Yes, I did see The Dark Knight this weekend and should have my review posted by later this evening, but before that, I wanted to actually give you a taste of what The Dark Knight did at the box office and to show you how right my prediction will be that it will make $300 million in 3 weeks, easily.
The Dark Knight grossed a behemoth $158.3 million from Friday through Sunday, according to early estimates, to score the biggest three-day opening in box-office history, while leading the way on a weekend for the record books. It scored the biggest three-day opening weekend of all time (beating Spider-Man 3′s $151.1 mil bow). It achieved the best opening day and single day in history ($66.4 mil, shattering Spider-Man 3′s mark of $59.8 mil).
It brought in the most money from Friday midnight shows of any release ever ($18.5 mil, passing Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith’s $16.9 mil). It banked a record $6.2 mil from 94 IMAX venues over the weekend (Spider-Man 3 had the old record, $4.7 mil). And it did it all with the biggest theater count, 4,366 locations, of all time, pulling in $35,579 per theater on average.
Worldwide, it has already made $196.6 million, compare that to its predecessor, Batman Begins, which made $205.3 million in its entire domestic run….all in just 4 days!
So, does anyone else want to chime in on how great it was for them? What do you think about these figures? Do you agree with my prediction that it will hit $300 million domestically in 3 weeks?
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- Rumor Mill: Will Spider-Man 4 Get It Right With Only One Villain?
Neil
I agree with your prediction and I am excited to be apart of the action! 300 million! It is obvious that it is a great movie to see at night by those very helpful stats.
Thanks TOC!
July 21, 2008 at 2:23 pm
johnny thunders
not to be the one to bring up the morbid point, but the massive sales were all spurred on by ledger’s death. batman begins performed pretty poorly, and i can’t see this doing as well as it did without the massive publicity that has been going on ever since ledger’s death, even to the point of oscar buzz for him months ago.
July 25, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Dan
Oh come on now, that’s the easy thing to say, that’s what everyone is saying. I know it’s the big fat elephant in the room that EVERYONE is talking about, but I truly think the REAL elephant no one wants to talk about is how great his performance was without his death even being a part of it.
He didn’t die on screen, his death wasn’t part of the advertising campaign, when you watch the movie, the only thing you can honestly take away from it is how amazing Ledger was….period.
July 25, 2008 at 8:57 pm
johnny thunders
i never said he wasn’t good in it, i actually have no idea because i haven’t seen it. but you can’t honestly say that it would have done anywhere near this much business if it hadn’t been for the publicity surrounding the death.
July 25, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Donna
You were right on this one!!! I disagree with johnny thunder that it wouldn’t have done as well if Heath had not passed on..the movie stands on its own merit…I think its interesting that some people can comment on a movie or a critique of a movie and they haven’t even seen it yet.
July 28, 2008 at 10:14 am
Scotto
Heard a little talk that it might surpass Titanic in sales…think it’s got enough mojo to make it to 700 Million???
July 28, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Dan
They are saying that AT LEAST it would come in 2nd behind Titanic with around $500 million…but with this movie, you might as well throw out all of the supposed expectations.
July 28, 2008 at 12:56 pm
johnny thunders
sigh.
i didn’t “critique” a movie without seeing it, i said nothing of the quality. i said that the hype machine for the film was completely focused around heath ledger and his death, and this being his last movie. judging by the money batman begins made, this film should not have made anywhere near this kind of money, and it’s opening weekend hype was completely driven by ledger and his death. that is not a critique on the movie, rather an acknowledgment of the situation surrounding the movie.
also, this site used to comment and critique movies before they were released. so… yeah.
July 29, 2008 at 7:15 am
Dan
Yes, I fully embrace critiquing movies before they are released, without that ability, ToC would not exist.
After seeing it a 3rd time with my wife this past weekend, I am beginning to come around on the whole “ledger death hype” scenario A LITTLE. I don’t fully embrace that that’s where the money and success is coming from, but I can at least accept the possibility that that could be true.
And, from the 3rd viewing, I am finding more and more things that bother me…and that’s scary. I am not going to see it anymore in the theater because I fear the more and more I see it, the more things I will pick at.
July 29, 2008 at 11:09 am
johnny thunders
i wish you would critique more movies before seeing them, it was fun.
and i wasn’t saying that was what was making it so successful, it’s obviously got a strong repeat crowd plus the word is getting around that people like it.
i was commenting solely on the opening weekend numbers.
i’m actually waiting to see it to try to get away from all the “IT’S THE BEST MOVIE EVER MADE” comments that i keep hearing and try to watch it objectively.
July 29, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Scotto
Hey ToC…read the rumor mill today on Yahoo and it said that Johnny Depp is rumored to be in talks about playing the riddler. Thoughts?
August 6, 2008 at 8:00 am
Dan
The UK Tabloid, the Daily Telegraph is reporting that producers are targeting Johnny Depp to play the Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman to play the Penguin.
I am going to stay on top of the mill but to be honest, we’ll hear things like this all the way up until the day of the next movie’s release. Movie rumors are like movie blogs…everyone has one.
Thanks for the heads up.
August 6, 2008 at 12:55 pm