'Dark Knight' sets box office record with $66.4M
LOS ANGELES - Batman's joust with the Joker has set another box office record. Stoked by fan fever over the manic performance of the late Heath Ledger as the Joker, "The Dark Knight" set a one-day box office record with $66.4 million on opening day, Warner Bros. head of distribution Dan Fellman said Saturday.
US stock market cap volatile week with big gainsThe movie's Friday haul surpassed the previous record of $59.8 million set last year by "Spider-Man 3." "The Dark Knight" might break the opening-weekend record of $151.1 million, also held by "Spider-Man 3."
"I think they're in jeopardy," Fellman said of the "Spider-Man 3" records.
"The Dark Knight" began with a record $18.5 million from midnight screenings, topping the previous high of $16.9 million for "Star Wars: Episode III The Revenge of the Sith."
The opening day grosses for "The Dark Knight" far exceeded the full weekend haul of its predecessor, "Batman Begins," which took in $48.7 million in its first three days in 2005.
Reviews were excellent for director Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins," but they were stellar for his "Dark Knight."
"We've really never seen anything like this," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "The death of a fine actor taken in his prime, a legendary performance, and a movie that lives up to all the hype. That all combined to create these record-breaking numbers."
Buzz had been high for the Batman sequel well before Ledger died of an accidental prescription-drug overdose in January. Trailers last fall revealing Ledger's demented Joker, with crooked clown makeup, turned up the heat even more. The critical acclaim over his performance that built from advance screenings left fans in a frenzy.
"It's a combination of things. Certainly, that's a great part of it, but I think this movie's gross was partly because of the reviews it received and the incredible buzz and word of mouth that preceded it with our early screenings," Fellman said. "And the success and quality of the last one, `Batman Begins,' delivered by Chris Nolan just set the tone for the opening of this movie."
"The Dark Knight" reunites Christian Bale as Batman, the vigilante crime-fighter tormented by personal tragedy, and co-stars Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman. Maggie Gyllenhaal also stars.
- 1 Oil steady as U.S. crude stocks drop offsets fuel rise
- 2 Dollar edges down, Asia stocks up before Fed
- 3 Meryl Streeps daughter gets first Hollywood break
- 4 Mainland wine export deal reached
- 5 Asian stocks edge higher ahead of Fed decision
- 6 Views sought on multi-party litigation
- 7 Stocks extend gains following ISM
- 1 China to launch stock exchange for smaller companies
- 2 Obama bringing hefty agenda on European trip
- 3 GM sees bankruptcy risk
- 4 For Wall Street, March is best month since 2002
- 5 North Korea missile consistent with satellite: U.S.
- 6 HK, Shenzhen agree on innovation plan
- 7 $6.6b Gov't deficit recorded
- 1 Hasbro profit beats, sees lower cable deal costs
- 2 U.S. housing inventory data points to stabilization
- 3 Wall St extend gains after economic data
- 4 Halliburton profit drops 47 percent but tops forecasts
- 5 Magna, Sberbank submit changed Opel bid: source
- 6 Wall St opens higher after CIT deal
- 7 Hasbro profit beats, Discovery deal to hurt less
|
|
