‘Dark Knight’: $500M In Record 45 Days

COMMENTS (18)

• I said it would happen on this blog over a month ago. It’s slowing down, but still going strong. Still in the top 3 six weeks on. I’m hesitant to predict it will clear 600, but I’m rooting for it. This is an amazing movie and an amazing earner.

  Comment by James Hudnall — Sunday August 31, 2008 @ 1:27pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Awesome. So now what? Will the geeks start to come out and watch it a few more times each so it will pop $600M?

  After all there ain’t much worthwhile being released in September, a traditionally lame month?

  How about a push from WB to get everyone back to the theaters? Why not? They can’t be happy with Fox/Paramount after the attempted hijacking of The Watchmen…might give them the impetus to have them try to get the bragging rights to all time #1?

  Comment by Cartoons In Bed — Sunday August 31, 2008 @ 2:20pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Nikki

  You forgot another record for DK2.

  15) The biggest gross of any superhero(comic) movie

  I would also add another record to it

  - A better movie than silly-salsa dancing Spidey 3

  Comment by Armand — Sunday August 31, 2008 @ 4:34pm PDT  Reply to this post

• I would expect Warner Bros. to go on a marketing blitz shortly relaunching a new marketing campaign to re-energize interest and overall awarness. Im impressed with way it held up week to week without much of a significant falloff! This certainly could do 550 million. 600 mill? You never know! AMAZING, considering THE DARK KNIGHT is a great R-rated movie with the MPAA letting it slide with a PG-13. For the record-I loved it! Is this the same studio that greenlighted BATMAN AND ROBIN? Oh yes, it is!

  Comment by entertainmenttodayandbeyond — Sunday August 31, 2008 @ 5:10pm PDT  Reply to this post

• dark knight was an awesome movie which i liked a whole lot, but it still isnt the #2 movie of all time. you need to account for inflation and actual ticket sales which makes it lag behind titanic, star wars, et, and about 20 other movies. wish people would stop calling this the #2 movie of all time b/c it really isnt. but still love it.

  Comment by yawn — Sunday August 31, 2008 @ 11:36pm PDT  Reply to this post

• We got it: the movie is a big hit. Can we stop now, please?

  Comment by Ted — Monday September 1, 2008 @ 12:07am PDT  Reply to this post

• Why so serious everyone?

  It’s a big movie and so deservingly so. It was a movie with a good and believable plot, a cast that is really good and best of all, an enjoyable one

  So lets celebrate it’s no 2 position and here’s hoping for a bigger better things for DK3

  Comment by Armand — Monday September 1, 2008 @ 7:27am PDT  Reply to this post

• yawn…Yes it is #2 in terms of all time box office.
  All that matters is B.O. dollars as far as this particular record is concerned.

  I wish people would stop saying it really isn’t. Of course we can account for inflation, ticket sales, etc, but that is not how this is being measured. If you want to see that, then go here:

  http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm

  NO ONE ever mentions Gone with the Wind as the TRUE number one, which is it…you only Titanic. Titanic is 6.

  DK is number 30 on this list. Star Wars, ET, Sound of Music still beat Titanic….but that isn’t what we’re counting.

  And also please consider DK’s triumph in the face of instant DVDs sales (usually within 5 months of theatrical release), home theaters, bootlegging, the fact anyone could go download it right now if they wanted, movies not being the powerhouse medium that they once were, etc. Heck the Video Game industry has surpassed the movie industry in terms of dollars since Titanic’s day.

  Comment by Cartoons In Bed — Monday September 1, 2008 @ 9:27am PDT  Reply to this post

• Yawn, “adjusted gross” and # of tickets sold are not a very good measurement honestly, cause its biased towards a time when there was really no other entertainemnt options aside from going to the movies. Not to mention the fact that movies were held in theaters for far longer than they are today. The average movie stays in theaters what…3, 4 months? Years ago it was not uncommon for movies to be in release for an entire year, if not more.

  Gone with the Wind for example, was not only in release for 2 whole years in a time before TV was invented, but it was also re-released theatrically MULTIPLE times, something that also was not uncommon back then. So no wonder GwtW was able to sell so many tickets when there was nothing else to do except stand around and scratch your butt all day.

  There are only 7 movies in the top 30 adjusted that were released after 1989, and only 2 that were released after 2000, TDK and Shrek 2, TDK at 504 mil and Shrek at 503 mil. And over 1/2 of the top 30 have been released multiple times. Box Office Mojo even states that as an example, Snow White has made $118 mil of its unadjusted $184 mil gross after 1983, even though it was initially released in 1937.

  So on the BS-adjusted list, TDK is #29 all time and might hit #27, but on the list that matters, it is #2 in history and is only the 2nd movie in the past 30 years to make more than Star Wars’ $460 mil. And no matter what way you look at it, TDK is undeniably the movie of the decade.

  Comment by TheaterFan — Monday September 1, 2008 @ 10:40am PDT  Reply to this post

• “…considering THE DARK KNIGHT is a great R-rated movie with the MPAA letting it slide with a PG-13.”

