In New Dark Knight Rises Trailer Spoof, A Royal Hero Emerges

Earlier, we reported that Christopher Nolan tweaked the audio of his Dark Knight Rises prologue so that IMAX audiences could better understand Tom Hardy’s hulking villain, Bane. But we had no idea that those tweaks involved inserting Simba, Scar and the cast of Disney’s The Lion King:

OK, so it’s a parody trailer for one of the most anticipated films of 2012. But still, who knew that the audio from Nolan’s latest Rises trailer would synch so perfectly to animated imagery from The Lion King? Even some of the facial reactions from characters like Nala and Zazu match the dialogue delivered by Anne Hathaway and Michael Caine. The gathered hyenas were excellent for the Bane chant, as well. Too bad I couldn’t understand a single word Scar was saying. Hopefully that will be rectified before the final cut reaches theaters in Summer 1994.

Rarely are these spoof teasers worth a damn. But the wizards at MovieMaestroTen did an excellent job mirroring these two classic works, and it’s a nice diversion as we wait for the next bit of Dark Knight Rises news to hit the Web. Speaking of, I wonder if we’ll get anything new for a while. We’ve seen posters, trailers and IMAX prologues. It might be time for radio silence until Comic-Con, when Warner can kick their campaign into high gear ahead of the film’s July 20 release date. We shall see.

Sean O'Connell
Managing Editor

Sean O’Connell is a journalist and CinemaBlend’s Managing Editor. Having been with the site since 2011, Sean interviewed myriad directors, actors and producers, and created ReelBlend, which he proudly cohosts with Jake Hamilton and Kevin McCarthy. And he's the author of RELEASE THE SNYDER CUT, the Spider-Man history book WITH GREAT POWER, and an upcoming book about Bruce Willis.