Records Galore For "Dark Knight"

Has Biggest Opening Day And Weekend; Leads Hollywood To Its Biggest Weekend Overall

(CBS/AP)  Batman has sent Spidey packing as king of Hollywood's box-office superheroes.

"The Dark Knight" took in a record $155.34 million in its first weekend, topping the previous debut weekend best of $151.1 million for "Spider-Man 3" in May 2007, and pacing Hollywood to its biggest weekend ever, according to studio estimates Sunday.

"We knew it would be big, but we never expected to dominate the marketplace like we did," said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros., which released "The Dark Knight." The movie should shoot past the $200 million mark by the end of the week, he said.

On opening day Friday, "The Dark Knight" also took in more money than previously counted, Fellman said. The film pulled in a record $67.85 million, up nearly $1.5 million from the studio's estimates a day earlier.

The previous opening-day record also had been held by "Spider-Man 3" with $59.8 million.

Hollywood set an overall revenue record of $253 million for a three-day weekend, beating the $218.4 million haul over the weekend of July 7, 2006, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

"This weekend is such a juggernaut," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal, whose musical "Mamma Mia!" debuted at No. 2 with $27.6 million.

Factoring in higher admission prices, "Spider-Man 3" may have sold slightly more tickets than "The Dark Knight."

At 2007's average price of $6.88, "Spider-Man 3" sold 21.96 million tickets over opening weekend. Media By Numbers estimates today's average movie prices at $7.08, which means "The Dark Knight" would have sold 21.94 million tickets.

Revenue totals for "The Dark Knight" could change when final numbers are released Monday.

The movie's release was preceded by months of buzz and speculation over the performance of the late Heath Ledger as the Joker, Batman's nemesis. Ledger, who died in January from an accidental prescription-drug overdose, played the Joker as a demonic presence, his performance prompting predictions that the role might earn him a posthumous Academy Award nomination.

"The average opening gross of the last five `Batman' movies is $47 million. This tripled that, and for a reason," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers. "A big part of that was the Heath Ledger mystique and a phenomenal performance that absolutely deserves the excitement surrounding it."

" 'The Dark Knight' has really lived up to the hype," Ari Karpel of Entertainment Weekly observed to CBS News correspondent Priya David. "Ledger's performance really is outstanding. People are really drawn to see it -- not just for him, but because it's a great movie."

Tickets to "The Dark Knight" were selling at an average clip of 115 per second, David pointed out.

"The Dark Knight" reunites director Christopher Nolan with his "Batman Begins" star Christian Bale, whose vigilante crime-fighter is taunted and tested by Ledger's Joker as the villain unleashes violence and chaos on the city of Gotham.

Overseas, "The Dark Knight" added $40 million in 20 countries where it began opening Wednesday, including Australia, Mexico and Brazil. The film opens in Great Britain this weekend and rolls out to most of the rest of the world over the next few weeks.

"The Dark Knight," which cost $185 million to make, also broke the "Spider-Man 3" record for best debut in IMAX large-screen theaters with $6.2 million. "Spider-Man 3" opened with $4.7 million in IMAX cinemas.

"Every single show is sold out," said Greg Foster, IMAX chairman and president. "We're adding shows as much as we can, but we're at 100 percent capacity."

Women accounted for most of the audience for "Mamma Mia!", which Universal opened as counter-programming to the male-dominated audience for "The Dark Knight."

"With the crowded summer, we knew we would have to find the right weekend, and this seemed like the perfect one considering three-quarters of our audience was female," Rocco said.

Based on the stage musical set to the tunes of ABBA, "Mamma Mia!" features Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard, Julie Walters and Christine Baranski.

The weekend's other new wide release, 20th Century Fox's animated family flick "Space Chimps," opened at No. 7 with $7.4 million.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "The Dark Knight," $155.34 million.

2. "Mamma Mia!", $27.6 million.

3. "Hancock," $14 million.

4. "Journey to the Center of the Earth," $11.9 million.

5. "Hellboy II: The Golden Army," $10 million.

6. "WALL-E," $9.8 million.

7. "Space Chimps," $7.4 million.

8. "Wanted," $5.1 million.

9. "Get Smart," $4.1 million.

10. "Kung Fu Panda," $1.8 million.

[misssuzq]

I am not really impressed by the monetary amount, as I would prefer it as tickets sold, since the prices go up each year.

[dedad1]

As predicted, a record setting weekend.

[legacyabq]

I was thinking that it isn''t as big as it sounds, when comparing box office takes from the 80''s, not only because of inflation, but GEE, the price of a ticket is like nearly 10 bucks!! However,
Heath Ledger is a really good actor, and this role will entertain for many years. Great job H., and rest in peace..

[megamanx1-2009]

How many movies can they keep making about batman?? this is getting old..

[txgrouch2006]

BTW, Janet Jackson has now admitted that SHE LIED, IT WAS INTENTIONAL.

[txgrouch2006]

WHERE''S THE NEWS ITEM ABOUT THE JANET JACKSON FINE BEING THROWN OUT BY A FEDERAL COURT???

A federal court has just ruled that the FCC can not fine broadcasters for "fleeting" nudity.

WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL BE ON TV TONIGHT?

How long is "fleeting?" How OFTEN can this "fleeting" nudity occur? EVERY 30 MINUTES? EVERY 10 MINUTES? EVERY MINUTE?

[xmanborg]

Saw Batman on Sunday at the 11:10am showing. We got there about 10:40am there were about 20 people in one of the large theaters at AMC in Kansas City. At 11am the people started to FLO into the movie. By the time the movie started at 11:10am there were about 160+ people in the theater. We always go before Noon on the weekends because its only $5.

I thought Batman, The Dark Knight was very good. I think it was the Best Batman Movie made so far. It was not corney like the one with Danny DeVito 1992 Batman Returns pretty much was the worst one.

Heath Ledger''s acting was AMAZING and he did an extreamly great job. I know this will movie will be nomonated for an OSCAR and I think Heath Ledger could win best actor or another award.

Go see Batman, The Dark Knight its 2:30 minutes long its a very good movie.

batman is my favorite superhero since childhood and i have the collection in my dvd library but i was not a fan of the tv series editon. christian bale is the best batman to date. i haven''t seen the dark knight yet because i am waiting for the dvd to come out.

[thcarson-2009]

Saw it Saturday and thought it was great, Ledger was amazing as the Joker, my wife even liked it and she''s not a big action/superhero movie fan.