so convincingly, intensely, and viscerally it made the audience forget about the actor behind the makeup. "The Village Voice" wrote the performance would have made Ledger a legend even if he had lived. Other reviews said Ledger outshone Nicholson's "magnificent" performance with macabre humor and malevolence. Reviews generally agreed the Joker was the best-written character, and that Ledger commanded scenes from the entire cast to create one of the most mesmerizing cinematic villains. Zacharek, however, lamented that the performance was not in service of a better film.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Bale's reception was mixed; his performance was considered to be alternately "captivating" or serviceable, but ultimately uninteresting and undermined by portraying an immovable and generally unchanged character who delivers Batman's dialog in a hoarse, unvarying tone. Eckhart's performance was generally well received; reviewers praised his portrayal of Dent as charismatic, and the character's subsequent transformation into a sad, bitter "monster", although "Variety" considered his subplot the film's weakest. Stephen Hunter said the Dent character was underwritten and that Eckhart was incapable of portraying the role as intended. Several reviewers regarded Gyllenhaal as an improvement over Holmes, although others said they found difficulty caring about the character and that Gyllenhaal, while more talented than her predecessor, was miscast. Peter Travers praised Oldman's skill in making a virtuous character interesting and he, among others, described Caine's and Freeman's performances as "effortless". Ebert surmised the entire cast provided "powerful" performances that engage the audience, such that "we're surprised how deeply the drama affects us".


title: The Dark Knight

text: "The Dark Knight" appeared on several lists recognizing the best films of 2008, includes those compiled by Ebert, "The Hollywood Reporter", and the American Film Institute, as well as being the year's most pirated film with about 7million illegal downloads. At the 13th Satellite Awards, "The Dark Knight" received one award for Sound Editing or Mixing (Richard King, Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo). A further four wins came at the 35th People's Choice Awards: Favorite Movie, Favorite Cast, Favorite Action Movie, and Favorite On-Screen Match-Up (Bale and Ledger), as well as Best Action Movie and Best Supporting Actor (Ledger) at the 14th Critics' Choice Awards. Howard and Zimmer were recognized for Best Motion Picture Score at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards. Ledger won the film's only awards at the 15th Screen Actors Guild Awards, 62nd British Academy Film Awards, and 66th Golden Globe Awards, for Best Supporting Actor. At the 14th Empire Awards, "The Dark Knight" received awards for Best Film, Best Director (Christopher Nolan), and Best Actor (Bale). Ledger received the award for Best Villain at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards, and at the 35th Saturn Awards, "The Dark Knight" won awards for Best Action or Adventure Film, Best Supporting Actor (Ledger), Best Writing (Christopher and Jonathan Nolan), Best Music (Howard and Zimmer), and Best Special Effects (Corbould, Nick Davis, Paul J. Franklin, Timothy Webber).


title: The Dark Knight

text: Before "The Dark Knight"s release, film industry discourse focused on Ledger potentially earning an Academy Award nomination at the 81st Academy Awards in 2009, making him only the seventh person to be nominated posthumously, and if the decision would be influenced by his passing or performance. Genre films such as those based on comic books were also generally ignored by Academy voters. Even so, Ledger was considered a favorite to earn the award based on praise from critic groups and his posthumous Golden Globe award. Ledger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, making him only the second performer to win an award posthumously (after Peter Finch in 1977), and "The Dark Knight" the first comic book adaptation to win a major Academy award. "The Dark Knight" also won an award for Best Sound Editing (King), and received six nominations for Best Art Direction (Crowley and Peter Lando), Best Cinematography (Pfister), Best Film Editing (Smith), Best Makeup (Caglione Jr. and O'Sullivan), Best Sound Mixing (Hirschberg, Rizzo, and Ed Novick), and Best Visual Effects (Davis, Corbould, Webber, and Franklin).


title: The Dark Knight

text: Despite the success of "The Dark Knight", the lack of a Best Picture nomination was criticized and described as a "snub" by some publications. The response was seen as the culmination of several years of criticism toward the Academy ignoring high-performing, broadly popular films. The backlash was such that, for the 82nd Academy Awards awards in 2010, the Academy increased the limit for Best Picture nominees from five to ten, a change known as "The Dark Knight Rule". It allowed for more broadly popular but "respected" films to be nominated, including "District 9", "The Blind Side", "Avatar", and "Up", the first animated film to be nominated in two decades. This change is seen as responsible for the first Best Picture nomination of a comic book adaptation, "Black Panther" (2018). Even so, "The Hollwood Reporter" argued the Academy mistook the appeals to recognize important, "generation-defining" genre films with just nominating more films.


title: The Dark Knight

text: "The Dark Knight" was released on DVD and Blu-ray in December 2008. The release has a slipcover box-art that revealed a "Jokerized" version underneath, and contains featurettes on Batman's equipment, the psychology used in the film, six episodes of the fictional news program "Gotham Tonight", and a gallery of concept art, posters, and Joker cards. The Blu-ray disc version additionally offers interactive elements describing the production of some scenes. A separate, limited-edition Blu-ray disc set came with a Batpod figurine. "The Dark Knight" sold 3million copies across both formats on its launch day in the U.S., Canada, and the UK; Blu-ray discs comprised about 25%–30% of the sales—around 600,000 units. The film was released at the beginning of the Blu-ray disc format; it was considered a success, breaking "Iron Man"s record of 250,000 units sold and indicating the format was growing in popularity. In 2011, it also became the first major-studio film to be released for rent via digital distribution on Facebook. A 4K resolution remaster, which was overseen by Christopher, was released in December 2017 as a set containing a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray disc, and digital download, as well as special features from earlier releases.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Merchandise for "The Dark Knight" includes statuettes, action figures, radio-controlled Tumbler and Batpod models, costumes, sets of Batarangs, a limited-edition Grappling Launcher replica, board games, puzzles, clothing, and a special-edition UNO card game. A novelization written by Dennis O'Neil was released in 2008.


title: The Dark Knight

text: A direct-to-DVD animated film, "", was released in July 2008. It was directed by Bruce Timm and includes veteran Batman actor Kevin Conroy reprising his role. "Gotham Knight" presents six vignettes, each of which are animated in a different artistic style, set between the events of "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight". A video game adaptation, "", was canceled due to development problems. "The Dark Knight Coaster", an indoor roller coaster, opened in May 2008 at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey. Costing $7.5million, the long attraction places riders in an imitation of Wayne Central Station in Gotham City as they move through areas that are vandalized or controlled by the Joker.


