‘Dark Knight’ Crosses $200M Mark In Record Time
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July 23rd, 2008

LOS ANGELES, Calif. –

Day after day, “The Dark Knight” continues to rewrite the box office record books.

The latest installment in the Batman franchise, starring Heath Ledger and Christian Bale, took in an estimated $20.9 million on Tuesday, brining the film’s five-day total to an astounding $203.8 million.

“The Dark Knight” passed the $200 million mark in a record-breaking five days, shattering the previous record of eight days which was held in a three-way tie by “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” “Spider-Man 2” and “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith.”

Among the other records which now belong to “The Dark Knight” include the biggest opening weekend ever ($158.3 million) and biggest opening day ever at the box office ($67 million).

Both records were previously held by “Spider-Man 3.”

There Are 41 Responses So Far. »

  1. Comment by jayshah on 23 July 2008:

    Looks like it will easily cross $400MM at this rate. $450MM will be stiff target…

  2. Comment by jayshah on 23 July 2008:

    The demand is such that the one IMAX I know of in London is nearly fully booked for TDK shows on weekends and evening weekdays till late August! I can find one seat or two seats here and there but a block of 3-5, its impossible.

  3. Comment by satyam on 23 July 2008:

    Jay, I am not at all surprised. You couldn’t get IMAX tickets for love or money in NY city over the weekend and in many cases through the entire first week! In the suburbs once again nothing over the weekend (IMAX). I finally show a screening at noon on Mon. I must say this film deserves to be seen on IMAX. The only problem is that once you see it on IMAX you don’t feel like going back to the regular theaters for another viewing. I want to see Dark Knight yet again and I’m trying to figure out how to do so on IMAX.

  4. Comment by satyam on 23 July 2008:

    Here are some older related comments on the box office:

    “Bond films are never massive grossers in the US. They’re good grossers but not extraordinary blockbusters. Don’t see Quantum of Solace measuring up to Dark Knight at all in any sense imaginable. Even worldwide. At this point I don’t see a film on the horizon that can top this one. But the Avengers could do it. Of course Dark Knight has really become an ‘event’ film in so many ways. Speaking for myself I will end up seeing it more times than any other Hollywood film! I saw Titanic three times and that’s the maximum for me. Unlike Indian films I tend not to go in for repeat viewings with Hollywood. But Dark Knight is something else.”

    “the thing with Titanic was that it opened to 27m, went upto 35m over the second Christmas weekend and then established a record of most consecutive weeks where the film did at least 20m. Titanic was an extraordinary box office story that goes beyond the final gross. of course even that us unattainable and despite these massive initials I don’t see any film crossing that mark (600m) any time soon. The love story aspect there especially registered with the female audience, young and old, who came in droves and saw it many many times.

    Of course the Dark Knight opening is magnificent to say the least. “

  5. Comment by satyam on 23 July 2008:

    Will Smith incidentally has another 200m grosser on his hands. This man is really ahead of everyone else at the moment. Of course the poor guy has no prestige otherwise.

    Meanwhile Iron Man and Indiana Jones have both done about 315m. Vastly more credit to the former on the very same numbers. Wall-E looks to be a 200m deal as does Kung fu Panda. Wanted should do around 130m and Get Smart 125m or so. Most of the recent releases have done rather well in this sense. Mamma Mia just this weekend had a good opening. Even Hulk which in my view was very poor will do 140m.

    The film which was really timed badly was Hellboy 2. Who releases this kind of film a week before Dark Knight?! Had a good opening weekend, then got decimated. Could have grossed a lot more.

    On the Hindi front the combined effect of Kismet Konnection and Dark Knight have definitely hurt JTYJN in the US.

  6. Comment by jayshah on 23 July 2008:

    I read somewhere today Will Smith is the highest paid actor in Hollywood and the first actor to take 8 films consecutively to $100MM+…I think he is clearly the biggest draw now…

  7. Comment by JustaFan on 23 July 2008:

    If Dark Knight can do 95M in the second weekend (a 38% or so drop) then it has a slight chance to go past E.T. (461M) to become the second biggest grosser of all time. This shows how amazing Titanic was…..even after shattering every box office record, Dark Knight may not even come close to 500M.

