Warner Bros. has released 4K enhanced versions of the original teaser trailers for Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises.
Released in 2005, Batman Begins was Nolan's fourth movie as director and second with Warner Bros. after his remake of the Norwegian thriller Insomnia. The 4K teaser trailer features the same footage as the regular version, including clips that show Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) meeting Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson) -- unaware of his true identity -- and training with the League of Shadows. It ends with the now-iconic moment in which Bruce, donning his Batman costume for the first time, gets the drop on one of Carmine Falcone's henchmen.
The Dark Knight Rises came out in 2012 and served as the last entry in Nolan's Batman trilogy. Picking up eight years after the events of 2008's The Dark Knight, the film pits Bruce Wayne against Bane (Tom Hardy) and the League of Shadows while also incorporating the Caped Crusader's classic frenemy Selina Kyle/Catwoman, played by Anne Hathaway. Unlike Batman Begins, Nolan shot most of The Dark Knight Rises with IMAX 70 mm film cameras, so the visuals in the 4K version of its trailer are all the crisper for it.
Batman Begins earned a warm reception from critics upon its release, with most reviews praising the movie for diving deeper into Bruce Wayne's psychology than earlier live-action films about the character. And while some still prefer the heightened style of Tim Burton's Batman movies to Nolan's more grounded approach, that didn't prevent Batman Begins from becoming a success at the box office, grossing $373.6 million against a $150 million budget.
Comparatively, The Dark Knight Rises was more much successful financially than Batman Begins, earning over $1 billion in theaters on a net $230 million budget. The critical response was similarly positive, though some reviews felt the movie bit off more than it could chew in terms of its characters and themes. The Dark Knight Rises also drew controversy over its perceived jabs at the Occupy Wall Street movement, although Nolan denied his Batman films have a specific political message.
Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises are available in multiple home media formats, including 4K HD Blu-rays.
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