The Dark Knight Rises is the third and final instalment in Christopher Nolan's Batman fantasy film trilogy, and is a sequel to Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008). Directed by Christopher Nolan and based on the DC Comics character Batman, The Dark Knight Rises saw Batman coming out of an eight year retirement to combat Bane, a terrorist leader with plans to destroy Gotham City with a nuclear fusion core left behind from a failed clean energy project. Batman ultimately saved the city from destruction by airlifting the bomb with a helicopter to detonate it over the ocean.

The July 20th opening night of The Dark Knight Rises saw the worst shooting violence in U.S. history with a 24 year old student killing and injuring 70 people at a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado. Despite of the shooting tragedy, The Dark Knight Rises performed strongly at the box office during its opening weekend, grossing $160 million, the highest ever for a non-3D film.