The Dark Knight Re-Released in U.S. in January

The hit film The Dark Knight was released July 18, 2008 and has grossed $996 million worldwide. On January 23, 2009, however, The Dark Knight will have a chance to reach the $1 billion mark when it is re-released in the United States. Only three other films have grossed $1 billion worldwide - Titanic, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, and The Return of the King, the third of the Lord of the Rings film series.

Not only will The Dark Knight get the opportunity to reach that high and rare ranking that only three other films share, but moviegoers will have a second opportunity to experience the film on the big screen. Dan Fellman, the president of Warner Brothers' U.S. distribution, said that "We wanted to provide one more opportunity for moviegoers to experience it on the big screen as it was meant to be seen."

The January 23 release date puts it one day after the Academy Awards nominations will be released. On December 9, The Dark Knight will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray, and surely will be a popular Christmas gift. Christian Bale has been quoted as saying he believes director Christopher Nolan and the late Heath Ledger deserve nominations, as well as commenting that the film is deserving of a Best Picture nomination, as well.

The Dark Knight has also been iTunes' most downloaded film out of the movies iTunes offers. This does not seem too impressive considering the already obvious popularity of the film, but realize this - the film downloads are only based on preorders so far, as the release date for the DVD is still not until December 9.

This does raise the interesting question of how many people will actually be willing to pay for a theater ticket to go see the film on the big screen, when they could just as easily purchase the DVD or download the movie and watch it in the comfort of their own home. However, the film can almost certainly count on die-hard Batman fans to go see it again. Similarly, people like me who did not have the chance to see it the first time around will likely attend it. Given that there are plenty of Batman fans and people who may have reconsidered their decision not to see it before, I think it's fairly likely that The Dark Knight will reach the $1 billion mark easily with this re-release.

The Dark Knight is available for preorder on Amazon and similar sites. There is also a two-disc special edition with a digital copy of the film included in the package.