The Dark Knight broke the all-time opening

[historylover]

http://www.boxofficeguru.com/weekend.htm

THIS WEEKEND The eagerly awaited new Batman film The Dark Knight broke the all-time opening weekend box office record and drove the overall North American marketplace to the largest frame in history with moviegoers dumping over $250M into theater cash registers over three days. The new musical Mamma Mia! managed to connect with its non-superhero fan base and posted a strong opening of its own in Knight's shadow while the animated comedy Space Chimps debuted to mild numbers. After back-to-back weekends when ticket sales were softer than last year's, the box office soared to heights never before seen.

Records fell this weekend thanks to sky high demand to see the latest Caped Crusader vehicle The Dark Knight which hauled in a jaw-dropping $155.3M over the Friday-to-Sunday period to set a new industry benchmark. Averaging a stunning $35,579 from 4,366 theaters, the PG-13 comic book flick edged past the previous opening weekend record of $151.1M held by another superhero sequel Spider-Man 3 from the first weekend of May last year. The Peter Parker pic even had more total screens with roughly 10,000 which was about 800 more than Knight's tally. Batman's gross included $18.5M from Thursday night shows between midnight and 3am which also set a record beating the $16.9M of 2005's Star Wars Episode III. Critics piled on praise for the $180M-budgeted Dark Knight which scored some of the best reviews of the year.

The new Batman film reunited director Christopher Nolan and actor Christian Bale who successfully rebooted the franchise with 2005's Batman Begins after the series was left for dead after 1997's disastrous Batman & Robin starring George Clooney and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Begins opened on a Wednesday in mid-June with $48.7M over three days and $72.9M over its five-day opening period leading to a solid $205.3M domestic final. The Dark Knight will surpass that mark in under a week's time. Veteran character actors Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, and Morgan Freeman also returned while Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Heath Ledger joined the cast. Ledger's acclaimed performance as The Joker became a magnet attracting millions of comic and action fans and his accidental death in January only heightened the curiosity factor making the must-see film of 2008.

The Dark Knight blew open the bank vault door on Friday and made off with an eye-popping $67.9M (including Thursday night midnight sales) smashing the records for best opening day and best single day gross ever. Both of those marks were held by Spider-Man 3 with $59.8M. Sales fell sharply on Saturday by 29% to $48M, still an amazing haul, and Warner Bros. is estimating that Sunday's gross will slip by only 18% and come in at $39.5M. Knight's Saturday and Sunday tallies were the second best ever. The Spidey threequel can still claim those records with $51.3M and $39.9M, respectively. Rival studios on Sunday projected a three-day tally between $151-153M. Final numbers will be released on Monday.

Also adding excitement to the film's release was the fact that Dark Knight was the first regular movie to use IMAX cameras during filming. Six action sequences were shot with the heavy-duty equipment allowing those who see the film in IMAX theaters a greater entertainment experience. This helped Knight set a new record for biggest IMAX opening with $6.2M from 94 venues this weekend for a scorching $66,000 average. Ticket prices are also higher for the large screen format.

After just three days of release, The Dark Knight is already the sixth biggest blockbuster of the summer and is virtually guaranteed to swipe the 2008 box office crown away from Iron Man in the coming weeks. With all students out of school in July, midweek grosses will be much stronger than in early May when the metal man and the last webslinger pic debuted.

This weekend's achievement was nothing new for the Caped Crusader. In fact, Dark Knight is the fourth Batman film to break the all-time opening weekend record. The first Batman did the deed in 1989 with its $42.7M bow at a time when no film had ever debuted to $30M, much less $40M, over a three-day weekend. That record stayed for three years and was broken in 1992 by Batman Returns which bowed to $47.7M. Jurassic Park would swipe the record the following summer but Batman Forever took the title back with its $52.8M launch in 1995. All three Batman films opened in mid-June.