  8. Comment by JustaFan on 23 July 2008:

    I mean Star Wars 461M record…E.T. is 435M

  9. Comment by jayshah on 23 July 2008:

    Titanics record won’t go any time soon. I would bet not even in the next 5 years. Its an incredible record and for a film to beat it, it will need a very advantageous release timing and just a remarkable opening and trend.

    TDK has potential for $500MM but I think its a tough ask. In the end though it seems like half that haul might come in week one itself so its certainly possible the film can trend 50% week on week.

  10. Comment by jayshah on 23 July 2008:

    Sorry not quite half. It should be at $235MM roughly I guess. Still it will need good trending to reach $500MM. $400MM seems quite easy from here on in.

  11. Comment by JustaFan on 23 July 2008:

    Titanic’s repeat value was simply amazing…Even if a movie comes long in the next few years that could reach 500M or even 550, I don’t see any movie having the repeat value of Titanic. That movie was truly a monster.

  12. Comment by JustaFan on 23 July 2008:

    and the biggest reason for Titanic’s success was Leo DiCaprio…that guy was a sensation in late 1997 and early 1998 when the movie went on its’ dream box office run.

  13. Comment by satyam on 23 July 2008:

    Rks, with this new dashboard format we have I like everything except that it lacks one feature. You can’t access a post from any individual comment as we could with the older format.

  14. Comment by Qalandar on 23 July 2008:

    Yes you can satyam, that’s how I got to this thread…

    Sadly, I have now lost my “edit” feature! :-(

    I don’t even have “edit” on posts, let alone comments.

    Satyam: Forbes apparently says Will Smith made ~$80 million in the last 12 months, leading all Hollywood actors; Johnny Depp is #2 at ~$72 million.

  15. Comment by Qalandar on 23 July 2008:

    I do like the new dashboard format btw. But as the poet said:

    “Saari khudai ek taraf
    ‘Edit’ ka function ek taraf”

  16. Comment by Tony Montana on 23 July 2008:

    It will be interesting to see how it performs this weekend.

    Satyam what do you think of Ledger’s perfomance? Well, For me, it is without a doubt the best acting performance I have ever seen in a theater.

  17. Comment by Som on 23 July 2008:

    The record set by Titanic in both US and World boxoffice will be a tough ask to beat for any film.It’s record is gonna stay for another few years.Star Wars had this biggest grosser record for almost 20 years, Titanic has been since 1997 and still counting.

  18. Comment by JasonTodd on 23 July 2008:

    i need to see it a third time like NOW!!!!

    can i continue to gloat about my IMAX experience?

  19. Comment by JasonTodd on 23 July 2008:

    as for titanic
    give it another 5-20 years
    inflations gonna kill the number

    Avatar, The third Batman, Avengers and if they ever do a Justice League would be the likely bets.

  20. Comment by sheeru on 23 July 2008:

    It’s a masterpiece…it deserves those numbers…Heath’s performance has a big affect on those numbers…THATS FOR SURE…I still cant believe how amazing he was.

  21. Comment by JasonTodd on 23 July 2008:

    still liked aaron eckhart more!!!

    heath was great no doubts about it, but echart’s harvey was the lifeline and soul of the movie, the saddest thing IMO is that he’s been sooo overlooked due to heath’s iconic (no two ways about it) work

  22. Comment by jayshah on 24 July 2008:

    “Yes you can satyam, that’s how I got to this thread…”

    I have the same issue as Satyam. I can access a post from the dashboard when I am in the post section. In the comments section, I cannot find a link to link into the corresponding post. It is the only way I use NG really so its blimin driving me nuts at this point!

    “can i continue to gloat about my IMAX experience?”

    No..let me see it first!

  23. Comment by Aarohi on 24 July 2008:

    Satyam: You can’t access a post from any individual comment as we could with the older format.

    Q: Yes you can satyam, that’s how I got to this thread…

    I can’t do it either. Perhaps Q is able to do it because of Admin rights.

  24. Comment by Achilles on 24 July 2008:

    500 is the minimum TDK will gross … watch out!

  25. Comment by Zen on 24 July 2008:

    Agree Ach, $500m is the minimum and it might just get to 580-600. I disagree with others on Titanic, its record will go within 3 years from now.

    Re: “Star Wars had this biggest grosser record for almost 20 years, Titanic has been since 1997 and still counting.”
    No Som. Star wars’ record went within 5 years when ET released, and ET’s record stood for ten years till Jurassic Park (Spielberg breaks Spielberg!) and that was broken by Titanic. The star wars numbers include $100 m + made on the re-release in 1999 before the prequels.

  26. Comment by Qalandar on 24 July 2008:

    Thanks for clarifying aarohi — though I seem to have lost admin rights, as I can’t “edit” my comments which I used to be able to earlier…

  27. Comment by rks on 24 July 2008:

    Q: Click on the name :) , there is no edit button.

  28. Comment by satyam on 24 July 2008:

    Tony Montana: Heath Ledger’s is a fantastic performance without doubt.. wouldn’t call it the best one I’ve seen in a theater though.. but hey your enthusiasm is understandable!

    I do think Ledger beats Nicholson hollow..

  29. Comment by rks on 24 July 2008:

    Satyam: You can, click at name of the post at bottom of any comment.

  30. Comment by Qalandar on 24 July 2008:

    YAAAY! Thanks RKS…

  31. Comment by rks on 24 July 2008:

    Most of the features are there, it is just that they have been misplaced :)

  32. Comment by jayshah on 24 July 2008:

    rks - I cannot…the name is not “higlighted” in link format for me…

  33. Comment by Qalandar on 24 July 2008:

    Jay: I think he meant that those who had admin rights previously have retained those…

    That being said, I think an “edit” function for one’s own comments is something every NGite would wish for. I have no clue how to get to a tech solution, but I urge Rohit to look into this. Every NGite should be able to edit his/her own comments.

  34. Comment by rks on 24 July 2008:

    Because you are not editor like Q :)

    Petition Rohit.

  35. Comment by jayshah on 24 July 2008:

    Q - sorry, i’m referring to accessing a post from the comments section in the dashboard…I cannot do this still. In previous version I could just click on the “view” tab and move into that post. Here there is no link in 1) The body of the text 2) The name of the post is not in “hyperlink” format

    eg…I just read your comment. I can only respond to your comment by moving myself into the “Manage” section and finding the relevant post “‘Dark Knight’ Crosses $200M Mark In Record Time” and then linking from there by clicking on “published”

  36. Comment by jayshah on 24 July 2008:

    Its a feature we had in previous NG, that I can access the “post” from the “comments” section. Nothing to do with editing here. Just accessing the post…

  37. Comment by rks on 24 July 2008:

    Jay: Click on “name of the post” at bottom of any comment with date and time.

  38. Comment by jayshah on 24 July 2008:

    “Click on “name of the post” at bottom of any comment”

    Going round in circles here…again nothing happens because it is just the “name” - there is no hyperlink…

  39. Comment by rks on 24 July 2008:

    You are right Jay.
    I just logged in as normal user and saw that hyperlink missing. Let me do some research.

  40. Comment by jayshah on 24 July 2008:

    Ok, sent an email with screen shot! Sorry for persistant behavior! LOL!

  41. Comment by Som on 24 July 2008:

    “No Som. Star wars’ record went within 5 years when ET released, and ET’s record stood for ten years till Jurassic Park (Spielberg breaks Spielberg!) and that was broken by Titanic.”

    Zen: no, Star wars’ record stood for 20 years, ET came close but could not beat it.Star wars did $460,998,007 in 1977 where was ET did $435,110,554 in 1982 at the US boxoffice.You can check the figures from BOXOFFICEMOJO.

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