title: The Dark Knight

text: A central theme of "The Dark Knight" is escalation, particularly the rise of the Joker in response to Batman's vigilantism. Batman's vigilante operation arms him with high-tech military equipment against common criminals, and the Joker is the inevitable response and escalation of lawlessness to counter Batman. Critic Siddhant Adlakha considered the Joker an analog for countries such as Iraq, Somalia, and Lebanon, which were targeted by U.S. military campaigns and responded with escalation using terrorism. Batman also inspires copycat vigilantes, further escalating lawlessness. Film studies professor Todd McGowan said Batman asserts authority over these copycats, telling them to stop because they do not have the same defensive equipment as himself, reaffirming his self-given authority to act as a vigilante.


title: The Dark Knight

text: The film has been analyzed as an analog for the war on terror, the militaristic campaign the U.S. launched following the September 11 attacks. The scene in which Batman stands in the ruins of a destroyed building, having failed to prevent the Joker's plot, is reminiscent of the World Trade Center site after September 11. According to historian Stephen Prince, "The Dark Knight" is about the consequences of civil and government authorities abandoning rules in the fight against terrorism. Several publications criticized "The Dark Knight" for a perceived endorsement of "necessary evils" such as torture and rendition. Author Andrew Klavan said Batman is a stand-in for then-U.S. president George W. Bush and justified the breaching of "boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that [Batman] will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past". Klavan's interpretation was criticized by some publications that considered "The Dark Knight" anti-war, proposing society must not abandon the rule of law to combat lawlessness or risk creating the conditions for escalation. This is exemplified in the covert alliance formed between Batman, Dent, and Gordon, leading to Rachel's death and Dent's corruption. Writer Benjamin Kerstein said both viewpoints are valid, and that ""The Dark Knight" is a perfect mirror of the society which is watching it: a society so divided on the issues of terror and how to fight it that, for the first time in decades, an American mainstream no longer exists".


title: The Dark Knight

text: Batman and Dent resort to torture or enhanced interrogation to stop the Joker but he remains immune to Batman's physical abuse because he has a strong belief in his goals. When Dent ineffectually attempts to torture Joker's henchman, Batman does not condemn the act, only being concerned about public perception if people discover the truth. This conveys the protagonists' gradual abandonment of their principles when faced with an extreme foe. The Joker meets Dent in a hospital to explain how expected atrocities, such as the deaths of several soldiers, and societal failings are tolerated but when norms are unexpectedly disrupted, people panic and descend into chaos. Although the Joker wears disguising makeup, he is not hiding behind a mask and is the same person with or without makeup. He lacks any identity or origin, representing the uncertainty, unknowability, and fear of terrorism, although he does not follow any political ideology. Dent represents the fulfillment of American idealism, a noble person who can work within the confines of the law and allow Batman to retire, but the fear and chaos embodied by the Joker taints that idealism and corrupts Dent absolutely.


title: The Dark Knight

text: In "The Dark Knight"s final act, Batman employs an invasive surveillance network by co-opting the phones of Gotham's citizens to locate the Joker, violating their privacy. Adlakha described this act as a "militaristic fantasy", in which a significant violation of civil liberties is required through the means of advanced technology to capture a dangerous terrorist, reminiscent of the 2001 Patriot Act. Lucius Fox threatens to stop helping Batman in response, believing he has crossed an ethical boundary, and although Batman agrees these violations are unacceptable and destroys the technology, the film demonstrates he could not have stopped the Joker in time without it.


title: The Dark Knight

text: "The Dark Knight" focuses on the moral and ethical battles faced by the central characters, and the compromises they make to defeat the Joker under extraordinary circumstances. Roger Ebert said the Joker forces impossible ethical decisions on each character to test the limits of their morality. Batman represents order to the Joker's chaos and is brought to his own limit but avoids completely compromising himself. Dent represents goodness and hope; he is the city's "white knight" who is "pure" of intent and can operate within the law. Dent is motivated to do good because he identifies himself as good, not through trauma like Batman, and has faith in the legal system. Adlakha wrote Dent is framed as a religious icon, his campaign slogan being "I believe in Harvey Dent", and his eventual death leaves his arms spread wide like Jesus on the Cross. Eckhart described Dent as someone who loves the law but feels constrained by it and his inability to do what he believes is right because the rules he must follow do not allow it. Dent's desire to work outside the law is seen in his support of Batman's vigilantism to accomplish what he cannot.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Dent's corruption suggests he is a proxy for those looking for hope because he is as fallible and susceptible to darkness as anyone else. This can be seen in his use of a two-headed coin to make decisions involving others, eliminating the risk of chance by controlling the outcome in his favor, indicating losing is not an acceptable outcome for him. Once Dent experiences a significant traumatic event in the loss of Rachel and his own disfigurement, he quickly abandons his noble former self to seek his own form of justice. His coin is scarred on one side, introducing the risk of chance, and he submits himself to it completely. According to English professor Daniel Boscaljon, Dent is not broken; he believes in a different form of justice in a seemingly unjust world, flipping a coin because it is "Unbiased. Unprejudiced. Fair."


title: The Dark Knight

text: The Joker represents an ideological deviancy; he does not seek personal gain and causes chaos for its own sake, setting a towering pile of cash ablaze to prove "everything burns". Unlike Batman, the Joker is the same with or without makeup, having no identity to conceal and nothing to lose. Boscaljon wrote the residents and criminals believe in a form of order and rules that must be obeyed; the Joker deliberately upends this belief because he has no rules or limitations. The character can be considered an example of Friedrich Nietzsche's "Superman", who exists outside definitions such as good and evil, and follows his own indomitable will. The film, however, leaves open the option to dismiss his insights because his chaos ultimately leads to tragedy and injustice. Christopher described the Joker as an unadulterated evil, and professor Charles Bellinger considered him a satanic figure who repels people from goodness and tempts them with things they supposedly lack, such as forcing Batman to choose between saving Dent—who is best for the city—and Rachel, who is best for Wayne. The Joker aims to corrupt Dent to prove anyone, even symbols, can be broken. In their desperation, Dent and Batman are forced to question their own limitations. As the Joker states to Batman:


title: The Dark Knight

text: The ferry scene can be seen as the Joker's true defeat, demonstrating he is wrong about the residents turning on each other in an extreme scenario. According to writer David Chen, this demonstrates, individually, people cannot responsibly handle power but by sharing the responsibility, there is hope for a compassionate outcome. Although Batman holds to his morals and does not kill the Joker, he is forced to break his code by pushing Dent to his death to save an innocent person. Batman chooses to become a symbol of criminality by taking the blame for Dent's crimes and preserving him as a symbol of good, maintaining the hope of Gotham's residents. Critic David Crow wrote Batman's true test is not defeating the Joker but saving Dent, a task at which he fails. Batman makes his own Christ-like sacrifice, taking on Dent's sins to preserve the city.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Although "The Dark Knight" presents this as a heroic act, this "noble lie" is used to conceal and manipulate the truth for what a minority determines is the greater good. McGowan considered the act heroic because Batman's sacrifice will leave him hunted and despised without recognition, indicating he has learned from the Joker the established norms must sometimes be broken. According to professor Martin Fradley, among others, Batman's "noble lie" and Gordon's support of it is a cynical endorsement of deception and totalitarianism. Wayne's butler Alfred also commits a noble lie, concealing Rachel's choice of Dent over Wayne to spare him the pain of her rejection.


