the buzz log

Countless articles were written about "The Dark Knight"'s weekend at the box office. But amid the bat-mania we noticed something else lurking within the Buzz—a near across-the-board increase in lookups for actors from past Batman flicks.

The biggest jump belonged to Jack Nicholson who played the Joker in the 1989 film, “Batman.” Interest in the man with the sinister grin surged an impressive 461%. That jump was no doubt due to all the talk surrounding the late Heath Ledger’s performance in “The Dark Knight.” Folks love to compare and contrast badguys, which helps to explain the searches on “heath ledger joker vs. jack nicholson joker.”

Director Tim Burton also rocked the Search box. Lookups on the director of two of Batman’s films nearly doubled. Related lookups on “tim burton batman” and “tim burton filmography” also scaled the walls of Buzz.

Of all the previous caped crusaders, Val Kilmer experienced the biggest surge, up 56%. George Clooney, who played Batman in the 1997 disaster "Batman and Robin," rose a modest 21% while Michael Keaton, the original Bruce Wayne, "soared" a mere 14%. How soon they forget. 

Still, even Mr. Keaton faired better than Tommy Lee Jones. Searches on the man who played Harvey "Two-Face" Dent in "Batman Forever" actually fell a few percentage points over the weekend. Did Aaron Eckhart's take on the twisted district attorney make folks forget about Tommy's over-the-top version? Anyone who caught a glimpse of Jones with fluorescent purple make-up knows that’s probably for the best.