Box Office - 'The Dark Knight' Kicks 'Spider-Man 3' Down the Stairs

On Thursday, we predicted that The Dark Knight would split difference between $135 million and $155 million, which we believed was the ceiling for the new Batman film. We went with $146 million, but it turns out that our ballpark was dead on. Breaking the previous opening day, IMAX opening weekend, and American opening weekend records, The Dark Knight earned $155 million in three days, leaving very little doubt as to what is truly the movie event of the summer. If The Dark Knight didn't have those early Friday morning shows at 3am and 6am, Spider-Man would still be the record holder, or if it hadn't opening in so many IMAX theaters, it's possible we'd be talking about the second-biggest opening ever, but instead, congratulations all around to a truly entertaining film with a hall of fame performance by Heath Ledger. We've been covering the marketing of this film for some time, and as we've pointed out in the past, if commercials don't work, why is all of media based upon them? So yes, I think you can look at the viral videos online, the great poster collection, the fantastic trailers, and even some of the product marketing involved with this movie and say that it played a hand in the record-breaking performance. The film is currently ranked as the number one film of all time by IMDB readers, by the way, although that will probably only last a week or two. Those voters always do that. Hell, Amelie was once in their top ten. Great movie, but...seriously? So where does The Dark Knight go from here? Thursday we predicted that it would break the $300 million mark in 13 days, which seems about right. You figure it'll make another $50 - $60 million next weekend, plus about another $60 million during the week, and it's only about $30 or $40 million short heading into day 11. A lot depends on next weekend, but I think by the time we recap the box office on August 3rd, this will be the quickest movie to $300 million. Beyond that, it's hard to say. No movie this year has done particularly well after its first month (actually, that could be said about last summer, too), so if it's at $350 million after 21 days, the odds are it won't hit $400 million, but $380 million seems incredibly possible. And since this was the biggest debut ever, that bodes well for the rest of the movies be a part of one of the biggest weekends in Hollywood history. The Top Five movies accumulated just shy of a quarter billion dollars in three days. Yikes. The Top Five: 1 - The Dark Knight - $155 million 2 - Mamma Mia! - $28 million 3 - Hancock - $14 million 4 - Journey to the Center of the Earth - $11.5 million 5 - Hellboy II - $10.2 million

Comments

[MRPigg]

I think this one will have "legs' as they say. While I wasn't completely blown away Thursday night at my first viewing, I am strangely compelled to have a repeat viewing, and soon. That hasn't happened alot lately.

[Get The Big Picture]

I liked it better the second time I saw it, which if you didn't come away from your first exposure to it thinking it's the greatest thing in the world, may be a good antidote.

[MRPigg]

Saw it again yesterday, and I agree with you that for some reason the second veiwing elevated it a bit more. Maybe I was just so overwhelmed the first time around and the script is so dense it takes a while to absorb it's greatness.

[PHOENIXZERO]

It ended up making $158,411,483 over the weekend, beating the estimate be a sort of decent amount. I think it's safe to say a few more records will be broken before everything is said and done, starting with the 4-day record when the Monday sales come in. Obviously it won't make it to Titanic levels for the reasons you stated but I don't think 400+M domestic is that far far off.