title: The Dark Knight

text: "The Dark Knight" is considered an influential and often-imitated work that redefined the superhero/comic-book film genre, and filmmaking in general. In 2020, the United States Library of Congress selected "The Dark Knight" to be preserved in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".


title: The Dark Knight

text: Before "The Dark Knight", superhero films closely emulated their comic-book source material, and though the genre had seen significant successes such as "Superman" (1978), "Batman" (1989), "X-Men" (2000), and "Spider-Man" (2002), they were often considered disposable entertainment that did not garner much industry respect. Building on "Batman Begins" heightened realism and presentation of a mature tone with contemporary themes and complex characters, "The Dark Knight" proved the genre could produce films with a distinct vision, artistic merit, and social commentary. A 2018 retrospective by "The Hollywood Reporter" said "The Dark Knight" taught filmmakers "comic book characters are malleable. They are able to be grounded or fantastic, able to be prestigious or pure blockbuster entertainment, to be dark and gritty or light, to be character-driven or action-packed, or any variation in-between."


title: The Dark Knight

text: "The Dark Knight" is considered a blueprint for the modern superhero film that productions either attempt to closely emulate or deliberately counter. Its financial, critical, and cultural successes legitimized the genre with film studios at a time when recent films, such as "Daredevil", "Hulk" (both 2003), "Fantastic Four" (2005), and "Superman Returns" (2006) had failed to meet expectations. The genre became a focus of annual studio strategies rather than a relatively niche project, and a surge of comic-book adaptations followed, in part because of their broad franchising potential. In 2008, Ebert wrote; "["The Dark Knight"], and to a lesser degree "Iron Man", redefine the possibilities of the 'comic-book movie'". "The Atlantic" wrote "Iron Man"s legacy in launching the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) could not have happened without "The Dark Knight" success.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Retrospective analysis has focused on the way studios, eager to replicate its performance, released tonally dark, gritty, and realistic films, or reboots of existing franchises, many of which failed critically or commercially. Some publications said studios took the wrong lessons from "The Dark Knight", treating source material too seriously and mistaking a dark, gritty tone for narrative depth and intelligent writing. The MCU is seen as a successful continuation of what made "The Dark Knight" a success, combining genres and tones relevant to each respective film while treating the source material seriously, unlike the DC Extended Universe, which more closely emulated the tone of "The Dark Knight" but failed to replicate its success.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Directors including Sam Mendes ("Skyfall"), Ryan Coogler ("Black Panther"), and David Ayer ("Suicide Squad"), and the creators of the television show "Arrow", have cited "The Dark Knight" as an influence. The film has been referenced in a variety of media including television shows such as "Robot Chicken", "South Park", and "The Simpsons". U.S. President Barack Obama used Joker to explain the growth of Islamic State (IS) military group, saying "... the gang leaders of Gotham are meeting... they were thugs, but there was a kind of order... the Joker comes in and lights the whole city on fire. [IS] is the Joker." Joker's appearance became a popular Halloween costume and also influenced the 2009 Barack Obama "Joker" poster.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Since its release, "The Dark Knight" has been assessed as one of the greatest superhero films ever made, among the greatest films ever made, and one of the best sequel films. It is also considered among the best films of the 2000s, and in a 2010 poll of thirty-seven critics by Metacritic regarding the decade's top films, "The Dark Knight" received the eighth most mentions, appearing on 7 lists. In the 2010s, a poll of 177 film critics by the BBC in 2016 listed it as the 33rd-best film of the 21st century, and "The Guardian" placed it 98th on its own list. In 2020, "Empire" magazine named it third-best, behind "" (2001) and "" (2015). As of 2022, it remains the highest critically rated Batman film according to Rotten Tomatoes, and is often ranked as the best film featuring the character.


title: The Dark Knight

text: "The Dark Knight" remains popular with entertainment industry professionals, including directors, actors, critics, and stunt actors, being ranked 57th on "The Hollywood Reporter"s poll of the best films ever made, 18th on "Time Out"s list of the best action films, and 96th on the BBC's list of the 100 Greatest American Films. "The Dark Knight" is included in the film-reference book "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", and film critics James Berardinelli and Barry Norman included it in their individual listings of the 100 greatest films of all time. In 2012, "Total Film" named it the sixth-most-accomplished film of the preceding fifteen years, and a 2020 article by "Empire" named "The Dark Knight" as one of the films that defined the previous three decades. In 2020, "Time Out" named it the seventy-second-best action movie ever made.


title: The Dark Knight

text: Ledger's Joker is considered one of the greatest cinematic villains; several publications placed his portrayal second only to Darth Vader. In 2017, "The Hollywood Reporter" named Ledger's Joker the second-best cinematic superhero performance ever, behind Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, and "Collider" listed him as the greatest villain of the 21st century. In 2022, "Variety" listed him as the best superhero film performance of the preceding 50 years (Eckhart appears at number 22). "Entertainment Weekly" wrote there had not been another villain as interesting or "perversely entertaining" as Joker, and Ledger's performance was considered so defining that future interpretations would be compared against it. Michael B. Jordan cited the character as an inspiration for his character Erik Killmonger in "Black Panther". The "pencil trick" scene, in which Joker makes a pencil disappear by slamming a mobster's head on it, is considered an iconic scene and among the film's most famous. Similarly, the character's line "why so serious?" is among the film's most famous and oft-quoted pieces of dialog, alongside Dent's line "you either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain", and Pennyworth's line "some men just want to watch the world burn". The lines became popular internet memes.


title: The Dark Knight

text: "The Dark Knight" remains popular with audiences in publicly voted rankings. Over 17,000 people voted the film into the top ten of "American Cinematographer"s "Best-Shot Film of 1998–2008" list, and listeners of BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra named it their eighth-favorite film. Readers of "Empire" have alternatively voted it the fifteenth (2008), third (2014), and the fourth-greatest film ever made (2020). "The Dark Knight" was also voted the greatest superhero movie by readers of "Rolling Stone" (2014), and as one of New Zealand's favorite films (2015).


