Is The Dark Knight Rises already the year's top movie?

The third and final theatrical trailer for The Dark Knight Rises has now landed online. Within minutes it was trending on Twitter, had attracted hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube and was the top story on every entertainment newspaper, magazine and blog across the globe. But it's the way in which Warner Bros. released its latest teaser, as much as what it shows us, that piqued our interest.

Watch the latest Dark Knight Rises trailer and read our analysis

The trailer was one of the treasures awaiting those who were willing to unravel the clues served up by the film's viral marketing campaign, which kicked into gear over on Thedarkknightrises.com yesterday (30 April). The campaign involved film fans all over the world who scavenged for Batman-related graffiti in cities ranging from Kansas City to Leeds via Sao Paulo, Melbourne and Rome; then uploaded evidence of their finds to Twitter to unlock the trailer one frame at a time.

This elaborate approach to marketing movies has become something of a calling card for Christopher Nolan's caped crusader. Word of mouth has been replaced by word of mouse for the movie's marketeers who have become adept at engaging audiences online, using flashmobs, scavenger hunts and innovative online games to whip them into a froth of fevered anticipation.

It used to be that filmmakers would talk and the audience would listen. But viral marketing has changed all that. We no longer simply consume movie marketing. We've become part of it. It's as if we're doing the marketing company's job for them and we're all too happy to do so. After all, we go to cinemas to experience a story and these viral stunts are simply an extension of that story; pieces of a wider narrative jigsaw that blur the boundary between what's reel and what's real.

Whether we're taking part in them or merely reading about them, we're the punters in a cinematic striptease. They offer us a furtive glimpse of the story to come and ask us to play along, all the while being careful not to reveal too much. The release of the movie's previous trailer received more than 12.5 million hits on YouTube within 24 hours and broke records for the most combined downloads from iTunes. This one will no doubt follow suit. At last count The Dark Knight Rises was getting more than 8000 mentions a minute on Twitter.

It's no longer just a film. It's an event and one that everyone's talking about. In a year where it will have to compete with screen icons like James Bond, Spider-man and the inhabitants of Middle Earth; the rough-voiced bat is the ruler of the digital frontier. The army of fans who are already chomping at the bit to descend on cinemas in July have all but guaranteed that The Dark Knight Rises will be victorious in the battle of the box office.

Watch the latest Dark Knight Rises trailer and read our analysis
Latest pics from The Dark Knight Rises