Fancy seeing six minutes of The Dark Knight Rises this December, rather than having to wait until its July 20th, 2012 release? Well, while Warner isn’t saying anything, it appeared a large chunk of Batman 3 footage will be attached to IMAX prints of Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol.
If this turns out to be true, it would seem a slightly a odd move for Warner Bros., as it’ll mean they’re attaching a highly-anticipated prologue to a Paramount Pictures movie, and therefore helping a competitor. However, Warner doesn’t have any IMAX titles slated for release around Christmas, and Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol will likely skew towards the same audience of The Dark Knight Rises. Plus, to get maximum eyeballs on The Dark Knight Rises footage, in the US the new Mission: Impossible opens in IMAX cinemas on December 16, five days ahead of its general wide release on December 21.
Warner Bros. employed a similar tactic in December 2007, when it attached the opening minutes of The Dark Knight to prints of I Am Legend. Whether this footage will also be attached to UK Mission: Impossible IMAX prints isn’t known, but we’d expect it will be.