CinemaCon 2012: 'Dark Knight Rises,' 'Dark Shadows' Footage Revealed

LAS VEGAS -- Christopher Nolan promised theater owners in Las Vegas on Tuesday that The Dark Knight Rises will provide a "thrilling conclusion" to his Batman trilogy and showed a selection of scenes from the tentpole never previously seen.

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The footage included numerous exchanges between Batman, played by Christian Bale, and Catwoman, played by Anne Hathaway, with one shot suggesting they are allies. And -- perhaps ending the intrigue over the clarity of Bane's voice in the movie's opening scene -- Bane's voice was much more clear in a new snippet shown Tuesday.

Dark Knight Rises was part of Warner Bros. and New Line's star-studded presentation at CinemaCon, which runs throughout the week at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The studio also wowed with footage from Dark Shadows, Rock of Ages, The Campaign, The Great Gatsby -- and, in one of the highlights of the week -- 10 minutes from New Line and Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

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Dark Knight Rises opens July 20 and is already being tagged as one of the biggest grossers of 2012.

"We wanted to finish this in the biggest way possible," said Nolan as he took the stage at The Colosseum at Caesars after being introduced by Warner Bros. Motion Pictures Group president Jeff Robinov, who said Nolan is known on the lot as "The Governor."

Robinov wasn't the only one to invoke nicknames. Dark Shadows director Tim Burton, decked in black sunglasses, took the stage to talk about his upcoming film, which marks his eighth collabration with Johnny Depp. Beckoning Depp from the wings, Burton said, "Come on, Sweetsie."

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Burton said he was obsessed with the soap opera Dark Shadows as a kid and that it even kept him from his homework. "That's why I was such a lousy student," he said.

The filmmaker confessed he, Depp -- who also was obsessed with the soap opera — and Michelle Pfeiffer were the only ones on the set who remembered the show. He said he and Depp "have a very strange love of weird cultural phenomenon."

Adam Shankman followed Nolan on the stage to show raucous scenes from New Line's summer musical Rock of Ages. Shankman called the project "like Hairspray but with booze and strippers."

"I'm older than he is, but I want to be Christopher Nolan when I grow up. After I saw the footage, I just looked at him and said, 'You f---er, that is some bad ass shit,'" Shankman added.

Director Jay Roach introduced clips from his upcoming comedy The Campaign—which pits Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis against each other in a Congressional race.

Roach said that they considered putting the comedians up against each other in a variety of situations before decided on politics. He added that the movie's August release data would “make sure nothing crazier happens” before the Presidential election.