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MONDAY AM: Bigger… Bigger… BIGGEST! The Dark Knight‘s weekend tally was more than first thought — a record-setting $158.3M, according to Warner Bros. That comfortably beats Spider-Man 3‘s $151.1M for best-ever 3-day non-holiday weekend. The latest Batman installment’s Sunday take of $43M was down only -8% compared to Saturday’s and set the best-ever Sunday total for its 9th record. Its 10th record will beat the all-time first week tally.
SUNDAY 8PM UPDATE: I’ve just been told by unofficial sources that Warner Bros’ The Dark Knight is playing to packed Sunday performances for over $40M and maybe as high as $43M. That would mean a 9th record since Spider-Man 3‘s Sunday take in 2007 was a best ever $39.9M. It’s also now abundantly clear that the Warner Bros caped crusader will crush the old 3-day weekend non-holiday record set by Spidey 3 last year. So rival studios were wrong to question whether Warner Bros’ Sunday numbers were too aggressive! Also, Dark Knight should break its 9th record by beating the all-time weekly tally. Meanwhile, in its first six days, DK will have grossed more than the entire run of Batman Begins.
See my previous, ‘Dark Knight’ Breaks Eight Film Records.
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I’m proud to have been a part of this history-making weekend! Twelve bucks poorer, but proud!
Fantastic! This movie definitely deserves it. Spidey 3 did NOT.
I was looking forward to this movie more than any other this year, let alone summer, and it didn’t disappoint.
But I couldn’t imagine the public sharing my enthusiasm to the tune of breaking records. It did far better than I first expected.
I wonder if the extreme seriousness, the not only physical but psychological and emotional violence of the film will turn people off and impact its future or repeat business like this story kind of illustrates.
But in the sense of what impact it’s already made, and how well-received, it’s clear that the popular superhero film will never be the same. And that’s something to celebrate, even with a movie that can shake up an audience this much.
And how much do you want to bet, that by the miracle that is studio accounting, anybody with a piece of the back end will be told by WBs, “We still haven’t made any money on this film yet.”
DC beats Marvel. Ha!
maybe movies are gonna get cool again!
For the first time in quite a few years I’ve felt compelled to go see a movie more than once in the theater. I did it for Once, There Will Be Blood, Iron Man and Wall E and I will most certainly see Dark Knight a second time. Possibly a third. I actually feel drawn to the theater again.
For all the “critics” out there who are knocking the product the movie industry is putting out, I tell you it’s the best quality we’ve had in years.
The only real indie on my repeat list is Once. The rest of the movies are studio affiliated.
What does this say? Hollywood still has the capability to make great films.
The message this weekend should send to the studio heads is that we’re a country full of people dying for more serious fare. I’m not talking China Syndrome serious, but allowing the filmmakers to create dark well told stories is highly profitable.
Studio heads need to realize Batman and Iron Man’s success this summer isn’t because they are comic book movies, it’s because they are well written, directed and acted. They didn’t play just for the 10 year olds in the crowd.
There’s plenty of people in their 20′s, 30′s, 40′s and beyond who are going to pay to see Dark Knight for a second time.
It’s not because of the batsuit or the batmobile. It’s because of the story and performances.
Take a note Hollywood (I know you’re so good at giving them) and allow filmmakers to tell the darker more interesting story over what you think will play in Peoria.
We’re so saturated by movies and TV right now that we feel like we’ve seen it all.
That is, until we see a film like the Dark Knight (or any of the others I mentioned above).
Let’s lock up Seann William Scott, Owen Wilson and Napoleon Dynamite for a few years and focus on making more kick ass films that combine everything we all want to go to the movies for in the first place.
They don’t all need happy endings. Every main character doesn’t have to be a saint.
We’re all flawed and fucked up and that’s what we want to see on the screen when we go to the movies.
It’s why Superman should remain dead for a long time. No one can relate to him as a hero and we always know no matter what, he’s going to win. That’s boring as hell.
The public is telling you what kind of stories and heroes it wants. Listen to them.
