Online ticket-sellers like Fandango.com and MovieTickets.com are only now catching their breath after the recent Dark Knight frenzy. Fandango’s previous records for daily, hourly and weekend ticket sales were "beaten to a pulp" as fans scooped up advance tickets at a breakneck pace, said the service which claims to have sold 13% of the film’s projected domestic weekend box office. MovieTickets.com said it sold more than 1 million tickets from Thursday to Sunday as The Dark Knight broke its daily and weekend ticket sales records as well. 
The new Batman movie was selling as fast as 15 tickets per second on Fandango.com during extended periods on Friday, and an even faster 20 tickets per second during peak periods tha sme day. As an indicator of the rise of online ticketing, Fandango sold more tickets during The Dark Knight’s opening two days than it did for all films in the first 12 months of the company’s history. But here's the really interesting stat: in a Fandango.com poll over the weekend, 64% of Dark Knight moviegoers said they plan to see the movie again, and 62% said Heath Ledger’s performance is the factor that makes them want to see it a 2nd time.
sorry, saw the movie and his acting was on par with the other actors in the movie. i think that all the free press is helping him along, but it wasn’t spectacular.
Comment by betty — July 21, 2008 @ 4:33 pm
I understand Ledger died tragically and his performance in The Dark Knight is phenominal, but it’s a shame Christian Bale’s performance is being overshadowed and mostly forgotten in all the hype. As you would expect, he gives yet another great performance.
Comment by Jimmy — July 21, 2008 @ 4:34 pm
Plans to see it again because of Ledger sounds more like cult worshipping than anything else. But I suppose my parents felt the same way about Rudolph Valentino when he died and I did when James Dean died. At least they are fawning over a better than average action flick and not some mediocre one. Personally I thought TDK was just an ok flick and I cringe when some fanboy blog pundits are saying it deserves a BEST PICTURE nom. But then again I remember ‘Titanic” and look what hype did for this picture. Of course “Titanic” if I remember conrrectly was presented to us right in the middle of Award season. TDK will be forgotten or should be when OSCAR time rolls around unless we have a bunch of mediocre film in the horizon.
Comment by netposter08 — July 21, 2008 @ 4:35 pm
Betty, you have no idea what you’re talking about or not aware of greatness. You probably thought Daniel Day Lewis was overacting in Gangs of New York.
Really, on par with the other actors..hmmm…You miss the point or the critical thinking to objectively make such a comment; but Heath’s Joker is one of those performances that transcends it all..
God Bless all the Cynics..sorry, sometimes I can get a little passive aggressive…”got a little fight in ya?!”
C
Comment by Chris — July 21, 2008 @ 5:21 pm
no disrespect to Heath Ledger, but would you still be feeling the same way with his performance if he was still alive?
Comment by betty — July 21, 2008 @ 5:31 pm
This one deserves a second viewing while it’s still at the Dome.
Comment by Guilty as Charged — July 21, 2008 @ 5:57 pm
netposter08, just because a movie is not released during traditional awards season, doesn’t mean it can’t win the oscar.
For example, “Gladiator” won best picture in 2000 and was released May 5th. “Crash” opened May 6th, 2005. “Forrest Gump” was released in July 6th, 1994.
So really - just because TDK didn’t open after October of this year, doesn’t mean it can’t win.
Get over it - seriously, I really feel like people are just hating on this movie, just to hate on something. You can never please everyone, even with an amazing movie that has won over both critics and it’s audience.
Comment by OscarsAllYear — July 21, 2008 @ 6:10 pm
Betty - are you out of your damn mind??!
Comment by saphron_girl — July 21, 2008 @ 7:04 pm
“no disrespect to Heath Ledger, but would you still be feeling the same way with his performance if he was still alive?”
Betty, ever heard of a little movie called Brokeback Mountain? I suppose you thought that sublime performance was overrated as well.
Comment by Saphron_girl — July 21, 2008 @ 7:06 pm
I understand people are uncomfortable with Warner Bros focusing so much of the marketing on Ledger, but Nicholson didn’t die after the first Batman and Anthony Hopkins didn’t die after filming Silence of the Lambs, people raved over both performances and Hopkins picked up the Best Actor Oscar for 16 minutes of screen time.
Ledger’s death is not the reason people are praising the film, nor is it undeserved praise, the performance is distrubing, unsettling, chilling and it is the type of performance that does win Oscars.
I realise the celebrity-obsessed modern world goes nuts when somebody dies young, but get over it, in this case the praise is deserved.
Comment by DH — July 21, 2008 @ 7:17 pm
Just saw The Dark Knight. It was a good film but I was bored for more than half of it. The same problem as most action films, not enough story to justify the action.
