Dark Knight Rises Prologue May Run Before Mission: Impossible--Ghost Protocol In IMAX

You may have very little memory of I Am Legend, the 2007 post-apocalyptic Will Smith film, but you probably very much remember the six minutes that ran before it in theaters. Oh, yes you do. Back in December 2007 Warner Bros. pulled the fairly unprecedented move of showing the opening scene of the movie in front of I Am Legend, one of the many steps they took to subtly promote what would go on to become the biggest movie of all time. It's a strategy that worked already once, so why not try it again? Slashfilm hears from an exhibitor source that they'll be doing just that, showing an eight-minute prologue for The Dark Knight Rises in front of all IMAX showings of this December's Mission: Impossible-- Ghost Protocol.

Yes, Dark Knight Rises is a Warner Bros. movie while Mission: Impossible is coming from Paramount, but Dark Knight Rises made extensive use of the IMAX cameras, and I can see the studio wanting to show off some footage on the gigantic screen to entice audiences to come back and see the whole thing in July. If you saw The Dark Knight in IMAX you remember how stunning those sequences were, especially the aerial shots above Gotham in the opening sequence. Plenty of people are already excited for The Dark Knight Rises based on online trailers alone, but there really is nothing like seeing it on the biggest screen possible.

Warner Bros. refused to comment on Slashfilm's story, and we may not know for a while if this sneak peek really is happening. But it sounds like a pretty good plan to me. What do you guys think-- will an extended prologue for The Dark Knight Rises be enough to get you into theaters for Mission: Impossible-- Ghost Protocol?