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.
I’m proud to have been a part of this history-making weekend! Twelve bucks poorer, but proud!
Comment by Jeffrey Morgan — July 20, 2008 @ 8:29 pm
Fantastic! This movie definitely deserves it. Spidey 3 did NOT.
Comment by Nate — July 20, 2008 @ 8:29 pm
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.
Comment by Guy Fawkes — July 20, 2008 @ 8:52 pm
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.”
Comment by Hmmmmm...? — July 20, 2008 @ 9:19 pm
DC beats Marvel. Ha!
Comment by James Hudnall — July 20, 2008 @ 9:36 pm
maybe movies are gonna get cool again!
Comment by bob-e — July 20, 2008 @ 9:56 pm
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.
Comment by Dark Knight fan — July 20, 2008 @ 9:57 pm
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
Comment by Armand — July 20, 2008 @ 10:15 pm
It’s depressing what two hours and thirty minutes of explosions will net you these days.
Comment by Sean — July 20, 2008 @ 10:29 pm
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.Comment by ...mmmmmmH! — July 21, 2008 @ 12:21 am
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.
Comment by Harvey Dent — July 21, 2008 @ 12:41 am
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
Comment by abhishek — July 21, 2008 @ 12:55 am
Movie was total garbage.
Comment by Anonymous — July 21, 2008 @ 2:19 am
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.
Comment by Ella — July 21, 2008 @ 2:52 am
WHEN WILL HOLLYWOOD STOP TRYING TO RAM THEIR RIGHT-WING BATMAN MOVIES DOWN OUR THROATS???
Just kidding… mostly.
Comment by Drudge Link — July 21, 2008 @ 4:08 am
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.
Comment by Chuck — July 21, 2008 @ 4:18 am
Enough, with the BATMAN hype.
There are other topics..
Comment by joestemme — July 21, 2008 @ 4:43 am
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.
Comment by Todd — July 21, 2008 @ 5:17 am
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.
Comment by Somebody — July 21, 2008 @ 7:00 am
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)
Comment by richard — July 21, 2008 @ 8:32 am
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!
Comment by jdamon — July 21, 2008 @ 9:30 am
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.
Comment by Go Tentpole! — July 21, 2008 @ 9:57 am
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.
Comment by Andre — July 21, 2008 @ 10:14 am
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.
Comment by joe — July 21, 2008 @ 10:46 am
Andre –
You might need to check your math again given the Dark Knight’s updated b.o. numbers.
Comment by Anonymous — July 21, 2008 @ 11:43 am
Andre, so what if Spider-Man 3 had like a 45 ticket better average? what about its 2nd weekend? It’s grosses went down by almost $100 million from 1st-2nd weekend cuz everyone told everyone they knew that it sucked. The Dark Knight will sell more total tickets. Bank on it.
Oh, and prices have only went up $0.25 where I’m at, and they are like $9 at night with $6 matinees
Comment by TheaterFan — July 21, 2008 @ 11:48 am
So when do we start guessing what next weekend’s gross is going to be? Maybe $54 million?
Comment by Dan Zee — July 21, 2008 @ 1:11 pm
Actuals are in.
158,411,483
So much for the accusations of WB padding the estimates. And that probably is enough to cover the modest increase in ticket prices over the past year as well.
Comment by milo — July 21, 2008 @ 1:48 pm
Saw _Dark Knight_ sunday, LOVED IT. Anyone talking it down is an imbecile or has an agenda. And if you bring your underage kids to it, you’re _definitely_ an imbecile. It’s a hard PG-13, but def not an R (though I can imagine a DVD having an R cut)..
And yeah, this has been a pretty good movie year for me.. Wall-E, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Hellboy 2, TWBB, NCfOM, Iron Man (twice!).. Fingers x’d for The Spirit and Pineapple Express..
Comment by Dr. Kenneth Noisewater — July 21, 2008 @ 2:09 pm
Anonymous: My results were based on the numbers Nikki provided us. The official numbers are finally out - and The Dark Knight did indeed sell more tickets… 3 more per theater LOL.