title: The Dark Knight

text: "The Dark Knight" was followed by "The Dark Knight Rises" (2012), the conclusion of "The Dark Knight Trilogy". In the film, Batman is forced out of his self-imposed retirement following the events of "The Dark Knight"; he allies with Selina Kyle / Catwoman to take on Bane, a physically imposing revolutionary allied with the League of Shadows that is featured in "Batman Begins". "The Dark Knight Rises" was a financial success, surpassing the box office of "The Dark Knight", and was generally well received by critics but proved more divisive with audiences.


title: The Catch (TV series)

text: The Catch is an American comedy-drama television series that aired on ABC from March 24, 2016, to May 11, 2017. It stars Mireille Enos and Peter Krause, was created by Jennifer Schuur, Kate Atkinson, and Helen Gregory, and developed by Allan Heinberg, and was executive produced by Shondaland's Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers. Julie Anne Robinson also served as an executive producer and directed the pilot episode. The series premiered on May 12, 2016 and was renewed for a second season. The second season premiered on March 9, 2017. On May 11, 2017, ABC cancelled the series after two seasons.


title: The Catch (TV series)

text: "The Catch" follows Alice Vaughan (Enos), who runs a private investigation firm in Los Angeles, California. After being defrauded by her fiancé, she is determined to find him—between working on other cases—before it ruins her career. Her fiancé, Benjamin Jones (Krause), is revealed to be a master con artist working for a high-stakes international crime operation along with Margot Bishop (Sonya Walger). Rose Rollins, Elvy Yost, Jay Hayden, Jacky Ido, and Alimi Ballard also co-star.


title: The Catch (TV series)

text: On October 21, 2014, it was announced that ABC had bought the original concept for a drama series about a gutsy female forensic accountant, based on a treatment written by novelist Kate Atkinson. The script was written by Jennifer Schuur. "The Catch" is produced by Shonda Rhimes, Betsy Beers, Julie Anne Robinson, and Schuur. ABC ordered the pilot on January 26, 2015 for the 2015–16 television season. The pilot episode was filmed in Austin, Texas and was directed by Julie Anne Robinson. On May 7, 2015, ABC picked up the pilot to series.


title: The Catch (TV series)

text: In June 2015, it was announced "The Catch" would take over "How to Get Away with Murder"s Thursday 10 ET/9 CT slot and form part of Shondaland's mid-season #TGIT block. On August 18, 2015, it was announced that the series creator Jennifer Schuur had exited the series as showrunner because of creative differences. Shondaland's Allan Heinberg, who has worked on "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scandal", then stepped in as showrunner of "The Catch".


title: The Catch (TV series)

text: Casting advertisement began in February 2015. On March 2, 2015, it was announced that Mireille Enos would play the leading role of Alice Vaughan. Newcomer Damon Dayoub was cast for the male leading role as Alice's fiancé, Benjamin Jones. Bethany Joy Lenz later was cast as his criminal wife, Zoe. Alan Ruck and Rose Rollins were cast as an estranged couple and friends of Alice and Alice's fiancé Benjamin's. Jacky Ido was cast as an FBI agent who becomes suspicious of Alice, along with Jay Hayden and Elvy Yost as Alice's co-workers in her forensic firm. On May 18, 2015, Lenz revealed on her WhoSay account that she was being replaced. The same day, it was announced that Damon Dayoub, the male lead, was also being replaced.


title: The Catch (TV series)

text: On July 14, 2015, it was reported that Peter Krause had taken over the male lead role of Benjamin Jones replacing Dayoub, who played the role in the pilot. On July 22, 2015, Sonya Walger was added to the cast as Margot Bishop, replacing Lenz. The pilot was reshot with the new cast members.


title: The Catch (TV series)

text: For the second season it was announced that John Simm would be upped to the series regular cast, while Ballard and Ido would be departing the series. However, Ido returned as Jules Dao for the season 2 premiere to wrap up his character's storyline.


title: The Catch (TV series)

text: The Vaughan character was significantly revised after the pilot episode: instead of a Chicago-based auditor, she became a Los Angeles-based private investigator. She also became sexier: instead of being a "very guarded, lacquered ’50s-era Hitchcock presence," Vaughan became "peppier, a life-lover with mascaraed lashes and a closet filled with Bond girl minidresses." Her style is a "modernised look of the 1960s."


title: The Catch (TV series)

text: Internationally, the series premiered in Australia on the Seven Network on October 10, 2016. In the UK the show premiered on Sky Living. Since 2022, the show became available on Disney+ outside the US.


title: The Catch (TV series)

text: "The Catch" has been met with generally positive reviews from critics, with most praising Mireille Enos' leading performance. Metacritic gave season one of the show a score of 59 out of 100 based on 30 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews." The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 72% approval rating. The site's general consensus reads:


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: John McCarthy (September 4, 1927 – October 24, 2011) was an American computer scientist and cognitive scientist. He was one of the founders of the discipline of artificial intelligence. He co-authored the document that coined the term "artificial intelligence" (AI), developed the programming language family Lisp, significantly influenced the design of the language ALGOL, popularized time-sharing, and invented garbage collection.


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: McCarthy spent most of his career at Stanford University. He received many accolades and honors, such as the 1971 Turing Award for his contributions to the topic of AI, the United States National Medal of Science, and the Kyoto Prize.


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: John McCarthy was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on September 4, 1927, to an Irish immigrant father and a Lithuanian Jewish immigrant mother, John Patrick and Ida (Glatt) McCarthy. The family was obliged to relocate frequently during the Great Depression, until McCarthy's father found work as an organizer for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers in Los Angeles, California. His father came from Cromane, a small fishing village in County Kerry, Ireland. His mother died in 1957.


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: Both parents were active members of the Communist Party during the 1930s, and they encouraged learning and critical thinking. Before he attended high school, he got interested in science by reading a translation of a Russian popular science book for children, called "100,000 Whys". John was fluent in the Russian language and made friends with Russian scientists during multiple trips to the Soviet Union but he became disillusioned after making visits to the Soviet Bloc which led to him becoming a conservative Republican.


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: McCarthy graduated from Belmont High School two years early. McCarthy was accepted into Caltech in 1944.


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: McCarthy showed an early aptitude for mathematics; during his teens he taught himself college mathematics by studying the textbooks used at the nearby California Institute of Technology (Caltech). As a result, he was able to skip the first two years of mathematics at Caltech.


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: McCarthy was suspended from Caltech for failure to attend physical education courses. He then served in the US Army and was readmitted, receiving a BS in mathematics in 1948.


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: McCarthy initially completed graduate studies at Caltech before moving to Princeton University. He received a PhD in mathematics from Princeton in 1951 after completing a doctoral dissertation, titled "Projection operators and partial differential equations", under the supervision of Donald C. Spencer.