Heath did a great job, but an Academy Award? C’mon! His former agent must have trumped that up to get a bit more cash in the long run. I don’t know, but I didn’t see a performance that is worthy of a statue. I really didn’t see anything new in The Dark Knight nor do I feel it needs any Oscars.
The story is rushed, the action repetitive and the plot bordered on absolute silliness. Batman Begins is a better film and what I liked about that film is that it answered a great question, yes Batman is capable of killing. I would’ve hoped that Chris Nolan realized that we don’t need to go through the same moral questions for two films in a row. But he chose to repeat himself… (did I mention how repetitive The Dark Knight is????)
Two stars out of 4.
Comment by flowers — July 21, 2008 @ 7:30 pm
Sorry, but I have to agree with Betty. The movie was alright, as was Heath’s performance, but both are overrated. Batman Begins was better than the Dark Knight and Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange (who Ledger based his character off of) was better than Heath.
All in all it was a decent movie and everyone else who went to the midnight show with me has already gone to see it a second time. I doubt it has the legs of Titanic but with that opening gross and the slate of upcoming movies it may not need to.
Comment by College Student — July 21, 2008 @ 7:31 pm
“TDK will be forgotten or should be when OSCAR time rolls around unless we have a bunch of mediocre film in the horizon.”
It might very well still be in box office Top Ten.
“no disrespect to Heath Ledger, but would you still be feeling the same way with his performance if he was still alive?”
People forget that there was “Oscar buzz” for Ledger’s Joker when he was still alive.
And exactly why did Katie Holmes turn TDK down?
TDK made enough over the weekend to give free passes to anyone who saw MEET DAVE.
Comment by Andrew — July 21, 2008 @ 7:32 pm
I just saw TDK. Heath is Oscar-worthy but I will wait to see who else is nominated before I suggest he should win.
I enjoyed the film a great deal. Loved Maggie G. and Aaron E. as well.
However, I’ve no plans to see it twice. I felt it was probably 15-20 minutes too long. It could have been tighter.
Comment by original joe — July 21, 2008 @ 7:58 pm
uh, yeah Betty..Heath’s passing doesn’t make his performance Oscar worthy…it makes this whole thing tragic..
Heath’s performance as the Joker is disturbing, vulnerable, charismatic, and creatively one of the most interesting performances I’ve ever seen. ..there was buzz before he died..
I was affected by the performance of a character (The Joker) that seemed so lost, so enraged, so confused, so alive and vulnerable to his world that he could no longer function as a human being or identify with the common man and had lost all sense of hope from the physical and emotional abuse he had received in his young life that he became another person..The Joker..
Yes, I’m talking about the character, ..Thats a performance..a great performance..
Its about life Betty..Learn to embrace and feel things…
Comment by chris — July 21, 2008 @ 8:07 pm
batman/joker and brokeback mountain are not even in the same ballpark
Comment by betty — July 21, 2008 @ 8:50 pm
How typical. It never fails when there is a popular or well received movie the neysayers always come out of the woodwork only AFTER everyone builds the movie up. Where were all of you people over the weekend when all anyone did was rave? You sat on your little asses and did nothing. Anytime something is popular people wait until it becomes “hip” to rip whatever it is. For movies, it has happened to movies as diverse as The Matrix and Schindler’s List. There will ALWAYS be people who just want to badmouth a movie to be different and feel superior.
Comment by Mark — July 21, 2008 @ 9:15 pm
OMFG! Chris you can’t be serious. You truly didn’t read what you wrote before you posted your response to Betty. You sound really, well, pathetic. Heath was great, as were all in the film. And the “new” versions of Chris Nolan’s Batman are truly head and shoulders above the “cartoony” versions of yore. The angst and human suffering you so descriptively describe about the story, well its just that, a story. Save your psychobabble for the local midwest community college film history class where no one can blame people for not having a life. You sound like the desperate, creepy, middle aged film professor trying to appear uber cool so he can bed the coed with his unique “insight”. Yikes dude!
Comment by cs — July 21, 2008 @ 9:27 pm
Who said they were?
C
Comment by Chris — July 21, 2008 @ 9:34 pm
I agree with you Betty. It really doesn’t take that much effort to play a villain than it takes to play a new and original role such as gay cowboy.
As for the poll at hand, I can’t find it at Fandango.com but if I understand the wording correctly, the poll might include all media and not just theaters. If theaters are what you are looking for, then we might expect to see history. Regardless, expect a mad rampage at Wal*Mart when DK is released to DVD.
Comment by Jessy S. — July 21, 2008 @ 10:42 pm
I love reading that people say that the Oscar buzz surrounding Heath Ledger’s brilliant performance wouldn’t be happening if he hadn’t died.
