Dark Knight DVD Buying Guide

You’re just a few hours away from the DVD/Blu-ray release of this year’s best picture, The Dark Knight. Not only is Batman’s latest movie one of the best comic book movies ever made, it’s also a cinematic masterpiece, artistically assembled by a slew of brilliant performers.

Tonight many stores are celebrating the release of The Dark Knight with midnight release parties including free giveaways of some sort or another. This is welcome news for those who want to avoid Wal-Mart but want to race out at midnight to get their copy as soon as possible. If I didn’t have to be cogent at six a.m., I would probably be heading to my local Best Buy just to see what the celebrations involve.

But which version of The Dark Knight should you pick up? Well, that depends entirely upon how big a film fan you are, because Warner Brothers is releasing several different versions of the movie, attempting to cater to every single possible audience out there.

Obviously the big enchilada is the Blu-ray edition, which offers The Dark Knight in high definition, as well as a digital downloadable version for your laptop or iPod. The release contains over 90-minutes of bonus material, including “Creation of a Scene” which shows just how much planning goes into making a special effects spectacular happen. The cool added feature of the Blu-ray version is the BD-Live feature, which allows you to screen the movie with friends through the Live Community Screening and create your own commentary track to share with friends. Most places are selling the Blu-ray edition for around $25.

If the Blu-ray edition isn’t spectacular enough for your elitist tastes, there’s an even better version, which includes a bat-pod replica case to display your movie. It’s a beautiful looking way to show off The Dark Knight, although I’m not 100% certain the $50 price tag is worth it. I’ll have to see it firsthand to decide that.

On the DVD side, the simple release of the movie is a single disc version of The Dark Knight available in either widescreen or full frame You’re not getting much more than just the movie, but for some people that’s enough (although buying an epic scale movie like The Dark Knight in full frame should be made a cardinal sin). For around fifteen bucks, you can’t ask for a more economical way to get this year’s best film.

For those who want a bit more of a bang, but haven’t moved to Blu-ray, there’s the two disc special edition DVD, which includes a few behind-the-scenes features (that “Creation of a Scene” featurette we talked about earlier as well as a look at the IMAX approach director Christopher Nolan took on the movie), as well as that ever so popular digital version of the movie. My big complaint about the special edition is that it’s running around the same price as the Blu-ray edition, even though it carries a little less (especially since it’s not high definition).

If the four different editions of The Dark Knight aren’t enough, what you wind up getting with your purchase may vary based on where you pick up your copy of The Dark Knight as well. Different stores are getting different exclusives to tempt you with, from steelbook packaging to a batlogo journal that looks quite nice, although a lot of the exclusives are only being offered with the upper tier versions of the movie. Here’s a list of what different places are offering to try and get your Dark Knight business:

• Best Buy
• Free Joker playing card (which features an image of Batman in the advertisements) with purchase of any of the editions.
• Free Batman or Joker replica mask with purchase of the 2-disc DVD or the Blu-ray Batpod gift set
• Free $20 Best Buy gift card with purchase of the Blu-ray edition and a Samsung Blu-ray player
  
  Circuit City

• Exclusive “Why So Serious” slipcover for 2-disc DVD
• Free limited edition Batman logo journal with purchase of 2-disc DVD
  
  Sears
• Free Dark Knight calendar with purchase of 2-disc DVD or the Blu-ray edition
  
  Target
• Collectable Batman mask packaging for 2-disc DVD and Blu-ray editions (like Iron Man had a few months ago)
  
  Toys ‘R’ Us
• Free Batman projector flashlight with purchase of any edition of The Dark Knight
  
  FYE

• Exclusive steelbook packaging on 2-disc DVD edition.
  
  Wal-Mart (shudder)
• Exclusive comic book and Two-Face replica coin with purchase of single disc DVD

If you wind up checking out one of the midnight celebrations, let us know what was worth being there for in the comments section below - after you’re finished watching The Dark Knight in the luxury of your own home, of course. In the meantime, check out the covers of the various editions in the gallery below.

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