The Dark Knight Rises DVD and Blu-Ray Cover Art Revealed

The Avengers DVD went on sale yesterday, but the biggest DVD/ Blu-ray news of the day was the cover art for the upcoming December 3 release of "The Dark Knight Rises."

The film will be released in a number of editions. The first will be single releases for DVD and Blu-Ray. The Blu-Ray's cover art reproduces the poster that was used at the time of release. However, the UK DVD release has the same pose for Batman, but includes a background filled with Police cars that feels more in vein with the mood of the second film in the trilogy ""The Dark Knight" than "The Dark Knight Rises." This image had never been used in any of the marketing for the film so while refreshing to see osme work done on the DVD cover, it is not a particularly successful attempt. This is of course just the UK DVD, so the American DVD release should be closer to the Blu-Ray edition.

Finally, there are two Trilogy box sets. The Bluray edition showcases the bat symbol as the main image on the box against a black background. The set include two 6 discs (2 per film) as well as a trilogy booklet.

What about the Extras?

However, while the box art is impressive, there is no information on what extras will be included. There has been news of a Bane origin scene that was filmed and omitted and many fans have speculated the possibility of a director's cut that reinserts the scenes. However, there are two points that must be addressed. First of all, the director's cut has all but been debunked as Nolan is not a director to include director's cuts of any of his films. More importantly is the actual content everyone is clamoring about. This writer read the entire "Dark Knight Rises" script which included the Bane origin story. Unfortunately for those hoping for pages and pages, the scenes are nothing more than one page of extra material. Nolan has stated that he generally cuts out scenes before shooting them because he does not like to waste time shooting material that won't make the cut.

If anything, don't expect anything out of the ordinary in terms of supplementary material. And if "The Dark Knight" Bluray is any indication, don't expect anything special with the extras.

UPDATE: WARNER BROS. asked us to take down the pictures.