The Dark Knight: $158.4M in 4366 theater = $36282.00 per theater. $36282.00 / $7.08 (that’s the average ticket price now according to Media by Numbers) = 5124 tickets sold per theater.
Spider-Man 3: It averaged $35540.00 per theater. $35540.00 / $6.88 = 5121 tickets sold per theater.
TheaterFan: I’m obviously only taking about factual data, not what is going to happen next weekend. I agree with you that Spider-Man 3 was a bad movie and the word of mouth did indeed hurt the film in the long run. “The Dark Knight should have no problem making more money overall than Spidy 3.
But one thing is for sure: Revenge of the Sith sold more tickets for its midnight opening day than The Dark Knight. $16.5M from 2900 theater for Sith ($5690 per theater) compared to $18.5M from 3040 theaters for The Dark Knight ($6086 per theater). Back in 2005, the average ticket price was $6.21 giving Revenge of the Sith an average of 916 tickets sold per theater. The Dark Knight averaged 860 tickets sold per theater (anaverage of $7.08 for a movie ticket nowadays).
Comment by Andre — July 21, 2008 @ 2:23 pm
Wow, Andre
You really react to a movie in your gut, don’t you?
I was going to see Dark Knight tonight, but now I find that Revenge of the Sith (that masterpiece) sold more tickets for its midnight opening day than the Dark Knight, I may have to think again. Because these figures are what matter, aren’t they?
Comment by Might not see it now — July 21, 2008 @ 3:34 pm
Andre, what exactly does per theater tell us that matters? It has no bearing on how good the movie is and also no bearing on the financial success of the movie. So why the hell should anyone care?
Comment by TLA — July 21, 2008 @ 4:00 pm
Might not see it now: LMAO I didn’t care for Revenge of the Sith one bit. I think The Dark Knight is a much better blockbuster film than any of the ones that got their records broken. I just care more about how many people see a movie than how much money it made. Some European markets I think rank their lists by the number of tickets sold instead of gross receipts. It makes more sense to me
Comment by Andre — July 21, 2008 @ 4:05 pm
Goshee…the hype never stops for this soso DK film. I suppose it can have it bragging rights until the next Spiderman entry comes out and then we will have a new champion. One thing for sure. Hopefully the studios paid close attention to WB and the maneuvering they did to get all those extra screens and of course they need to fit it into the IMAX venue and I won’t go into the deceased actor bit….
Comment by netposter08 — July 21, 2008 @ 4:18 pm
Last I heard TDK sold fewer tickets than last year Spiderman. Dollars were up because the average price of a ticket is now 7.08 as compared to some 6.00 plus last year. But that was when they were figuring the total volume to be at 155m. Now that it is 158m….humm…
Comment by netposter08 — July 21, 2008 @ 4:23 pm
This was was beyond a Comic-Book movie, it engaged the audience to care and think about its characters even The Joker. There are so many layers to this Film that i think it can even be beneficial to kids 9 and older. This film isn’t about fighting, it isn’t have very much blood if any from i can remember, and has no sex. This movie is about the Human Condition, its about the choices we make weather right or wrong and how we deal with the aftermath of it. There something special here, and i think people can get something out of if not already. It may very well be the Film of this Decade just like Titanic was in 97′, with considering theater inflation prices still has the ALL-Time Record still. Will The Dark Knight be able to DeThrown that film who knows, but I strongly believe everyone Should Push for OSCAR CONSIDERATION!!
Comment by Rob Z — July 21, 2008 @ 9:24 pm
I am sure there will be another Batman Film but I hope they do not use another actor to play “Joker” no one can do what “Heath Ledger” has done. I say they should bring in another like “Catwoman” maybe “Kim Kardashian”? She is Prett Hot IMO.
Comment by DRA — July 22, 2008 @ 12:02 am
Holy Hollywood Money-Making Machine, Batman!
Batman is a fantastic character. It’s great to see him as popular as ever.
What I like about Batman, among many other things….is his no-kill philosophy.
That shows true super-hero qualities.
Comment by Mattman — July 22, 2008 @ 1:18 pm