The highly anticipated, newest Batman film, "The Dark Knight" opens nationwide today and you'd have to be living in a cave not to have heard all the buzz around it. Starring the late Heath Ledger in the final role of his life, fans are flocking to see what many say is also the best performance of his life.
Fans across the country began lining up hours before "The Dark Knight's" debut Friday vying to be among the first to lay eyes on the latest installment of the Batman series.
One excited fan says "we were here really early, and we were lucky to get the tickets actually."
... and take in the final performance of actor Heath Ledger's life.
Another "Batman" fan says "everyone's going to be curious to see how well he did. From what I heard, he stayed in character the whole time too, even off set, which is interesting."
In perhaps the darkest and, critics say, best role of his life, Ledger plays a savage, vicious Joker, the chief rival to billionaire crime fighter Bruce Wayne.
It's a role that many say merits a posthumous oscar for Ledger who died in January of an accidental overdose.
Actor Michael Caine, who plays "Alfred" in the movie, says "it's just a sense of waste, you know. This would have been such a wonderful moment for him."
It's also made the film one of the year's most anticipated.
If you're thinking about seeing the movie this weekend, good luck. Nearly a thousand performances are already sold out across the country, and The Dark Knight is expected to beat Spiderman as the highest grossing comic book film of all time.
Another Batman milestone: the director used an Imax camera to shoot six of the film's biggest action scenes including Ledger's first appearance.
Only one actor has ever won an Oscar after death was Peter Finch for 1976's "Network." James Dean was nominated twice after his untimely death but lost both times.
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