Dark Knight Viral: Citizens for Batman Mobilize

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on July 7, 2008

Some have called it the marketing campaign that just won’t die. Others, myself included, have dubbed it the most complex, interesting and utterly brilliant marketing campaign since the dawn of the internet. Either way we can all agree on one thing, there had better be a kick-ass film at the end of all these shenanigans.

Rest assured, my fair minions, that there is in fact a very epic, kick-ass flick at the end of the viral marketing campaign that has challenged us on all levels — everything from voting in a fictional election to deciphering “Why So Serious?” And though these challenges have been great — or in many cases tiresome — on the other side lies The Dark Knight, set to ravage us with its utter awesomeness on July 18th.

This most recent round of marketing comes by way of CitizensforBatman.org, a site dedicated to Gothamites who support the existence of the caped crusader. Last week packages began arriving at random media outlets (of which we were not one) from the Citizens for Batman group, calling for denizens of Gotham to take a stand in support of Batman.

This morning, their website was updated with a countdown and a pair of coordinates (seen above). The countdown will stop at about 9:00pm EST tomorrow, Tuesday, July 8th. The coordinates point to locations in Chicago and New York City. The invitation is pretty clear:

Sometimes, you have to take a stand. You have to fight for respect. You have to let the entire world know you’re here.

On July 8th, nobody will be able to ignore us. Gather at the above coordinates at the appointed time, and help us take a stand in support of Batman!

If you can’t join us on the ground, we’ll be providing a way for you to watch what goes down, live on this website.

Defend Gotham! Defend Batman!

As you can see, it is a meet-up for fans in support of Batman — a meet-up that should draw significant crowds, similar to previous events. While I don’t have too many other details, I can say that the Chicago meet-up is at the courtyard between the two buildings on Wacker Drive (a street that plays a large role in the film) between Monroe Street and Adams Street — view a map here. The New York location is at Thomas Paine Park at Lafayette Street and Centre Street — view a map here.

It is hard to say what will happen at these gatherings, so I don’t want to promise anything. Although, I have heard some rumblings that advance screenings of The Dark Knight are set to begin sometime this week. Again, I have no evidence to back this up — but it is worth noting. Either way, whatever it is should help further along the red hot buzz that is swirling around the film. In my review of The Dark Knight, which was posted this morning, I called it “the most well-crafted superhero movie that I have ever seen, one that transcends genre, on a scale that is as epic as they come and with performances that will shake you to your core.” I don’t know what else I can say beyond that — it is just that good. You should be excited. And if you live in Chicago or New York, you should be getting off your ass and heading down to these two locations tomorrow night to see what is going on. Either that, or you can sit at home and watch the events unfold online with the rest of us — the choice is yours.

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