Fans go batty for latest movie

Rotorua movie fans were in bat-heaven last night with the premiere of the final film in the latest Batman saga - The Dark Knight Rises.

Rotorua Reading Cinema Complex manager Adam Morrison said the cinema was showing all three of the latest of the film versions of Batman before screening the new film at 12.01am today.

Batman Begins from 2005 was shown at 6.15pm and 2008's The Dark Knight was shown at 9pm.

The Dark Knight Rises is expected to break global box office records. The film is directed by Christopher Nolan and stars Christian Bale as Batman and Anne Hathaway as Catwoman.

It is the last film in the series directed by Nolan - the previous film was made even more popular after the death of Australian actor Heath Ledger who played The Joker - Batman's arch-enemy - in the film.

Mr Morrison said the cinema would usually show the previous films in a series before the screening of the latest film.

"We've done it before for Twilight and Harry Potter ... so we can finish the trilogy in style leading up to a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises.

"We've had some advanced sales, but not as much as anticipated, but there are some pretty keen Batman fans out there waiting for the screening."

Mr Morrison said the new film would be doing well to beat the quality of the last film. "Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker and his unfortunate death added a lot of excitement and mystique ... let's hope the last one is as good and has a great ending."