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: After short-term appointments at Princeton and Stanford University, McCarthy became an assistant professor at Dartmouth in 1955.


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: A year later, McCarthy moved to MIT as a research fellow in the autumn of 1956. By the end of his years at MIT he was already affectionately referred to as "Uncle John" by his students.


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: In 1962, McCarthy became a full professor at Stanford, where he remained until his retirement in 2000.


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: McCarthy championed mathematics such as lambda calculus and invented logics for achieving common sense in artificial intelligence.


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: John McCarthy is one of the "founding fathers" of artificial intelligence, together with Alan Turing, Marvin Minsky, Allen Newell, and Herbert A. Simon. McCarthy, Minsky, Nathaniel Rochester and Claude E. Shannon coined the term "artificial intelligence" in a proposal that they wrote for the famous Dartmouth conference in Summer 1956. This conference started AI as a field. (Minsky later joined McCarthy at MIT in 1959.)


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: In 1958, he proposed the advice taker, which inspired later work on question-answering and logic programming.


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: In the late 1950s, McCarthy discovered that primitive recursive functions could be extended to compute with symbolic expressions, producing the Lisp programming language. That functional programming seminal paper, also introduced the lambda notation borrowed from the syntax of lambda calculus in which later dialects like Scheme based its semantics. Lisp soon became the programming language of choice for AI applications after its publication in 1960.


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: In 1958, McCarthy served on an ACM Ad hoc Committee on Languages that became part of the committee that designed ALGOL 60. In August 1959 he proposed the use of recursion and conditional expressions, which became part of ALGOL. He then became involved with developing international standards in programming and informatics, as a member of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) IFIP Working Group 2.1 on Algorithmic Languages and Calculi, which specified, maintains, and supports ALGOL 60 and ALGOL 68.


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: Around 1959, he invented so-called "garbage collection" methods, a kind of automatic memory management, to solve problems in Lisp.


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: He helped to motivate the creation of Project MAC at MIT when he worked there, and at Stanford University, he helped establish the Stanford AI Laboratory, for many years a friendly rival to Project MAC.


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: McCarthy was instrumental in the creation of three of the very earliest time-sharing systems (Compatible Time-Sharing System, BBN Time-Sharing System, and Dartmouth Time Sharing System). His colleague Lester Earnest told the Los Angeles Times:


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: In 1961, he was perhaps the first to suggest publicly the idea of utility computing, in a speech given to celebrate MIT's centennial: that computer time-sharing technology might result in a future in which computing power and even specific applications could be sold through the utility business model (like water or electricity). This idea of a computer or information utility was very popular during the late 1960s, but had faded by the mid-1990s. However, since 2000, the idea has resurfaced in new forms (see application service provider, grid computing, and cloud computing).


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: In 1966, McCarthy and his team at Stanford wrote a computer program used to play a series of chess games with counterparts in the Soviet Union; McCarthy's team lost two games and drew two games (see Kotok-McCarthy).


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: In 1982, he seems to have originated the idea of the "space fountain", a type of tower extending into space and kept vertical by the outward force of a stream of pellets propelled from Earth along a sort of conveyor belt which returns the pellets to Earth. Payloads would ride the conveyor belt upward.


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: McCarthy often commented on world affairs on the Usenet forums. Some of his ideas can be found in his sustainability Web page, which is "aimed at showing that human material progress is desirable and sustainable". McCarthy was a serious book reader, an optimist, and a staunch supporter of free speech. His best Usenet interaction is visible in rec.arts.books archives. And McCarthy actively attended SF Bay Area dinners in Palo Alto of r.a.b. readers called rab-fests. He went on to defend free speech criticism involving European ethnic jokes at Stanford.


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: McCarthy saw the importance of mathematics and mathematics education. His Usenet .sig for years was, "He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense"; his license plate cover read, similarly, "Do the arithmetic or be doomed to talk nonsense." He advised 30 PhD graduates.


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: His 2001 short story "The Robot and the Baby" farcically explored the question of whether robots should have (or simulate having) emotions, and anticipated aspects of Internet culture and social networking that have become increasingly prominent during ensuing decades.


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: McCarthy was married three times. His second wife was Vera Watson, a programmer and mountaineer who died in 1978 attempting to scale Annapurna I Central as part of an all-women expedition. He later married Carolyn Talcott, a computer scientist at Stanford and later SRI International.


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: McCarthy declared himself an atheist in a speech about Artificial Intelligence at Stanford Memorial Church. Raised as a Communist, he became a conservative Republican after a visit to Czechoslovakia in 1968 after the Soviet invasion. McCarthy died at his home in Stanford on October 24, 2011.


title: John McCarthy (computer scientist)

text: In 1979 McCarthy wrote an article entitled "Ascribing Mental Qualities to Machines". In it he wrote, "Machines as simple as thermostats can be said to have beliefs, and having beliefs seems to be a characteristic of most machines capable of problem-solving performance." In 1980 the philosopher John Searle responded with his famous Chinese Room Argument, disagreeing with McCarthy and taking the stance that machines cannot have beliefs simply because they are not conscious. Searle argues that machines lack "understanding" or "intentionality" (a term commonly used in the philosophy of mind). A vast amount of literature has been written in support of one side or the other.


title: The New Saints F.C.

text: The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club, also known as The New Saints () or TNS, are a professional football club that currently play in the Cymru Premier. They are the most successful club in the Welsh league structure (which does not include Welsh teams playing in the English pyramid), with 14 league titles to their name. Since the 2001–02 season they have finished as champions or runners-up in every season apart from 2008 to 2009, where they finished third in the league.


title: The New Saints F.C.

text: The club was formed as Llansantffraid F.C. to represent the border village of Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain (population: 1,000) in 1959, and played at the Recreation Ground.


title: The New Saints F.C.

text: They first tasted competitive football in the Montgomeryshire Amateur Football League (then the fourth level of the Welsh football league system), winning the championship seven times. At the end of the 1989–90 season they were elected to the Central Wales League (now the Mid-Wales League) but their stay was brief, winning promotion to the Cymru Alliance as runners-up on their first attempt. Llansantffraid's meteoric rise continued and in 1992–93 they gained promotion to the League of Wales, now the Cymru Premier, as champions and won the Welsh Intermediate Cup (formerly the Welsh Amateur Cup).


title: The New Saints F.C.

