By Kofi Outlaw

With Heath Ledger’s tragic death the upcoming Batman sequel THE DARK KNIGHT is facing some high hurdles. One of the major dilemmas is how to now market the film. On the one hand, industry analysts predict that fans’ morbid curiosity about Ledger’s final performance will help fill theaters, and that the current marketing strategy—namely highlighting Leger’s groundbreaking turn as The Joker—should continue.

“If this was the first ‘Batman’ film, you’d be interested in how Christian Bale plays Batman,” [‘Variety’s’ Stuart Levine] told AFP. “But in this you want to see how Heath Ledger plays the Joker…I think it would be a mistake to take him away from the marketing campaign because in a morbid kind of way people want to see his performance because he’s passed away, and because if you’re a fan of the franchise you want to see heow he plays the Joker.”

On the other hand, using the late actor’s image to promote DARK KNIGHT could backfire, if moviegoers feel that the Warner Bros., the studio behind the film, was exploiting Ledger’s death to sell tickets.

“I think they have to take Heath Ledger’s face off the posters,” [Movies.com’s Lew Harris] told AFP. “I think the studio will be extremely sensitive and not want to be seen as trying to benefit from the tragedy in any way. It would be appalling to start seeing posters of Heath Ledger’s Joker appearing on billboards or bus-stops.”

One executive from a rival studio pitched a third option to the “Wall Street Journal”: that the marketing campaign should continue, as if nothing had changed.

“The best thing that could happen is that all this marketing stuff just goes on and the movie and the campaign don’t turn into some kind of weird grave marker,” he told the paper.

Whatever promotional strategy the studio chooses, it might all be a moot point if Ledger didn’t finish his voicework on DARK KNIGHT, before his untimely death. Many movies shot at outside locations require a crucial post-production process called “automated dialogue replacement,” or ADR, where actors must re-record lines which may have been muddled by incidental noise while filming.

According to many fan sites like Ain’t-It-Cool-News, sources close to DARK KNIGHT have confirmed that the Ledger’s post-production voice-looping was in fact completed before he died. Ledger himself echoed this assertion while promoting the Bob Dylan film I’M NOT THERE, saying he was finished with his work on DARK KNIGHT.

However, E! online columnist Ted Casablanca recently posted a statement claiming that yet ANOTHER source close to the film had told him that Ledger had completed “zero” post-production work on the movie. If that were truly the case, Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. would have a serious problem on their hands.

If they need voice work, my advice would be to call on Mark Hamill, who gave a wonderful turn as the Joker all those years on BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES. In terms of marketing, if the Ledger family is cool with it, I say honor Heath’s performance by letting his character come to life, on billboards posters and TV screens all over the world. The makers of THE CROW faced the same hurdle when star Brandon Lee was killed on set, and decided to push on, in honor of Lee’s performance. Now that film is considered a cult classic. What more could any actor ask for?

How do you think that DARK KNIGHT should be marketed now that Heath is gone? Or are you just glad that no one has suggested pulling the film altogether? I know I am. Rant back and let us know what you think.