Slashfilm first reported and FirstShowing has confirmed an 8-minute prologue for The Dark Knight Rises will play in front of IMAX screenings of Paramount’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol when the fourth Mission: Impossible film hits theaters on December 16.
This makes complete sense considering Warner Bros. pulled a similar stunt when they debuted the opening scene for The Dark Knight in front of I am Legend back in 2008, a scene that debuted Heath Ledger as the Joker. The question must then be asked, will this opening scene debut Tom Hardy as Bane? Or Anne Hathaway as Catwoman?
Brad Bird is making his live-action directorial debut with Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and when it was announced the film would get a early release in IMAX the director was quoted as boasting about the presentation in the large format saying, “I wanted the first people that see the film to see it big with a sharp image and great sound systems, so when they went out and talked about the movie they saw, we would know that they had seen it at its best.”
I can only assume an official statement will be released soon enough should this rumor be true. I checked in with my Warner Bros. contact and they declined to comment, stressing they don’t comment on these sort of rumors and an email to my Paramount contacts was not immediately returned.
The Dark Knight Rises hits theaters on July 20, 2012.
