Clowns stormed Hollywood tonight for a mere taste of the upcoming Batman Begins sequel The Dark Knight. And I don't think I've ever seen such ridiculous madness. Not for a two and a half minute trailer. The line to get into the theater was longer than any line I saw last summer. And those guys were waiting for an entire movie. This insane crowd came out and preformed monkey tricks for something they'll be able to watch on the Internet for free soon enough. This just goes to prove how massively successful The Dark Knight has the potential to be. If fans are going to turn out in droves for just a couple of scenes from the movie, imagine what will happen when they get to see the whole thing.

The premier of the new The Dark Knight trailer kicked off with a viral campaign that included a scavenger hunt just outside the Mann's Chinese Six at Hollywood & Highland. Clowns from all over the city were instructed to log onto Why So Serious/Its All Part of the Plan, where they were given a set of map coordinates. This led them into the Kodak Theater courtyard, where, at precisely 5:30 pm they were given a set of instructions that eventually led them into the theater showing the trailer. It was a mad mob of people rushing down the street in one sweaty clown mass. It was pretty hectic and scary (we will have video for you very soon).

The best part was when the Highland security force came down and made most of the clowns leave, because they did not have permission to be on the property. It was sort of like being at an Insane Clown Posse show. Except not as cool (ooh, open dig!). We have some photos from the event. Here is what we saw:

The Dark Knight opens July 18th, 2008.

The Dark Knight was released July 18th, 2008 and stars Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Monique Gabriela Curnen. The film is directed by Christopher Nolan.