Warner Bros. did not opt for a global attack with The Dark Knight, but it did release the superhero pic in 20 markets this weekend and grossed an estimated $40M from 4,500 international screens led by Australia's $13.1M over five days. Many European markets open this coming weekend including Italy and the United Kingdom while Asia's top markets Japan and Korea will launch in early August.

Led by the staggering sales for the new Batman-Joker feud, the overall box office soared to more than $255M in ticket sales making it the best weekend in movie history. The previous high was $218.4M over the July 7-9, 2006 frame when Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest bowed to a then-record $135.6M. Studios are hoping that the roughly 36 million moviegoers who saw trailers and posters at multiplexes this weekend will keep coming back in the weeks ahead for more summer films.

 

[Vanilla Bear]

Yeah I heard that in the news today! Great thing that is...

I really want to see it! (actually just because Im a huge Ledger fan)


btw...is it possible that this movie just broke the records because of Heath Ledgers death?

 

[Violator79]

btw...is it possible that this movie just broke the records because of Heath Ledgers death?

I'm sure that has something to do with it, but all in all it's the best movie I've seen in a long, long time. As I type this I'm watching it on my comp He he, ha, ah, ha ha

 

[PlasmaTwa2]

Yeah, after he died the hype really went into overgear. Personally, I though Aaron Eckhart stole the show as Harvey Dent, but that's just me.

Great movie, I think we might be looking at the first comic book movie to be nominated for Best Picture, and the first one to cross the billion dollar mark.

 

[thatzeppellin]

I went on friday to see it on imax (drove about an hour and a half out) only to find it that it has been sold out for three days straight!! The girl behind the counter said that it is deffinatly worth the wait to see it in imax. So now the tough part is waiting for a good chance to go see it before I hear/see any spoilers!!

 

[PlasmaTwa2]

I went on friday to see it on imax (drove about an hour and a half out) only to find it that it has been sold out for three days straight!! The girl behind the counter said that it is deffinatly worth the wait to see it in imax. So now the tough part is waiting for a good chance to go see it before I hear/see any spoilers!!

You, my friend, lucked out. At the IMAX in Calgary, it is sold out for over two weeks.

 

[historylover]

Great movie, I think we might be looking at the first comic book movie to be nominated for Best Picture.

I've been thinking about this...and, outside of a Heath Ledger nomination, Warners has a hell of a battle ahead to clear the it's-a-comic book-movie hurdle and get a best picture nomination out of this. They might get a best director for Nolan based upon praise, but the box office muscle which this movie's swinging right now may have the Academy feeling Warner's getting their "award" from the people.

The $64,000 question is: How far from b-movies has the comic book movie come? After all, how many genre films won before "The Godfather"? Then, it took 30-frigging years to see Fantasy treated with respect.

If Warners and Nolan campaign as if they're "asking" the Academy to nominate "The Dark Knight" for Best Picture, they may just get Best Director as a consolation prize. But, they have to ASK for it!

 

[Violator79]

I read that due to the awesomeness of the movie, Christopher Nolan's gonna have a hard time making the third movie even better than this one. I mean how can this be topped? I'm still in awe over it and I can't imagine what the third one's gonna be like. But I have faith in Nolan. In my book he's in the top 5 best directors out there and if anyone can best The Dark Knight he's the one who can. He hasn't made a bad movie yet. Memento, Batman Begins, The Prestige and The Dark Knight. Quite an impressive record.

 

[titsrock]

I read that due to the awesomeness of the movie, Christopher Nolan's gonna have a hard time making the third movie even better than this one. I mean how can this be topped? I'm still in awe over it and I can't imagine what the third one's gonna be like. But I have faith in Nolan. In my book he's in the top 5 best directors out there and if anyone can best The Dark Knight he's the one who can. He hasn't made a bad movie yet. Memento, Batman Begins, The Prestige and The Dark Knight. Quite an impressive record.

He is the best director working right now. He also did the movie "Insomnia" with Al Pacino and Robin Williams which was decent.

