DC's 'Dark Knight Rises' Trailer To Pair With Marvel's 'Avengers' Release: Confirmed

Attention, fanboys! Once again the earth is about to spin off its axis when comic worlds collide. I've confirmed that Warner Bros/DC Comics' The Dark Knight Rises will debut its 3rd trailer when Marvel's The Avengers opens on May 4th. 'Yes, our 3rd trailer will be out with The Avengers,' a Warner Bros exec just told me. 'We see this placement as a good strategic decision. We always want our trailers to be seen with films that people want to see ' and a lot of people will be going to The Avengers!' The pairing was first teased by the Warner Bros Exhibitor website, and spotted by NolanFans.com. Both 2D and 3D conventional showings of The Avengers (as well as 2D and 3D IMAX showings) will be playing the TDKR trailer. This isn't the first time Warner Bros has placed a big DC Comics trailer in front of a Marvel movie. Back in 2008, the third trailer for The Dark Knight played before showings of Iron Man. (In 2010, interestingly, the final trailer for Christopher Nolan's Inception played in front of Iron Man 2.) When I suggested that newly intensified DC vs Marvel rivalry might preclude this kind of trailer pairing, the studio exec explained, 'It will provide the best potential exposure for TDKR. It's a big positive for everyone!' And certainly a boon for Joss Whedon's pic. After all, when TDKR's first major glimpse paired with Paramount's Mission Impossible 4's release in late 2011, it goosed MI4's opening numbers. The only question now will be which movie makes more moolah: Batman 3 or The Avengers. I'm confident that both could set new 3-day weekend numbers. So far The Dark Knight Rises, which opens July 20th, has released two official trailers ' a teaser that focused on Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman), and a trailer that spotlighted the villainous Bane (Tom Hardy).

Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.