Dark Knight Japanese B1 movie poster (Heath Ledger / The Joker version), originally uploaded by japanese-movie-posters.

Dark Knight Japanese B1 movie poster (featuring Heath Ledger as The Joker)

I’ll be posting all three of the B1 advance versions for The Dark Knight over the next three days. Up first is the most sought after, featuring Heath Ledger.

Japanese movie posters

I’m not a rabid Batfan and I am apparently in the minority in saying that I think the first Nolan film is the better of the two. End of disclaimer. This poster is really interesting — first off, this is the first time that I’ve seen this setup where the top and bottom of a single poster are meant for two different openings. One part (you can’t really say top or bottom since the poster is largely symmetrical, with credits on both sides) is for a limited advance screening on August 2/3, while the other part is for the wide release of August 9. The poster was meant to be folded or cut at the middle for each respective release — how do we know this? The poster was lightly mechanically scored on the back to facilitate this action.

But what I really like is the unusual paper. It is thick and very very shiny. Glossy, almost to the level of new car paint. You can see some reflections in the right side of the picture. Cool poster.

Original posters from Japan by posterdemic.com