Posted on 07/20/2008 3:15:21 PM PDT by Borges
Holy blockbuster, Batman! The Dark Knight grossed a behemoth $155.3 million from Friday through Sunday, according to early estimates, to score the biggest three-day opening in box-office history, while leading the way on a weekend for the record books.
The second Batman movie from star Christian Bale and director Christopher Nolan finished at No. 1 (as anticipated, duh!), and, assuming the early estimates hold, it set new standards in just about every category imaginable. It scored the biggest three-day opening weekend of all time (beating Spider-Man 3's $151.1 mil bow). It achieved the best opening day and single day in history ($66.4 mil, shattering Spider-Man 3's mark of $59.8 mil). It brought in the most money from Friday midnight shows of any release ever ($18.5 mil, passing Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith's $16.9 mil). It banked a record $6.2 mil from 94 IMAX venues over the weekend (Spider-Man 3 had the old record, $4.7 mil). And it did it all with the biggest theater count, 4,366 locations, of all time.
Oh, but for Bale, Nolan, costars Maggie Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger, Warner Bros., DC Comics, and everybody else involved (all of whom scored career-best bows, naturally), things get even better. The Dark Knight is already more than three-quarters of the way to passing the $205.3 mil that 2005's Batman Begins earned during its entire domestic run. This followup film also drew raves from ticket buyers, scoring a solid A CinemaScore review from a crowd that skewed slightly male and older. And if you add that to the critical coos that The Dark Knight had already been earning, as well as the fact that it's really the last mega-blockbuster movie to hit the multiplex this summer, the film should continue its remarkable run for weeks to come.
As it happened, The Dark Knight wasn't the only record breaker at the box office this weekend. By coming in at No. 2 with $27.6 mil, Mamma Mia! set a new mark for the biggest premiere ever for a movie musical, if that early estimate holds (Hairspray banked $27.5 mil on its first weekend a year ago). That total also passes the $27.5 mil that star Meryl Streep's The Devil Wears Prada earned in its debut two summers back, and it can be credited to the same crowd: older women. Yep, a whopping three-quarters of the film's audience was ladies, and 64 percent was over the age of 30. But they loved Mamma Mia!, and along with the few fellas who also came to see Pierce Brosnan in the Broadway adaptation, they gave it a nice A- CinemaScore grade.
Mamma Mia! and The Dark Knight accounted for nearly 75 percent of all box-office revenue this weekend, so there was little money to go around for the rest of the movies in release. Hancock (No. 3) fell 56 percent to bank $14 mil. Journey to the Center of the Earth (No. 4) dropped an expected 43 percent to earn $11.9 mil. Hellboy II: The Golden Army fell a colossal 71 percent to earn just $10 mil, after bowing at No. 1 last time around. (That ranks among the 40 worst second-weekend declines in history, ouch!) And newcomer Space Chimps (No. 7) failed to take off, with a mere $7.4 mil.
The success stories continued in America's art houses where the Sundance thriller Transsiberian averaged a sweet $17,608 in two venues.
Overall, the cumulative box office set yet another record: The weekend's $253 mil total domestic gross was the biggest three-day sum in history (smashing the mark of $218 mil, from the first frame of July 2006, when Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest led the way). Needless to say, the box office was up an eye-popping 64 percent from a year ago. And, needless to say, with Batman protecting them even more than before, everyone in Hollywood will sleep well tonight.
The ex-lover of late Batman star Heath Ledger has gone into hiding as his final film makes its cinema debut, according to a report.
Actress Michelle Williams has told friends that she cannot cope with the huge hype surrounding The Dark Knight, which sees Ledger taking on the role of Batman’s nemesis The Joker. Michelle has also become increasingly concerned as tension mounts over Heath’s fortune.
She and their two-year-old daughter Matilda may lose out as Ledger’s will was made before they met. Williams’ father Larry has already made a public demand for Heath’s dad Kim to be open about his late son’s assets.
In a statement, Larry said: “It’s real simple: Just come clean with everything. It’s so easy to resolve this, he just has to say where the income went and where the assets are.”
A friend of Michelle told the Sunday Mirror: “The last few weeks have been particularly hard on Michelle because Heath’s face has been plastered all over TV and on billboards. It’s been extraordinarily difficult as she tries to somehow come to terms with his death and what that means for little Matilda.
“Then there is the awful, festering issue of what he was worth, where the money has gone and what there is going to be in the estate for Matilda.”
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/a113179/ledgers-ex-lover-goes-into-hiding.html
That and the great Richard Lester making another one of many terrific films.
The best news is that nobody is going to see “Hancock” anymore. The sooner the world is rid of Will Smith, the better (although I wish him a happy and lucrative retirement).
I’m partial to his performance in True Romance. About as outlandish as it gets.
He also nailed a Russian accent in ‘Air Force One’.
WOW! That was quick!
Thanks, that link confirmed my suspicions.
thanks, that does answer the question!
It doesn't really have an agenda other than being the best Batman movie they could make. I am free to not attend a movie that I don't like, but I will reward Hollywood for a film I think is well done. This one was well done.
Gosh, you think? Poor dear - the though of living on her own income must be absolutely devastating.
Box Office Mojo has a list that takes inflation into account.
Here it is:
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm
It’s too early for the Dark Knight to be listed. It hasn’t made enough money, yet.
Fascinating!
Saw it this morning and I would agree.
It's not the greatest movie ever (there were several things that I found unintentionally hysterical), but it is good.
LOL! I’m sure he meant “Superman 4”
Superman 4 was awful.
Good Art is ageless. S2 still feels like something human is at stake. Unlike this film.
My wife and I saw it Friday night, and if you’re a hardcore Batman fan (like me) then you will enjoy it. BUT, it is a rough movie to watch and should have been rated R. It is NOT a kids movie, but a deep, troubling exploration of human morality.
And yeah, Heath Ledger surprised me by playing the Joker exceptionally well as probably the most chaotically evil dude to ever appear on screen.
Oh, I know, believe me, I was just having some fun.
I enjoyed “Superman 2” but it doesn’t hold a candle to “Batman Begins” or “The Dark Knight” or “X-Men” or “X-men 2” or “Spiderman” or “Spiderman 2” or “Superman Returns” or “Blade” or “Sin City.”
The bar has been raised considerably since the early ‘80s.
She does have a daughter to consider, who if I understand correctly is the dead actor’s child with her.
So the marriage certificate would have helped here.
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