I rate his films like this:
1. Memento--A+
2. Batman Begins--A+
3. The Prestige--A
4. The Dark Knight--A-
5. Insomnia--B+

I am happy that TDK is so successful. Highly worth the money it's raking in. The reason he's so damn good is because he has a hand in the writing process. He actually cares about the source material and the script...he doesn't just sign a bunch of stars and then "figure out the story" which seems to be how most directors work these days in Hollywood.

There will be a 3rd film. Warner Bros will threaten Nolan and Bale's lives if they don't do one!!! I bet they will give Nolan $100mil for a 3rd and Bale $50mil to act in it..

 

[PlasmaTwa2]

That's the problem with The Dark Knight: There is no way a third movie will be able to top it. People will jsut be dissapointed cause the villian isn't as good, etc.

I actually believe they cannot make a better movie, for a movie better then this will be unwatchable. The awesomeness would overload everyone's senses and cause people's heads to blow up.

 

[Violator79]

Well it all depends on who plays the villian. That's the key for the third one. We all know Bale is Batman. But who's the villian going to be? Catwoman? The Riddler? Penguin? It all comes down to this: who the villain is and who plays him/her. If The Joker was played by anyone other than Ledger in TDK, it still would've gotten high praise and box office sales, but nowhere near the amount it's raking in and not only because he died, but his acting is unlike anything anyone's ever seen. Ledger blows Nicolson's Joker out of the water and he's been the standard for 19 years now. I'm telling you the key for the third movie will be the villian(s).

 

[Deeeze]

I knew it would be up there but I didn't think it would break the record.It was a great movie,so it was well deserved.

 

[hothannah]

He is the best director working right now. He also did the movie "Insomnia" with Al Pacino and Robin Williams which was decent.

I rate his films like this:
1. Memento--A+
2. Batman Begins--A+
3. The Prestige--A
4. The Dark Knight--A-
5. Insomnia--B+

I am happy that TDK is so successful. Highly worth the money it's raking in. The reason he's so damn good is because he has a hand in the writing process. He actually cares about the source material and the script...he doesn't just sign a bunch of stars and then "figure out the story" which seems to be how most directors work these days in Hollywood.

There will be a 3rd film. Warner Bros will threaten Nolan and Bale's lives if they don't do one!!! I bet they will give Nolan $100mil for a 3rd and Bale $50mil to act in it..

I am a huge Chris Nolan fan.

If you like Nolan, you should dig out and watch his debut film, a very low budget affair, he filmed with his friends at weekends called "Following"

It is available on DVD in certain places and is well worth a watch.

Also, other films he is said to be directing at some point in the future include

The Exec - An adaptation of the futuristic cult-comic
The Prisoner - Nolan has reportedly signed on for an adaptation of the popular British 60s TV-Series.

Another project that has his name involved is

Mr. Hughes - Another Howard Hughes biopic starring Jim Carey.

Also, Christopher Nolan has written the yet to be filmed Adaptation of Ruth Rendell's novel, Keys To The Street.

It would appear his future is going to be very busy.

 

[PlasmaTwa2]

The Riddler seems to be the most popular choice around the internet. Nolan once said he woudln't do the Penguin, cause he's unrealistic. But how would you do the Riddler? Make the Penguin an arms dealer who likes to walk around in a tuxedo, he doesn't have to be deformed. He could have a gun in a umbrella, just not a helicopter.

But, of course, I think the best villian for the third one would be Two-Face.

*Spoilers ahead. Highlight the white text to read*

However, given what happened at the end of the movie, that's up for questioning. Did he die, or not? I hope he lived, becuase Two Face was awesome. The criminal survived a similar fall earlier in the movie, remember. Hopefully, they just stuck him in Arkham so no one would know that Dent lost it. Then, for the third movie, since everyone will hate Batman, Dent can escape and lead the city against him, as Gotham's "White Knight", opposed to Batman's "Dark Knight". Of course, that sounds like a Burton/Schumacher plot, but I think Nolan could run with it. Everyone was expecting to see Two-Face as the third film's villian, I think more then a few would consider it a slap in the face if he was somply a secondary villian that appeared for less then half a movie.

