The Dark Knight Smashing Records

Posted: 23rd July 2008 by Luc "Sandman" G. in Movies

The Dark Knight is kicking ass and taking names. Since its midnight showing debut, the movie has been shattering previous records and for good reason. It is nothing short of a masterpiece and unlike the crapfest that was Spiderman 3, its well deserving of the records it is breaking. It has so far broken 10 all-time records in its first 5 days of release. One has to wonder that if The Dark Knight can break so many records in 5 days, how many records will it break before bowing out of movie theaters? Its also impressive considering the movie’s non kid friendly PG rating. Realistically I doubt that it will break Titanic’s record for the #1 box office movie of all time, but it should find itself in the top 5, alongside Star Wars/Star Wars Episode 1, Shrek 2 and E.T.

Records broken:

  1. Largest number of opening theaters with 4366. The previous record holder was Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s end with 4362.
  2. Biggest midnight preview opening gross with $18,489,000. Star Wars Episode 3 held the previous record with $16.5 million.
  3. Biggest IMAX midnight preview opening gross with $640,000.
  4. Biggest one day gross of $67,165,092 (includes midnight showings), shattering Spiderman’s 3 previous record of $59,841,919.
  5. Biggest opening weekend gross of $158,411,483, overshadowing the previous record of $151,116,516 held by Spiderman 3.
  6. Biggest opening weekend gross for an IMAX release of $6,214,061. Again breaking Spiderman’s 3 previous record of $4,700,000.
  7. Biggest Sunday single day gross of $43,596,151. Another Spiderman 3 record broken ($39,937,865).
  8. Fastest movie to surpass the $200,000,000 domestically at 5 days. The previous record was 8 days, shared between 3 movies: Spiderman 2, Star Wars Episode 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean 2.
  9. Biggest Monday single gross with $24 million.
  10. Biggest Tuesday single gross with $20.9 million, ahead of the $15.7 million earned by Pirates of the Caribbean 2

The movie is currently voted as the #1 movie of all time on IMDB, surpassing The Godfather (1 & 2) and the Shawshank Redemption. The next ‘recently’ released movie that appears in the list is Lord of the Rings: Return of the King at #14. The Dark Knight is expected to hold the #1 position this coming weekend, even with the release of the much anticipated X-Files movie. X-Files is expected to take in between $20-30 million on its opening weekend. The Dark Knight is expected to take in between $75 million and $85 million on its second weekend of release.

Update (July 28th): To view more records broken by The Dark Knight, please see the updated The Dark Knight Still Breaking Records article.

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  1. […] a list of other records that The Dark Knight has broken, see my previous article The Dark Knight Smashing Records. Share and Enjoy:   « Pets on OC Tranpo Busses | […]

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