Warner Bros. launchs slew of Dark Knight websites

Posted by Chris

November 23, 2007

Well. Warner Bros. certainly isn’t resting on its laurels. Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone it has launched a whole series of websites related to The Dark Knight marketing campaign. Like the Joker-related sites it’s previously launched each one of these is designed to create an immersive experience for those watching and playing along at home.

First comes The Gotham Times, the site for the city’s newspaper. It’s just designed like a print paper’s front page, with stories about Batman saving an entire family, mob fights, Harvey Dent’s quest to root out police corruption and more. I have no idea if this will be updated with new stories as the weeks go countdown to the movie’s release but that’s not a bad idea.

Of course just like what happened to Harvey Dent’s campaign site, the Joker has posted his own version of the Times, this one at Ha Ha Ha Times. Here he’s taken liberties with the paper’s various headlines and made a bunch of alterations to the pictures. In one of the stories there are a bunch of random sentence snippets circled but I can’t figure out what exactly they’re trying to spell out or what the hidden message might be. Anyone have any ideas?

Harvey Dent is behind the We Are the Answer site, which is supposed to be an online hotline of sorts for citizens of Gotham to be able to report instances of what they think might be police corruption. There’s also the Gotham Police site that has public safety information and guidelines for submitting an employment application. Part of that site and the news on the Gotham Times site has to do with an attack in “The Narrows” (lower Wacker in Chicago is where that’s shot) and it appears a young woman named Gina was killed there. She’s memorialized on Remembering Gina.

Finally, there’s an official site for Gotham National Bank. Not sure how this plays into the rest of the plot as it’s unfolded thus far, but I’m sure it will reflect something – say, an attack by the Joker – soon.

This continues one of the best online campaigns – yes, I’m going to say it – ever. This campaign is obviously being thought out by someone or a group of someones who are creating a powerful cohesive experience. I don’t think for a minute that these sites are being created haphazardly or without thought as to how they’re going to lead into the story of the movie, adding a bit to the story for those who are playing along.