text: In 1996, Llansantffraid won the Welsh Cup and qualified for the first time for the European Cup Winners' Cup. At this time a local computer company, Total Network Solutions of Oswestry, arranged a £250,000 sponsorship deal which involved incorporating the company name into the club name. As Total Network Solutions Llansantffraid F.C. they met the Polish Cup winners Ruch Chorzów and earned a 1–1 draw at home before losing 5–0 in Poland. Since then they have qualified for European competition several times. The club's European home games are generally played at either Newtown's or Wrexham's stadium as their old Recreation Ground was far below UEFA's standards (though for their 2003 meeting with Manchester City, they played their home game at the 72,000-seat Millennium Stadium in Cardiff). To comply with UEFA's regulations on third-party sponsorship, the club were known by their initialism TNS by the European governing body in their competitions.


title: The New Saints F.C.

text: In 1997 the club's name was changed to Total Network Solutions F.C., being the first instance in the United Kingdom of a football club renaming itself after its sponsor's name only. Following the financial meltdown of Barry Town in the summer of 2003, TNS became the only Cymru Premier club which had a full-time playing staff. In the summer of 2005, however, Llanelli AFC also announced plans to go full-time.


title: The New Saints F.C.

text: In the summer of 2003, the shareholders of Oswestry Town met to approve a merger with TNS, although not all the shareholders knew of the meeting. The financially weaker club was a close neighbour to TNS, and also played in the League of Wales despite being based across the border in Shropshire. The Football Association of Wales (FAW) ratified the merger on 14 August 2003 as did UEFA eventually, despite its initial objection to a merger of two clubs with different governing bodies.


title: The New Saints F.C.

text: The 2003–04 season was trophyless for TNS as they finished runners-up in the League of Wales to Rhyl and were beaten finalists in the Welsh Cup, also to Rhyl. The 2004–05 season proved much more successful, as TNS won a League and Cup double.


title: The New Saints F.C.

text: During the 2005–06 off-season, after newly crowned Champions League winners Liverpool were initially denied a place in the next season's competition, TNS offered to play a one-legged tie against the Reds for TNS's place in the first qualifying round. After UEFA reached a compromise by which Liverpool were placed in the first qualifying round of the competition, TNS and Liverpool ended up drawn against one another anyway. Liverpool won the first leg at Anfield 3–0 thanks to a Steven Gerrard hat-trick. In the second leg, played at Wrexham, Gerrard added two goals after coming on as a substitute to Djibril Cissé's opening tally for another 3–0 Liverpool victory. Although defeated, TNS drew praise, most notably for the young Northern Irish goalkeeper Gerard Doherty, of whom Rafael Benítez said, "The goalkeeper saved a lot of goals and for me he was the best player in the two games".


title: The New Saints F.C.

text: In early 2006 the club's sponsor, Total Network Solutions, was taken over by British Telecom, as a result of which the sponsorship arrangement lapsed at the end of the 2005–06 season and it became necessary to find a new name for the club. After a trawl for new naming ideas, including an attempt to sell the naming rights on eBay, the name "The New Saints" was agreed upon as appropriate to the history of both of the originally merged clubs: Llansantffraid was always known as "The Saints"; Oswestry had strong connections with Saint Oswald; while the club's name was already abbreviated to "TNS". A new club badge was also developed at the same time, featuring a dragon to represent Llansantffraid and a lion representing Oswestry.


title: The New Saints F.C.

text: On 10 February 2010, the BBC reported that the New Saints had applied to play home games at Chester City's Deva Stadium in 2010–11, after having been turned down for a grant to help fund the construction of a new 1,000-seat stand at Park Hall. At the time, the mooted move was complicated by Chester City's governance issues. Deva Stadium's pitch and stands lie in Wales, but outbuildings on the site that housed the club offices are in England, and Chester City were under the jurisdiction of the English Football Association. Chester City were liquidated a month later by HMRC; in any event, the New Saints were granted a domestic licence by the FAW in April 2010 and remained at Park Hall for 2010–11 season. The New Saints were crowned 2009–10 Welsh Premier League Champions.


title: The New Saints F.C.

text: The New Saints entered the Champions League in 2010–11. They were drawn against League of Ireland Premier Division Champions Bohemians in the Second Qualifying Round. They lost the first leg 1–0 at Dalymount Park in Dublin on 13 July 2010. However they won the second leg at Park Hall 4–0 and won the tie 4–1 on aggregate, the first ever tie won by the club since their European debut in 1996. Bohemians manager Pat Fenlon later labelled his team's performance as 'disgraceful' and said 'the players let the club, league and country down'. The result was labelled by others as the worst result in Bohemians' 40-year European history. The Saints advanced to play Belgian Pro League Champions and European Giants R.S.C. Anderlecht. The Saints were beaten 3–1 in the home leg played in Wrexham and 3–0 in the away game at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium in Brussels. The Saints then played CSKA Sofia in the Europa League playoff round but were beaten 5–2 on aggregate. As league runners up during the 2010–11 season the Saints entered the Europa League qualifying rounds in 2011. They beat Belfast club Cliftonville 2–1 on aggregate in the First Round but were eliminated by Danish club FC Midtjylland 8–3 on aggregate in the following round.


title: The New Saints F.C.

text: On 30 December 2016, The New Saints defeated Cefn Druids 2–0 in the Cymru Premier. This extended their winning run to 27 matches, surpassing the previous record of 26 set by Ajax in the 1970s for the most consecutive club victories by a top-flight team.


title: The New Saints F.C.

text: On the Sky Sports football show "Soccer Saturday", TNS's name was gently mocked by the programme's main presenter, Jeff Stelling. At the end of the day's classified check, if TNS had won at home, Stelling invariably used his catchphrase "They'll be dancing in the streets of Total Network Solutions tonight!", since updated to "dancing in the streets of the New Saints". Stelling's joke was also occasionally aimed at fellow Welsh side, Airbus UK in 2005–06. Stelling's joke may ultimately derive from the accidental 'they'll be dancing in the streets of Raith', claimed to have been said by football commentator Sam Leitch in the 1960s during a match played by the Kirkcaldy-based Raith Rovers, though the phrase is better known as a stock phrase of rugby commentator Bill McLaren, often stating "they'll be dancing in the streets of ..." and inserting in the name of the winning team.


title: The New Saints F.C.

text: TNS are mentioned in the song "This One's for Now" by the band Half Man Half Biscuit on the album "Urge for Offal".


title: The New Saints F.C.

text: The club's Futsal side has also seen success, having been winners of the inaugural FAW Futsal Cup in 2011 and reaching the final in 2012.


title: The Nightmare

text: The Nightmare is a 1781 oil painting by Swiss artist Henry Fuseli. It shows a woman in deep sleep with her arms thrown below her, and with a demonic and apelike incubus crouched on her chest.


title: The Nightmare

text: The painting's dreamlike and haunting erotic evocation of infatuation and obsession was a huge popular success. After its first exhibition, at the 1782 Royal Academy of London, critics and patrons reacted with horrified fascination and the work became widely popular, to the extent that it was parodied in political satire and an engraved version was widely distributed. In response, Fuseli produced at least three other versions.


