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Reagen Sulewski: It's sort of the way consumer culture works. A bad association can hurt anything, and this is about as bad an association as it gets. It would be strange for it not to have affected the film, even though there's no reasonable expectation that something like this would ever happen again - it's just one of the many bits of irrational human behavior that we all share. I don't think it's even had a profound effect, but when you're talking about millions of people each week, the effect doesn't have to be that large to be noticed.

Kim Hollis: I do think that it's impossible for people to disassociate The Dark Knight Rises from the events in Colorado. Speaking as a huge fan of Batman in general, I can definitely say that my excitement for the opening of the film was pretty much dashed the morning of Friday, July 20th. I took the day off and had tickets for an 11 a.m. showing (I can't do midnights as I just can't stay awake). I woke up around 6 a.m. that day to horrible news, and I honestly just didn't even know how to disconnect properly. When we went to the theater, I strategically chose seats that were accessible to an exit. I tensed whenever anyone got up. I watched the exit doors. I still greatly enjoyed the film, but I'd be lying if I said that this whack job hasn't impacted the way I look at things.

That's carried over to other films, too. Even in watching an indie flick like Beasts of the Southern Wild, I found myself extremely aware of my surroundings. I haven't shied away from going to movies. Not at all. But I do feel differently now, and I can certainly imagine that a lot of people who were already thinking that watching films at home is preferable would now feel even more justified in having that opinion.

On a side note, I'm also pretty aggravated that because some idiot had to draw attention to himself by doing this, I now have to have my handbag searched at a movie theater. Thanks a lot for all this, asshole.

I have final comment with regard to perception of the film itself. I think that because it is very difficult to separate it from the incident and because the movie is grim and deals with terrorist-type behavior head on, The Dark Knight Rises is somewhat oppressive to watch. Now, I've enjoyed it and seen it twice, but I've heard a number of friends comment that it was just too depressing to deal with. I think that's valid. Batman is a dark character, and Nolan has treated the franchise with deference. It just happens that the triumphant finale to his trilogy was as ill-timed as possible.

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