In a mere twenty-four hours, some 12.5 million people downloaded the ‘Dark Knight Rises’ trailer from iTunes. That figure is impressive in its own right, but when you consider the amount of people who have surely watched the trailer in theaters, on YouTube or even our own site, ScienceFiction.com, the response to Christopher Nolan’s final Batman film boggles the mind.

The number of iTunes downloads is a record. That record was held, briefly, by ‘The Avengers’ which clocked in at just over 10 million views in it’s first twenty-four hours. As a comic book fan, its extremely gratifying to see two films based on Marvel and DC’s premier properties field the most downloaded trailers of all time.

The ‘Dark Knight Rises,’ just like 2008’s ‘The Dark Knight’ has built anticipation that has turned into a frenzy every time a video is leaked or a trailer premiers or the mysterious director grants an interview. The second film to star Christian Bale as the titular hero, was the story of 2008 with a half a billion dollar opening weekend. Worldwide, the caped crusader would go on to become a billion dollar industry.

There are huge expectations for both ‘The Avengers’ and ‘Dark Knight Rises.’ With the box office returns of Marvel’s previous movies and the wild success of ‘Dark Knight,’ it will be interesting to see now if next year’s premier box office attractions succeed, but how far they can go.

The trailer was the talk of the moviegoer town following a much discussed prologue airing at IMAX theaters before ‘Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.’ That prologue and now the trailer are our first glimpses of the third Nolan Batman installment on film. Even prior to those official releases, websites were overloaded with traffic every time a set picture found its way onto a site.

With millions downloading the trailer in the first day it became available, one wonders if there are enough screens to accommodate the droves of fans that will turn out to watch the Dark Knight do battle with Bane. Imagine how many could be turned away from theaters with this amount of anticipation. The question that millions will be asking their friends is not if they will be going to see ‘Rises,’ but how soon? Midnight, opening weekend, wait for the crowds to die down? Surely this film will be setting a new standard for blockbusters.

How about you? Did you download the trailer? Will you be in line for that first midnight showing? I know I will…