UPDATED 06/20/08 10:52am CST USA


Merrick again...


We've had confirmation that the material described below is, indeed, the trailer being shown to focus groups etc.

Seems to be exactly as described, although one reader said he felt "Bale looked a lot older than he did as Bruce, and quite battle scarred".

So there you have it.


--- ORIGINAL ARTICLE FOLLOWS ---

Merrick here...


We've been hearing indications for a while that (not surprisingly) some form of teaser for McG's TERMINATOR SALVATION will be attached to THE DARK KNIGHT.

Ace Hunter sent us this message after taking part in a focus group which (in part, at least) involved the theatrical teaser for "T4".

Ace's description pretty much fits what we've been hearing through the grapevine.

NOTE: in the past we've had reports from focus groups for different projects; occasionally reports accurately describe a variant of trailer that wasn't ultimately used. Which is a convoluted, insufficiently caffeinated way of saying: the person writing to us in those instances actually did see material, but The Powers That Be ended up going with different promos when all was said and done.

So, the presentation below could change a bit between now and when THE DARK KNIGHT drops into theaters on July 18th. For the moment, however, here's where things seem to stand.

It opens with footage of people out in every day life. Christian Bale voiceovers
something like:

"I always knew it would happen"...

Than a pause...

"They told me I could stop it."

The same people begin looking to the sky....

"That I could save us".

Looks of horror come across their faces as he says,

"They were wrong".

Music rises as we cut to black for a second. The Terminator theme starts, with the duh duh,
duh, duh, duh.

NEXT SUMMER appears on the screen...

We get a quick shot looking out over a sunny desert, and then a shot of Bale, in badass commando uniform
and very recognizably the same guy who plays Batman, being lowered into a huge bunker
of weapons.

THE FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE

rolls across, and we get mixed clips from inside one of the survivor bunkers as seen in Terminator 1 - but they look more concentration campish; very crowded, shots of Bale walking with a large crowd. And then the word...

BEGINS.

The music quickly rises as we get shot of a huge truck racing down a high way, a shot or two of a helicopter flying mixed with more close ups of the actors when Bale whispers, "They're coming".

It all goes quiet.

Massive drums blare the beginning of the theme (again) but this time much louder, more pumped up, as we get a metallic silver T that morphs into a 4.

We then get the big money shot of the trailer. Its Bale on a motorcycle with some girl on the back.
They speed through a door of what looks like a warehouse toward us. As soon as they
pass the screen, a huge terminator on wheels, a lot like the one they battle in the
first one, smashes through the wall, chasing them. It looks awesome.

It then says:

Memorial Day 2009.

I was not a big fan of T3 aside from the ending, but this looks really good.

If anyone has a confirm on this, please DROP ME A LINE!