title: The Nightmare

text: Interpretations vary. The canvas seems to portray simultaneously a dreaming woman and the content of her nightmare. The incubus and horse's head refer to contemporary belief and folklore about nightmares, but have been ascribed more specific meanings by some theorists. Contemporary critics were taken aback by the overt sexuality of the painting, since interpreted by some scholars as anticipating Jungian ideas about the unconscious.


title: The Nightmare

text: "The Nightmare" simultaneously offers both the image of a dream—by indicating the effect of the nightmare on the woman—and a dream image—in symbolically portraying the sleeping vision. It depicts a sleeping woman draped over the end of a bed with her head hanging down, exposing her long neck. She is surmounted by an incubus that peers out at the viewer. The sleeper seems lifeless and, lying on her back, takes a position then believed to encourage nightmares. Her brilliant coloration is set against the darker reds, yellows, and ochres of the background; Fuseli used a chiaroscuro effect to create strong contrasts between light and shade. The interior is contemporary and fashionable and contains a small table on which rests a mirror, phial, and book. The room is hung with red velvet curtains which drape behind the bed. Emerging from a parting in the curtain is the head of a horse with bold, featureless eyes.


title: The Nightmare

text: For contemporary viewers, "The Nightmare" invoked the relationship of the incubus and the horse (mare) to nightmares. The work was likely inspired by the waking dreams experienced by Fuseli and his contemporaries, who found that these experiences related to folkloric beliefs like the Germanic tales about demons and witches that possessed people who slept alone. In these stories, men were visited by horses or hags, giving rise to the terms "hag-riding" and "mare-riding", and women were believed to engage in sex with the devil. The etymology of the word "nightmare", however, does not relate to horses. Rather, the word is derived from "", a Scandinavian mythological term referring to a spirit sent to torment or suffocate sleepers. The early meaning of "nightmare" included the sleeper's experience of weight on the chest combined with sleep paralysis, dyspnea, or a feeling of dread. The painting incorporates a variety of imagery associated with these ideas, depicting a mare's head and a demon crouched atop the woman.


title: The Nightmare

text: Sleep and dreams were common subjects for the Zürich-born Henry Fuseli, though "The Nightmare" is unique among his paintings for its lack of reference to literary or religious themes (Fuseli was an ordained minister). His first known painting is "Joseph Interpreting the Dreams of the Butler and Baker of Pharaoh" (1768), and later he produced "" (1798) inspired by John Milton's "Paradise Lost", and "Richard III Visited by Ghosts" (1798) based on Shakespeare's play.


title: The Nightmare

text: Fuseli's knowledge of art history was broad, allowing critics to propose sources for the painting's elements in antique, classical, and Renaissance art. According to art critic Nicholas Powell, the woman's pose may derive from the Vatican "Ariadne", and the style of the incubus from , an archaeological site in Sicily. A source for the woman in Giulio Romano's "The Dream of Hecuba" at the Palazzo del Te has also been proposed. Powell links the horse to a woodcut by the German Renaissance artist Hans Baldung or to the marble "Horse Tamers" on Quirinal Hill, Rome. Fuseli may have added the horse as an afterthought, since a preliminary chalk sketch did not include it. Its presence in the painting has been viewed as a visual pun on the word "nightmare" and a self-conscious reference to folklore—the horse destabilises the painting's conceit and contributes to its Gothic tone.


title: The Nightmare

text: The painting is housed at the Detroit Institute of Arts. It was first shown at the Royal Academy of London in 1782, where it "excited … an uncommon degree of interest", according to Fuseli's early biographer and friend John Knowles.


title: The Nightmare

text: It remained well-known decades later, and Fuseli painted other versions on the same theme. Fuseli sold the original for twenty guineas, and an inexpensive engraving by Thomas Burke circulated widely beginning in January 1783, earning publisher John Raphael Smith more than 500 pounds. The engraving was underscored by a short poem by Erasmus Darwin, "Night-Mare":


title: The Nightmare

text: Darwin included these lines and expanded upon them in his long poem "The Loves of the Plants" (1789), for which Fuseli provided the frontispiece:


title: The Nightmare

text: Contemporary critics often found the work scandalous due to its sexual themes. A few years earlier Fuseli had fallen for a woman named Anna Landholdt in Zürich, while travelling from Rome to London. Landholdt was the niece of his friend, the Swiss physiognomist Johann Kaspar Lavater. Fuseli wrote of his fantasies to Lavater in 1779; "Last night I had her in bed with me—tossed my bedclothes hugger-mugger—wound my hot and tight-clasped hands about her—fused her body and soul together with my own—poured into her my spirit, breath and strength. Anyone who touches her now commits adultery and incest! She is mine, and I am hers. And have her I will.…"


title: The Nightmare

text: Fuseli's marriage proposal met with disapproval from Landholdt's father, and in any case seems to have been unrequited—she married a family friend soon after. "The Nightmare", then, can be seen as a personal portrayal of the erotic aspects of love lost. Art historian H. W. Janson suggests that the sleeping woman represents Landholdt and that the demon is Fuseli himself. Bolstering this claim is an unfinished portrait of a girl on the back of the painting's canvas, which may portray Landholdt. Anthropologist Charles Stewart characterises the sleeping woman as "voluptuous," and one scholar of the Gothic describes her as lying in a "sexually receptive position." In "Woman as Sex Object" (1972), Marcia Allentuck similarly argues that the painting's intent is to show female orgasm. This is supported by Fuseli's sexually overt and even pornographic private drawings (e.g., "Symplegma of Man with Two Women", 1770–78). Fuseli's painting has been considered representative of sublimated sexual instincts. Related interpretations of the painting view the incubus as a dream symbol of male libido, with the sexual act represented by the horse's intrusion through the curtain. Fuseli himself provided no commentary on his painting.


title: The Nightmare

text: Both the English word "nightmare" and its German equivalent, "Albtraum" (literally, "elf dream"), evoke the image of a malevolent being that causes bad dreams by sitting on the chest of the sleeper.


