The Dark Knight Magazine Cover...

The film magazine cover for 'the Dark Knight' is very basic in terms of what is on the cover, but uses an interesting twist to attract people to the magazine, and then going on to buy it. The magazine 'EMPIRE' has released magazines with different covers, half having Batman himself appearing on the cover while the other half have the Joker appearing on the front. This gives people a new reason to buy the magazine, as in buying one or the other, you are able to feel like you are choosing a side, be it good or evil. The contents of the magazine are the same, although the version with the Joker on the front cover has little additions which the Batman version doesn't, such as drawings over the top of pictures of people already in the magazine, leaving their faces looking similar to the face of the Joker in the film. This small change will intrigue readers further, as they will want to see what the other version of the magazine looks like, despite which one they saw originally, this is a great way to make people talk about the magazine and also sell more copies to those who choose to purchase both. The covers themselves give very little away about the movie itself, linking it to the teaser trailer which is also very vague. The pictures simply show the face of either the Joker or Batman in the exact same pose, their head tilted to the floor but looking straight at the camera. The identical pose emphasises the battle between the two. The background of both covers is completely black, drawing complete focus to the faces of the two main characters. The pictures don't need to show much more than that, for the simple reason that people know the the basic outline of a Batman film before they see it. With there being previous Batman films, audiences have come to know and love the Batman franchise, therefore they do not need to be sold the storyline, as they already know that the film is based around the battle between Batman and the Joker, and thats enough to sell the film to audiences. The writing on the cover doesn't include much about the film either, with most of the lines referring to articles inside the magazine. The only line used is 'Batman vs Joker, Summer just got Serious'. This line is in very small font suggesting that its the picture which is meant to be the mian focus point of the cover, but that one line sums up why people would want to watch it, to see the rivalry of Batman and the Joker come to a head. The simplicity of the line also reinforces that most people who are going to see the film have been waiting a long time for its release, and the line 'summer just got serious' will excite people that the film is finally coming and the wait is over.

In all, the magazine covers promoting the release of 'The Dark Knight' give nothing new away about the film, which for people who are dying to know more, will make them want to buy the magazine and read more. Also, with the film being highly anticipated, the importance of attracting people through magazine covers isn't as high, so the introduction of the rival covers, to see which side readers are on, gives the magazine a unique selling point to keep it interesting.