Posted on 07/21/2008 6:22:11 AM PDT by Perdogg
KAPOW! The new Batman movie "The Dark Knight" smashed the weekend record set by "Spider-Man 3" last year, selling an estimated $155.3 million worth of tickets during its first three days of release across the United States and Canada, distributor Warner Bros. Pictures said on Sunday.
The hotly anticipated film, co-starring late actor Heath Ledger as the anarchic Joker, surpassed the $151.1 million haul for "Spider-Man 3" during its first weekend in May 2007.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
“Momma Mia” came in second with $28 Million.
Now...let's see. Spend $28 and see the movie this weekend, or wait three months and rent it for $4. Use the remaining $24 to buy a couple of steaks and a decent bottle of wine. Hmmm...don't think I'll be going to the movies again any time soon.
Lets see if I have this straight. The new iPhone, a $200 item, broke a sales record by selling 1 million units in 3 days. Now, a movie breaks opening weekend records.
Yep, the economy is in dire straights and Americans have no disposable income. Yep, I’ll continue to buy that line......
When Hollywood actually use the “number of ticket sales” as opposed to the “gross dollars of ticket sales” to determine a record, then I'll be impressed. With movie tickets increasing every year, then you will always have “records”.
I think HP6 could topple this.
I know a lot of Americans are having a tough time right now, but a lot are also able to spend on cell phones, movie tickets, eating out, etc. Until the former group outnumbers the latter group you will have a hard time convincing most Americans that we are in a recession.
A large percentage of the group that's hurting financially are always in that group, many because of decisions they've made throughout life. I'm having a tough time right now. I chose to finance a business using credit card debt. It has been tough going and I'm paying the penalty for my choice. But I am not bitter at the credit card companies, they upheld their end of the bargain, it was my end and the income that has faltered.
I am a professional freelance photographer. There are more and more of us these days as newspapers cut their photo staff to the minimum. It's always been a hard business to make a go of, and now it's even rougher. I still have faith that I'll make it work. But I really don't have $28 for a movie and some popcorn!
I am thrilled that there are so many doing well enough to push this movie, not to mention cell phone sales, to a record. My parents taught me not to resent people who have done better than you, just use them to encourage yourself to buckle down, do the job and join them for the next round! I am so thankful my parents didn't teach me to envy and resent those who do well. I had an aunt that simply could not enjoy the good fortune of others, not even her own children. Sad.
We might well be on the cusp of recession or worse, but the amount of money Americans spend on movies and cell phones certainly don't show it.
Well, it is very dark and rated PG-13.
However - It was very dark, and very heavy. Don't go expecting to see Cesar Romero or Jack Nicholsen wisecracking and prancing around in a funny suit. Heath Ledger finally played the Joker as portrayed in the comics - a psychopathic murderer. Just a really, really bad guy.
Well written, well acted, good effects. Easily the best movie that I've seen in the past couple of years.
That’s why I watch free movies online.
Dark Knight was pretty good, saw it at 7am yesterday ;)
Oh please.. “Inspire Hope?” anyone who is remotely familiar with the Batman Comic Books, in particular the “Dark Night” title, know that Batman is not a book about “HOPE”... its about a very disturbed man, who in spite of little hope of ever truly winning and saving Gotham.. battles on anyway.
I hate when folks project onto things what they want, that are obviously completely ignorant of the source materials from which the movies come from. “The Dark Knight” comics are not the old Batman TV shows, they are as the title implies DARK... He battles on, in a generally dark world, knowing that the best he will ever manage is holding the line... and that is no less noble.
You want cheesy kiddy fare, you should not be going to this movie, and if you saw BATMAN RETURNS (the previous movie to this one) you’d know this out of the gate. Batman is not some 2 dimentional character anymore, you want this sort of stuff, there are pleanty of movies like that out there... personally I’m glad that hollywood has stopped dumbing down super hero movies and respected their source material.
That’s exactly what I was just thinking. In Ohio, OSU football coach Jim Tressel just released his new book, The Winners Manual, this past week. He had a number of book signings and every single signing was packed. People bought thousands of books and stood in line for hours to get them signed. Yes, we are definitely in a depression.
Heath Ledger nailed the Joker, portraying him as a psychopathic, anarchic, terrorist just as he is in the comics. Deinitely not Cesar Romero or Jack Nicholson.
A few great lines in there, as well...I liked the one by Michael Caine's character about how "some men just want to watch the world burn."
It will be interesting to see how they develop the storyline for the this version. These last two are consistant with each other, but this one was certainly more on target than the last which seemed to digress into ninja wannabes too much.
ANd on that point ou are correct. Spiderman 3 sold 21.96 million it’s opening weekend while TDK sold 21.94, because the average price of tickets increased from 6.88 for Spidey-3 to 7.08 for TDK, Batman wins due to inflation.
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