title: The Nightmare

text: The Royal Academy exhibition brought Fuseli and his painting enduring fame. The exhibition included Shakespeare-themed works by Fuseli, which won him a commission to produce eight paintings for publisher John Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery. One version of "The Nightmare" hung in the home of Fuseli's close friend and publisher Joseph Johnson, gracing his weekly dinners for London thinkers and writers. "The Nightmare" was widely plagiarised, and parodies of it were commonly used for political caricature, by George Cruikshank, Thomas Rowlandson, and others. In these satirical scenes, the incubus afflicts subjects such as Napoleon Bonaparte, Louis XVIII, British politician Charles James Fox, and Prime Minister William Pitt. In another example, admiral Lord Nelson is the demon, and his mistress Emma, Lady Hamilton, the sleeper. While some observers have viewed the parodies as mocking Fuseli, it is more likely that "The Nightmare" was simply a vehicle for ridicule of the caricatured subject. The Danish painter, Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard, whom Fuseli had met in Rome, produced his own version of "The Nightmare" (Danish: "Mareridt") which develops on the eroticism of Fuseli's work. Abildgaard's painting shows two naked women asleep in the bed; it is the woman in the foreground who is experiencing the nightmare and the incubus—which is crouched on the woman's stomach, facing her parted legs—has its tail nestling between her exposed breasts.


title: The Nightmare

text: Fuseli painted other versions of "The Nightmare" following the success of the first; at least three survive. The other important canvas was painted between 1790 and 1791 and is held at the Goethe Museum in Frankfurt. It is smaller than the original, and the woman's head lies to the left; a mirror opposes her on the right. The demon is looking at the woman rather than out of the picture, and it has pointed, catlike ears. The most significant difference in the remaining two versions is an erotic statuette of a couple on the table.


title: The Nightmare

text: "The Nightmare" likely influenced Mary Shelley in a scene from her famous Gothic novel "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus" (1818). Shelley would have been familiar with the painting; her parents, Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin, knew Fuseli. The iconic imagery associated with the Creature's murder of the protagonist Victor's wife seems to draw from the canvas: "She was there, lifeless and inanimate, thrown across the bed, her head hanging down, and her pale and distorted features half covered by hair." The novel and Fuseli's biography share a parallel theme: just as Fuseli's incubus is infused with the artist's emotions in seeing Landholdt marry another man, Shelley's monster promises to get revenge on Victor on the night of his wedding. Like Frankenstein's monster, Fuseli's demon symbolically seeks to forestall a marriage.


title: The Nightmare

text: Edgar Allan Poe may have evoked "The Nightmare" in his short story "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1839). His narrator compares a painting hanging in Usher's house to a Fuseli work, and reveals that an "irrepressible tremor gradually pervaded my frame; and, at length, there sat upon my heart an incubus of utterly causeless alarm". Poe and Fuseli shared an interest in the subconscious; Fuseli is often quoted as saying, "One of the most unexplored regions of art are dreams".


title: The Nightmare

text: Fuseli's "Nightmare" reverberated with twentieth-century psychological theorists. In 1926, American writer Max Eastman paid a visit to Sigmund Freud and claimed to have seen a print of "The Nightmare" displayed next to Rembrandt's "The Anatomy Lesson" in Freud's Vienna apartment. Psychoanalyst and Freud biographer Ernest Jones chose another version of Fuseli's painting as the frontispiece of his book "On the Nightmare" (1931); however, neither Freud nor Jones mentioned these paintings in their writings about dreams. Carl Jung included "The Nightmare" and other Fuseli works in his "Man and His Symbols" (1964).


title: The Nightmare

text: Tate Britain held an exhibition titled "Gothic Nightmares: Fuseli, Blake and the Romantic Imagination" between 15 February and 1 May 2006, with the "Nightmare" as the central exhibit. The catalogue indicated the painting's influence on films such as the original "Frankenstein" (1931) and "The Marquise of O" (1976). Among modern artists, Balthus incorporated elements of "The Nightmare" in his work (e.g., "The Room", 1952–54).


title: The Nightmare

text: The painting inspired the title and some of the themes in the 2015 German psychological horror film "Der Nachtmahr" (2015).


title: The Nightmare

text: The episode "Living the Nightmare" of the animated series "DC Superhero Girls" features a creature that causes nightmares, resembles the incubus from the painting, and is named Fuseli.


title: The Nightmare

text: Two characters in the music video for ”Lost in the Fire” by Gesaffelstein & The Weeknd, display clear reference to The Nightmare.


title: 2000s in fashion

text: 2000s fashion is often described as being a global mash up, where trends saw the fusion of vintage styles, global and ethnic clothing (e.g. boho), as well as the fashions of numerous music-based subcultures. Hip-hop fashion generally was the most popular among young people of all sexes, followed by the retro inspired indie look later in the decade.


title: 2000s in fashion

text: Those usually age 25 and older adopted a dressy casual style which was popular throughout the decade. Globalization also influenced the decade's clothing trends, with the incorporation of Middle Eastern and Asian dress into mainstream European, American and Australasian fashion. Furthermore, eco-friendly and ethical clothing, such as recycled fashions and fake fur, were prominent in the decade.


title: 2000s in fashion

text: In the early 2000s, many mid and late 1990s fashions remained fashionable around the globe, while simultaneously introducing newer trends. The later years of the decade saw a large-scale revival of clothing designs primarily from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.


title: 2000s in fashion

text: The leading fashion designers between 2000 and 2009 included the late Alexander McQueen, Vera Wang, Christian Louboutin, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Vivienne Westwood, and Karl Lagerfeld.


title: 2000s in fashion

text: The early to mid-2000s saw a rise in the consumption of fast fashion: affordable off-the-peg high street clothing based on the latest high fashion designs. With its low cost appeal driven by trends straight off the runway, fast fashion was a significant factor in the fashion industry's growth. As affordable clothing became even more important in the entrance to the new age, brands had to find a way to keep up with their consumer's new spending habits.


title: 2000s in fashion

text: During the year 1999, department stores such as Macy's, J.C. Penney, Kohl's and more had sales totaling $230 billion. In the years that followed, that number began to fall. By the early 2000s the rise of online retail and in-store fast fashion caused department store sales to dwindle in the wake of new styles being offered quicker than ever before by retailers. Retail giants of the new millennium included H&M, Forever 21, and Zara. Notably, the retailer Target found major success in collaborating with various fashion designers for affordable designer pieces available for the average consumer.


title: 2000s in fashion

text: This trend in fast fashion allowed shoppers to own designer items at lower prices, also allowing the acceptance and production of copycat styles. Designers noticed their designs were being knocked-off, and decided to do something about it. In 2004, the retail giant H&M, a master in rolling out fast fashion, collaborated with fashion designer Karl Lagerfield to introduce a one-time collection which proved to be a huge success, as women flocked to H&M stores to own a piece of the designer's 30 selections available in the collection.


title: 2000s in fashion

text: Stores such as Wet Seal and American Apparel are said to be "American precursors to the fast fashion empire". As well as the retail stores Hollister, Abercrombie & Fitch and possibly on a much smaller scale Limited Too, but in the end, stores like Forever 21 were better able to stay on top of the retail game.