'The Dark Knight' Is Named Favorite Chicago-Made Film

By Gwendolyn Purdom in Arts & Entertainment on Aug 25, 2016 4:09PM

The wine-and-cheese-laden movie watchers have spoken: "The Dark Knight" has been voted the favorite Chicago-made film among Millennium Park summer series audiences. The city announced the pick Wednesday after 12,433 votes were cast for the 2008 Batman film that showcased the city as an electric setting for superheroes brooding on skyscrapers, bad guys delivering disturbing performances that would later earn posthumous Oscars, and a spike in Chicago moviemaking.

In case you missed it, Christian Bale, Chicago native director Christopher Nolan, a scary-clown-faced Heath Ledger, and the rest of the cast and crew took over the Chicago streets to shoot the movie for three months in the summer of 2007. Trucks were flipped over in busy intersections. Buildings were blown up. There was an epic chase scene on Lower Wacker Drive. And all that action (and money) paid off: "The Dark Knight" was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won two (one of which was Ledger's). It also was probably responsible for a spate of movies, and now TV shows, using Chicago as their filming location in the following years ("Transformers," "Divergent," "Man of Steel," all million of those NBC "Chicago" series, etc.), because, let's face it, Nolan made our city look GOOD.

"The Dark Knight" beat out 19 other Chicago classics including "Blues Brothers," "The Fugitive," "Home Alone," and "While You Were Sleeping" for the city-sponsored honor (other favorites like "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" weren't in the running because they were already shown in the Millennium Park series). The beloved movie will be screened in the park's Jay Pritzker Pavilion to close out the summer outdoor movie series on Tuesday, Aug. 30.