Warner Brothers has officially confirmed that The Dark Knight will be re-released in theaters again next January just in time for the Oscars. “It’s just a matter of bringing it back as a reminder for people.” The film will return specifically to IMAX theaters for now and they’re uncertain if it’ll return to conventional theaters as well. With The Dark Knight’s current domestic box office total pushing $513 million, it’s obvious that Warner Brothers wants to shoot for that $600 million mark in order to potentially beat Titanic. This re-release is also timed to tie in with the voting season for the Academy Awards, both to highlight the film during that time to remind voters and to capitalize on any buzz from nominations.

This should be great news for all those Dark Knight fans who can’t wait to see it in glorious IMAX yet again, but here’s where things get interesting. The film is actually due out on DVD in December, making this January re-release a much less valuable alternative. Will there be enough interest in January to earn the film another $90 million to push it past Titanic? And is The Dark Knight worthy of additional nominations (e.g. Christopher Nolan for Directing) on top of Heath Ledger? I’ve heard that Warner Brothers is also considering re-releasing the film every year as an event. Seeing it in IMAX is unlike anything I’ve ever been able to repeat, so I might actually take advantage of this re-release in January myself.

We all knew this was coming, so I’m glad to see that WB is not afraid of the hype that this film still has. I’m sure it’ll get at least one additional Oscar nomination which might just be enough to help it earn $90 million more. Although in its current run, it only earned $55 million in IMAX total, and as of this moment, the January re-release is only being planned in IMAX theaters - which makes me believe that it’ll be much harder to beat Titanic than originally thought.

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