The Poster Memorabilia blog

Batman's Best Movie Premieres in New York City

The night Manhattan turned into Gotham, and one frozen fan found his voice.

By an anonymous Hollywood insider

New York City is the perfect place for a new Batman movie to premiere. The real-life metropolis inspired Gotham City, with all its hustle and bustle, and, unfortunately, the concerning crime rates. This isn't to say the Big Apple is as dangerous as Gotham City, but it's not too far.

I've lived here for most of my life, and while I find it generally safe, I have to admit that there are areas where I have to be more careful than usual. I still have a lot of fun here, though, and there are many perks to living in New York City.

My favorite is going to movie premieres, and one of the best I went to was for The Dark Knight Rises in 2012. It’s one of the best superhero movies ever, as well as one of Christopher Nolan's best features. And that's saying something considering the guy's impressive filmography.

Since it was the final installment of Nolan's Batman trilogy, all of the cast was there. Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Marion Cotillard, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Juno Temple, and more attended. I've never seen that many Hollywood celebrities in person before, so I felt a little overwhelmed.

I think I may have hyperventilated a bit, too. I went there with friends and brought a movie poster that I wanted the cast to sign. Initially, I thought it'd be easy. Something as simple as calling them out and asking for their autograph if and when they came to me. But when reality set in and I finally saw them in the flesh, I froze.

✦ ✦ ✦

Some of my friends would say I'm introverted, but I was never extremely shy. In fact, I'm rather sociable, and even managed to get a good number of my friends to join me at the fan pit of this red-carpet premiere. I really thought I was gonna ace getting autographs for the first time, but I almost lost it.

Emphasis on “almost.” Luckily, my friend got me together just as the cast started going to our side of the venue. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was the first one I met, and he was such a nice guy that it became easy to feel comfortable talking to a celebrity. And as the night went on, I regained my confidence with every other cast member I met.

“There's an extra pep in my step whenever I watch it.”

Getting most of their autographs was the best thing I did that year. I even think that I loved the movie even more since I got its cast to sign my poster. The film itself is a masterpiece; that's undeniable, but there's an extra pep in my step whenever I watch it because I actually got to meet the people in it.

Since that night, I've attended many more movie premieres in New York City. I've also gotten countless celebrity autographs since then, but the ones on this poster will always be special to me. These are the first autographs I got, and they're on a poster for one of the best movies ever. What's not to love?

Some things you watch. This one you keep.

Guaranteed authentic for life • 90-day returns, any reason