Too bad the people started talking about the ingenuity and energy of his performance directly from the set here in Chicago last summer. The words “Oscar”, ‘Joker” and “Heath Ledger” were strung together when he was alive and well; that’s yet another reason why he deserves the Oscar.
Comment by Joe Tate — July 21, 2008 @ 11:24 pm
Heath is the only reason to see this film and even that is iffy.
Comment by Angie — July 21, 2008 @ 11:34 pm
kudos to the makers Dark Knight for their record breaking opening weekend… it’s no wonder there’s talk of another one coming out ASAP
Comment by patrick — July 22, 2008 @ 7:27 am
“It might very well still be in box office Top Ten.”
You really think this could be in the top ten into the new year?
Sorry, but that’s completely insane.
This movie is going to do well. Very well. But the notion that it will do “Titanic” well is absolute fantasy.
Comment by milo — July 22, 2008 @ 9:13 am
Betty, you rock.
Brokeback was aweful. (and i’m gay)
TDK was a movie. very slow at points. no incredible action scenes. and typical womanizing.
Oscar, are you kidding??
Comment by Scott — July 22, 2008 @ 9:47 am
As someone in the industry who sees as few films as possible in theaters, I for one would not see DK a second time, as the resounding Heath performance is still sinking in. I mean, it was fucking great. He took a classic role, added some cartoonish iconography and a piece of himself, and he deserves all the praise he’s getting. Much like The Departed, this is a film to watch over and over again once it’s on Demand/DVD.
Comment by dp — July 22, 2008 @ 10:19 am
I really loved The Dark Knight and Heath’s performance. And that’s coming from a Batman fan who didn’t even want to see Batman Begins in the theater… then when I saw it on DVD didn’t love it like everyone else.
And I wasn’t a Heath fan before this film… He was fine, but I wasn’t excited about his casting or anything…
Point is — the movie and his performance are that great. I had no bias going in other than all the hype which usually makes me want to hate it — so for it to be that good after all the praise says something.
And for the record I think Eckhart had the best performance in the movie. It’s a tough role…
Comment by Matt — July 22, 2008 @ 12:44 pm
I haven’t seen it yet and all I can think reading the comments is how sad it is Ledger isn’t alive to get even better as an actor, and that however good he is in TDK, just think how amazing he’d have been ten years from now. He was a rare young actor who kept improving, evolving and growing. Nobody here says it so I will, he didn’t get hit by a bus. He made really stupid choices and threw his life away. I just wouldn’t celebrate that with an award. What then deters other young actors from self-destruction? Bit sick of the glamorizing of dying young and living dark. Celebrate survivors. The ones who get paunchy and happy and settle down and have a family. They’re the cool ones. Like the other big superhero action star this year, Robert Downey Jr. Very glad he’s still with us.
Comment by Cilla — July 22, 2008 @ 3:02 pm
Well, here is another reason to see Dark Knight, to provide Christian Bale with bail money. Seriously, his assult arrest is making news, though Nikki didn’t report it.
As for the movie itself, It will not be in the theater past November. Based on the redicious turn around from theater to DVD, this movie will likely be in stores November 29th which is known in hip circles as Black Friday or the day after Thanksgiving. An interesting check of firstshowing.net confirms that all the movies released that week will be out the day before Thanksgiving.
Comment by Jessy S. — July 22, 2008 @ 3:18 pm
I do plan on seeing it again for two reasons. First, I didn’t get to see it on IMAX and I think that will be cool. Second, there was a lot going on in that movie and seeing it twice I think will be just as good as the first time around, especially in IMAX this time.
I felt all the actors did a great job. I didn’t particuarly think Ledgers performance was “out of this world” like the press hypes it up to be. It was very good. So was everyone else. Everyone clicked. Yes, the Joker was scary, very much so…and Heath played the part well. And Alfred was the perfect butler and the list goes on.
The movie as a whole was terrific and that’s what I liked most about it. Ray
http://www.JokerHeathCollectibles.com
Comment by JokerHeathCollectibles — July 22, 2008 @ 4:03 pm
I think I’ll see it again next week.
It was good, and HL, along with the rest of the cast, was great.
Comment by Andrew — July 22, 2008 @ 5:42 pm
Ledger’s performance went to a very dark place. I’ve seen TDK 3 times now and have enjoyed it more each time. The performance Ledger gave not only depth and range, but he turned the criminal lunacy of the Joker into a spectator sport that. This Joker isn’t a villain that you love to hate. He’s a villain that you just love. We all have a little madness, and he found a way to speak to it in the audience. This movie may go to the top…maybe faster than we think.
Comment by Justifiable Homicide — July 27, 2008 @ 8:39 am