The Dark Knight Rises doesn’t open for another six months, but tickets for July 19 IMAX midnight screenings of the film are already on sale in a few major markets. A quick Fandango check reveals that you can currently buy tickets for the sure-to-be-bleak sequel (bleakquel?) for a theater in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York. Or sorry, strike that — the New York IMAX screening is already sold out. If the other cities hold true to form, L.A. will be sold out soon but will eventually claim that it sold out first, while San Francisco will invent a new method of selling out that involves social networking somehow.

A representative for Fandango told EW that it’s unusual for movie tickets to go on sale this far in advance, comparing this treatment of Rises to Avatar — which was selling tickets about four months in advance. Warner Bros. did not immediately comment on the decision to sell the midnight IMAX tickets early. You might have expected the announcement that tickets were going on sale would have been, you know, an actual announcement, but it’s entirely possible that Rises‘ stealth opening was intentionally in keeping with the film’s ever-mysterious marketing campaign. The point is, some extremely devoted New York fanboy who Fandango’d Dark Knight Rises every hour on the hour for the last year is now going to see the midnight screening, and you’re not. So if you have any intention of seeing Rises on opening weekend, and not on a weekday afternoon, I recommend keeping an eye out for any further news about Batman tickets.