Advance tickets for what’s likely the most anticipated film of the year went on sale yesterday, and it’s a safe bet that a great deal of The Dark Knight Rises midnight tickets are for IMAX screenings. Director Christopher Nolan has made his preference for the format abundantly clear, and he filmed nearly an hour of The Dark Knight Rises in IMAX. Select AMC theaters will be playing the first two entries in Nolan’s trilogy, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight back-to-back leading up to the midnight release of Rises, and now comes word that all three will be shown in the IMAX format. Hit the jump for more.Update: We reached out to IMAX and they confirmed that while Batman Begins was released previously in IMAX, this is the first time the film is being converted to digital IMAX in order for it to screen in IMAX theaters with digital projectors for the marathon.Nolan filmed a few scenes of The Dark Knight in IMAX, and those that caught the film in the ginormous format know how great it looked. Given Nolan’s love affair with the large-scale presentation, it makes sense that he’d want the trilogy marathon to be screened in IMAX theaters as well. Now Variety reports that Batman Begins is being converted to digital IMAX for the first time in order to be projected on the big, big screen in front of The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. Batman Begins was released in 55 IMAX theaters back in 2005, but this will be its first time in digital IMAX.The trilogy marathon is taking place at 296 AMC locations, 76 of which will be in IMAX. All three films will also be screened in the regular format, but die-hard fans of the franchise won’t hesitate to drop the $40 necessary to score a ticket to the IMAX trilogy presentation against the $25 price for non-IMAX. Regardless of format choice, trilogy-goers will receive a collectible lanyard, a commemorative poster, and a $5 voucher for AMC Stubs members to use that day.If you haven’t yet purchased your tickets for The Dark Knight Rises, you should probably do that now: 
Here’s the trailer for Batman Begins:
