Hong Kong is China'a psuedo-equivalent to the USA's Hollywood and one of the moviemaking capital of the world. Unlike other cinema genres, Hong Kong's action-themed movies were also able to achieve popularity in the West and stars such as Jackie Chan have found worldwide celebrity status as a result.
However, Hong Kong's film industry has experienced a downturn since the mid-1990s due to various factors including rampant piracy of movies and increasing competition from mainland and foreign films.
One of the ways the Hong Kong film industry hopes to reverse this trend is encouraging production of more foreign films in Hong Kong. That brings us to Batman who is currently flying around Hong Kong harbor (Warner Bros sent Hong Kong residents a warning notice of aerial filming). Despite his superhero powers, even Batman seems to be having a hard time with the Hong Kong air and water pollution (Warner Bros. decided to cut a scene due to pollution in Victoria Harbor), but the local film industry hopes he'll be able to breathe some light into the local film production inustry. Scenes are currently being filmed in Hong Kong's Central, Wanchai, Western and Tsim Sha Tsui districts.
The Dark Knight, the latest sequal in the Batman franchise is being filmed here in Hong Kong as well as many other locations around the world. This sequel, to be released in 2008, continues the vigilante plot developed in the 2005 sequel, Batman Begins, and stars Christian Bale as Batman and Heath Ledger as his wickedly humorous nemesis, the Joker.
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