 

[RKO3:16]

I went watch it for the 2nd time yesterday, and my gf actually liked it, she never liked any Batman movies before, but she liked this one.It is Awesome to watch it in IMAX format, the place was packed.I'm just glad we got their 20 mins before the show started, cause people came in like 10 mins before showtime.The Dark Knight is the best movie of 2008!

 

[historylover]

I read that due to the awesomeness of the movie, Christopher Nolan's gonna have a hard time making the third movie even better than this one. I mean how can this be topped? I'm still in awe over it and I can't imagine what the third one's gonna be like. But I have faith in Nolan. In my book he's in the top 5 best directors out there and if anyone can best The Dark Knight he's the one who can. He hasn't made a bad movie yet. Memento, Batman Begins, The Prestige and The Dark Knight. Quite an impressive record.

Funny, I had this same thought as I walked out of the movie theatre. Nolan cracked whatever Navajo language-like code was limiting these movies from expanding beyond their niche realms. But, he'll face now what Jim Cameron faced after Titanic: where to go and what to do next with his career.

He [Nolan] is the best director working right now.

Disagree. Micheal Mann is a better orchestrator of dynamic action, hence the referencing in the bank scene.

Had he've chosen a better cast for Miami Vice, it would've been more successful. That experience hopefully told him to write the movie, then cast.

Mann's been limited by his pathological need to experiment technologically. He made Collateral in HD, not film, for example.

I am happy that TDK is so successful. Highly worth the money it's raking in. The reason he's so damn good is because he has a hand in the writing process. He actually cares about the source material and the script...he doesn't just sign a bunch of stars and then "figure out the story" which seems to be how most directors work these days in Hollywood.

There will be a 3rd film. Warner Bros will threaten Nolan and Bale's lives if they don't do one!!! I bet they will give Nolan $100mil for a 3rd and Bale $50mil to act in it..

My guess is that Warners' negotiator and Nolan's agent are in the middle of figuring out how many groups of zeroes behind the $ it'll take to bring him back.

If Nolan's smart, he'll make them sweat for a week or so. Then, he'll ask them if he can buy the studio instead. :eek:

 

[calpoon]

But, of course, I think the best villian for the third one would be Two-Face.

I think aaron eckhart has always been underrated. IMO, his acting was almost as good as heath's.

Morgan freeman was wasted in his role, and Oldman's perfect Gordon really didn't get a whole lot of screen time in this movie either.

Christian Bale also didn't deliver up to my expectations, his Bruce Wayne seemed like a carbon copy of his Patrick Bateman, and that is not a good thing.

 

[PlasmaTwa2]

I think aaron eckhart has always been underrated. IMO, his acting was almost as good as heath's.

I am probably the only one in the world who prefered Two Face to the Joker. Don't get me wrong, the Joker was amazing, but the whole hype of the movie was about how great Heath was in the role and how amazing the Joker was. There was no way it could live up to what everyone was saying for me. Of course, like I said, it was amazing. From the magic trick, to him dressing like a nurse and blowing the hospital up (And then looking back puzzeled before blowing it up some more), it was perfect.

Chances are, Two Face was better for me becuase no one hyped Eckhart's performance. He was always expected to be second fiddle to the Joker, and hell, I didn't even expect to see Two Face outside of the final scene. Around the 90-minute mark, everything involving Dent became the best parts of the movie.

 

[jdb67]

It is such a pity that Ledger died because we will never know whether this film would have truly smashed all of these records based on the combined telants of all involved or whether Ledgers Fans are the driving force behind the hype.

I will see this Film regardless.... I grew up reading Batman comics and am a huge Fan!!

 

[LBP 76]

great, not. The more money it makes, the bigger budget the next one will get, the more the emphasis will be on action/explosions, the less on story. There is a reason why sequels are usually not as good as the originals; unless the sequel was written before the original became big.

Great sci fi is about great writing first. Everything else is a distant second.