  It definitely was NOT a R-rated movie. You never see blood and the killings are off-camera. Just because a film is dark doesn’t mean it should be R-rated.

  Comment by Will — Monday September 1, 2008 @ 11:38am PDT  Reply to this post

• Couldn’t agree more; this film opened in a very crowded summer, several months after people already spent their money on other films, and still raked in over $500 million despite all the disadvantages going against it. This film triumphed far beyond any measure I anticipated; I once thought it would open to $70 million and clock out at $200 million.

  There’s a reason this film managed to destroy so many records and left so many other films in the dust. There’s a reason no one even remembers Iron Man anymore. And there’s a reason this will probably be the last film in history to gross $500 million.

  Comment by Squirrel — Monday September 1, 2008 @ 12:45pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Sure, Batman did great, but “no one even remembers Iron Man anymore” reeks of fanboy rhetoric. It did great in theatres, it will do great on DVD, and the sequel will do even better.

  On the other hand, does anyone really think there’s any possible way for a third batman movie to beat this one?

  Box office has been dropping at a steady rate every week – the studio can’t get another 100M just by leaving it in theatres or by running a ton of ads. And there will be no re-release for oscars – besides minor awards, this movie probably won’t get nominations beyond Heath Ledger. Seriously, people think this would have a shot at a best pic nomination just because it made a ton of money?

  Comment by milo — Tuesday September 2, 2008 @ 6:53am PDT  Reply to this post

• could you guys please accept the fact that now there is a movie that pleased the critics, the indies, the darks, the punks, the hipsters, the plastics… why the hell it wont deserve an oscar nomination. Do you think that crash is a better one? or broke back? or walk the line? cmon this movie makes you think way beyond the action sequences. a Psychological Action Drama master piece

  Comment by L3stat — Tuesday September 2, 2008 @ 9:40am PDT  Reply to this post

• “why the hell it wont deserve an oscar nomination”

  Because the award is supposed to be given to the movie that is the Best Picture, not the one that has the most fans. It’s supposed to represent quality, not popularity. It was a solid movie (although I think it drops the ball in a number of ways), but I doubt many of the people making the decision will think it’s one of the five best movies of the year.

  Comment by milo — Tuesday September 2, 2008 @ 10:02am PDT  Reply to this post

• I saw the Dark Knight in digital pic and sound less than a week ago in Madison. It’s worth the ticket prices to go see it. Now this has been big surprise of all summer. U know this dark knight had elements of Frank Miller in it. It made me think of his own Dark Knight adaption which came out in ’86.

  Comment by chuck — Tuesday September 2, 2008 @ 11:39am PDT  Reply to this post

• milo said: Seriously, people think this would have a shot at a best pic nomination just because it made a ton of money?

  Uh, yea. That would be a pretty good reason for nomination. Remember Titanic? I believe that won Best Pic…was that any more deserving than TDK?

  Take a look at all time biggest B.O. (adjusted)

  http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm

  #1 Gone With The Wind won in 1939
  #2 Star Wars nominated in 1977
  #3 The Sound of Music won in 1965
  #4 E.T. was nominated in 1982
  #5 Ten Commandments was nominated in 1956
  #6 Titanic won in 1997
  #7 Jaws was nominated in 1975
  #8 Dr Zhivago was nominated 1965
  #9 Exorcist was nominated in 1973
  #10 Snow White…only one in Top 10 not nominated or won

  Plus ya got Best Pic winners Ben-Hur & The Sting in the Top 20 and nominees The Graduate and Raiders Of The Lost Ark

  TDK has a fair shot at $600M. It crossed $500M in 45 days…Titanic was at $309M after 45 days…and it stayed in theaters nearly 9 more friggin months to get the other $300M.

  Again, this movie has proven Everyone wrong. Everyone.

  Know your history, milo.

  Comment by CartoonsInBed — Tuesday September 2, 2008 @ 5:14pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Comment by TheaterFan — September 1, 2008 @ 10:40 am

  Spot on with your analysis. I have problems with movies released moons ago and being hailed as the bigger one than the one released in our times. 50 years ago, there was no internet, piracy, dvds etc..So the new movies have to compete with all these and for DK2 to gross 500M is a feat not to be belittled.

  One thing I think Nolan did so well was with the movie’s score. Have you guys noticed everytime Joker came on screen, there was this buzzing sound playing in the background? It kind of made you feel the sense of urgency and panic. I saw the movie twice and felt it both at the same time. It was a different sound when Batman was on screen, more like a nicer one.

  Comment by Armand — Tuesday September 2, 2008 @ 5:16pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Armand–

  Well you had not one, but two, masters of scoring working on TDK, Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard.

  Check their profiles and previous work. Only Elfman and John Williams are in the same league imho…and to have them both…wow.

  Each character had their own ‘theme’ that occurred whenever they were on screen, albeit in different iterations, which is what you noticed.

  Comment by CartoonsInBed — Tuesday September 2, 2008 @ 6:51pm PDT  Reply to this post