Nikki, I sense a bit of ‘devilish grin’ in this report of yours;-)
As Jeffrey commented above, I too am proud of being able to witness this historic weekend. Like I have said in my previous postings on DK, this movie simple bamboozled everyone.
Spidey 3 is history, no good for me.
As much as ‘I want to believe’ X-files will be number 1 next weekend, Dark Knight will lord for another weekend at the B.O.
Where will DK go from here? We all know that already don’t we? Number 1 movie of the year for sure with gross of 400M (here’s hoping)
Lastly, Nolan if you’re reading this, please-please-please don’t screw up DK 3rd. Pls avoid the curse of many trilogies. We’ve seen one too many to know our fears are not dumb-founded. Think of the like sof LoTR and Bourne and not the likes of Spiderman, Superman, Shrek and PoTC
Now I am off to my 2nd viewing of DK
It’s depressing what two hours and thirty minutes of explosions will net you these days.
You have counted up the total number of billboards in the Greater L.A. area, have you not.
When they tell us this they probably won’t be
lyingstretching the truth all that much.People with 10 and 11 year olds should not be complaining about the film being too violent for their kids. It’s nor PG–it’s PG-13. There’s nothing ‘R’ about this film.
thank nature…..spidy didn’t deserve to hold those records….now if only someone snatch the biggest Saturday record from spidy….that would be great
Movie was total garbage.
I went to see it at an 11:30pm showing on SUNDAY, thinking I’d be alone in the theater. The theater was full. Really quite amazing.
WHEN WILL HOLLYWOOD STOP TRYING TO RAM THEIR RIGHT-WING BATMAN MOVIES DOWN OUR THROATS???
Just kidding… mostly.
DC usually beats Marvel in things like comic-book story quality, innovation, and overal entertainment value. Now they are beating Marvel at the box office too. Excellent.
Enough, with the BATMAN hype.
There are other topics..
Is this really that historic? Most of the records are only a year old, and ticket prices jumped by a dollar (at least here) in the meantime. Seems a little disingenuous to me.
Although, yes, the movie is definitely amazing, far superior to SM3.
The problem with PG-13 is that it’s been devalued by movies – which, by rights, should be straight PG – adding a couple of swear words or a wee bit of blood to deliberately bump the rating up a level. The distinction between the two ratings is lost as a result.
It’s going to do phenomenal business this coming weekend as well. I haven’t seen it yet because didn’t want to face the crowds. There’s a lot of people like me who will see it this weekend or next (plus people like my 20 something kids who will be seeing it a second time)
Ditto for me. I didn’t get a chance to see DK this weekend and I’m excited to see it next weekend. Damn, I still want to see Wall-E for a second time. FINALLY, a crop of great summer movies!
Why are we celebrating this movie so exorbitantly? Nikki’s been obsessing over these numbers. It’s only money, and this kind of success is merely affirming investors worldwide that HUGE 100 million dollar movies are what audiences see.
While I’m sure Dark Knight breaks down a few walls of convention, it’s high time we celebrate smaller films. Otherwise, this is it. BIG MOVIES.
Nikki, I love you, but don’t become part of the problem, please.
The Dark Knight may very well beat records money-wise, but not in the amount of ticket sold. More people saw Spider-Man 3 in its opening weekend than The Dark Knight. Those records will always be broken in the years to come because ticket price will always go up and more theaters will be built. It’s just plain and simple. The Dark Knight sold an average of 5121 tickets per theater while Spider-Man 3 sold 5166 tickets per theater. And Spider-Man 3 was released in May when kids were still in school, favoring The Dark Knight for those midnight and around the clock showing. Overall it was an impressive opening for The Dark Knight but I wish the media would compare movies beyond the dollar sign, which doesn’t really paint the real picture.
What is depressing Sean is that someone like you could sit in a theatre, watch THE DARK KNIGHT, and think that it was nothing more than 2 hours and 30 minutes of explosions. Were you watching? Is that all you came away with? Someone’s career isn’t going as planned. Sour grapes. Sour grapes.
Andre –
You might need to check your math again given the Dark Knight’s updated b.o. numbers.