On July 20 , 2012 , during a midnight screening of the film '' The Dark Knight Rises '' at a Century movie theater in Aurora , Colorado , James Eagan Holmes perpetrated a mass shooting , killing 12 and injuring 70 others . It was the second-deadliest shooting in Colorado , and had the largest number of casualties of any U.S. mass shooting until the Orlando nightclub shooting . Christian Bale , who plays Batman in the film , visited several victims in the hospital . The shooting also led to threats of violence across other theaters in the county screening '' The Dark Knight Rises , '' as well as an increase in security in theaters . Holmes is currently serving a sentence of life without parole
Orlando nightclub shooting
Orlando nightclub shooting
History of cinema in the United States