Fearless Forecast - 'Dark Knight' Closes in on $300 Million

Honestly, unless Harry Potter were opening this weekend, I don't think there's another movie left on the entire 2008 depth chart that could supplant The Dark Knight as the number one film this weekend. Crowds will be smaller, but there will still be crowds. However, this is a much better opportunity for people who wouldn't dream of hitting an event this big on opening weekend to take the plunge. We've been following the box office performance of The Dark Knight, and it has a very real chance of hitting $300 million in ten days. That's not something we could ever think about before this past week. No movie has made $300 million in two weeks, and only four films have ever done that in less than three weeks. Hell, by the end of week three, The Dark Knight might be at $385 million. How much money are we really talking about? Look at it this way: The movie has made more money than any film in history over the course of its first week, and that's not even counting the last two days of the week! That's a five-day total, and it's stronger than anything ever before seen in seven days. And while the two new releases will do good business this weekend, and Mamma Mia! will continue its charge toward becoming the highest-grossing musical of all time, there's no stopping The Dark Knight. And when the dust clears on Monday, this movie will have made over $315 million. In ten days. The Top Five: 1 - The Dark Knight ($75 million) 2 - Step Brothers ($22 million) 3 - The X-Files: I Want to Believe ($19 million) 4 - Mamma Mia! ($17 million) 5 - Journey to the Center of the Earth ($9 million)

Comments

[Tomica]

Oh yes! I love this movie and i love box office! GO BATMAN GO!

[Henry Oak]

Quality and Box Office are two separate entities. Sometimes they coincide. More often they don't.

Does box office success in itself make it a better movie? It does not.

Does it increase the chanses of a sequel? It was pretty certain anyway.

Does it encourage production of quality movies? More likely pointless attempts to copy the recipe.

[Tony Aaron II]

"The Dark Knight" is probably the best movie I've seen since "Stranger Than Fiction". I am not one to get swept up in hype about people's deaths or "method acting" (which only seems to be accredited to what are determined to be "downward spiral" type roles or situations), so I say what I say from the right place. It's flat out a PHENOMinal movie. Everyone should see it. It's strange to say but if you love film your life will be better for it.

Now, since "Titanic" was GREAT, BUT, doesn't really feel right for me as the #1 (un-adjusted) grossing movie of all-time, I would LOVE to see TDK take it down. HARD! But, I know it won't. People are too backwards to move forward in such a concise manner. Though it has the absolute PERFECT formula to bring down Titanic, it won't. Gross more in 4 days than any movie EVER has in 7, doesn't matter... you won't get the tanic. lol, just isn't happening. For a while I'd been telling all who would listen this movie would easily break $400 million dollars. Now, though I find it hard to believe or see myself, math tells me this movie will settle in the $500 million range. Truthfully, if you hit $300 in 10, you should hit 6 in 30, but... I still don't think it will. :(

1 more prediction, like you're really listening, $400 million in 20 days. It's possible. If it breaks $300 in 10 it'd only have to manage an $70 - $75 WEEK next week, if that, which would be about a 50% drop off from this week. Though, I'd like to think it would scale down slower than that, I think a 50% drop is a decent number all things considered. So, $400 million in 20 days is a strong possibility in my 'new to the art of officially predicting the box office' opinion. You heard it here 1st. ;)

lol

[Razvan- Romania]

One fact I'm not clear about: is anybody counting any figures in Europe, Asia etc? 'Cause I've seen no comments on that so far.

[Karen Herzog]

I hope the Dark Knight knocks out Shrek 2 for 3rd Place. I don't want it to pass Titanic as #1 and definately not Star Wars for #2.

[Get The Big Picture]

The numbers we're talking about are U.S. domestic box office. International figures are a slightly different discussion, although when The Dark Knight finishes its run, we'll be able to put the worldwide box office into perspective. Because of staggered release dates, it's hard to keep a finger on the pulse of running international totals and what they mean.