'Dark Knight' sets box office record with $66.4M - Page 2

Trinity · 07-28-08, 04:26 PM

Yahoo! Movies: Movie News -

'Dark Knight' grosses $300M, shattering record

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LOS ANGELES (AP) "The Dark Knight" continues to obliterate box office records, crossing the $300 million mark in just 10 days.

The epic Batman saga grossed $75.6 million in its second weekend in theaters, pushing its domestic total to $314,245,000, Warner Bros. head of distribution Dan Fellman said Sunday.

That surpasses the record set in 2006 by "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," which took 16 days to make $300 million.

The latest Batman installment already had broken records for best opening weekend at $158.4 million and best single-day with $66.4 million. It's also busted records in its showings on IMAX screens, making $16.3 million in its first 10 days.

Fellman expects that "Dark Knight" could reach $400 million in about 18 days, which would beat the record "Shrek 2" set in 2004 when it made that much money in 43 days.

"What can you say? We've been getting a lot of repeat business coming in," Fellman said. "Our audience is expanding, like you would expect with terrific word-of-mouth and strong reviews. Our audience is getting a little bit older, that's the good news. We're finding the younger demographic, male and female, coming back."

He called it "a big surprise," adding: "To do $300 (million) plus in 10 days, we just couldn't have predicted it."

"The Dark Knight" could pass "Titanic" as the highest-grossing film in U.S. history, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers. James Cameron's 1997 extravaganza made $600,788,188 domestically, a record no other movie has come close to touching.

"The `Titanic' record has sat in a lock box for 10 years. It's a tall order but if any film has a chance to surpass that number, it's got to be `Dark Knight,'" Dergarabedian said.

Director Christopher Nolan's follow-up to his 2005 origin story "Batman Begins," which again stars Christian Bale as the tormented comic-book crime fighter, initially benefited from the mystique of the late Heath Ledger giving his masterful, last performance as the Joker, Dergarabedian said.

"Now, it's all about word-of-mouth," he said. "The first weekend, there was this huge, pent-up demand and eagerness by audiences to see this movie. Now, it's like a freight train it seems to be unstoppable."

Part of the film's visual allure comes from the fact that 30 minutes of it were shot with IMAX cameras, including an elaborate bank-heist scene at the start.

"Chris (Nolan) has clearly hit upon something," said Greg Foster, chairman and president of IMAX Filmed Entertainment. "There are many important filmmakers who we've spoken with in the last couple of weeks about shooting with IMAX cameras."

Coming in second place was "Step Brothers," which had a strong opening of its own with $30 million. The comedy reunites Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, co-stars of "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," as 40-year-olds who've never left home and are forced to share a bedroom when their parents get married.

Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony, said this was at the high end of the studio's expectations.

"We'd hoped to be in the mid-to-high $20 (millions), so to hit $30 (million) is a great start," Bruer said. "Having the chemistry of Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly together again, reuniting with (director) Adam McKay who did `Talladega Nights,' it's great. They both immerse themselves and the humor comes from their connection."

Sony also has the Will Smith superhero flick "Hancock," which made $8.2 million this past weekend to cross the $200 million mark.

The weekend's other big release was "The X-Files: I Want to Believe" which made an estimated $10.2 million. Ten years after the first "X-Files" movie and six years since the pioneering sci-fi show went off the air, this latest installment finds Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) re-teaming to solve a missing-persons case.

"The hardcore `X-Files' fans, they're happy. And frankly, that's who the movie was made for," said Chris Aronson, distribution executive for 20th Century Fox.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "The Dark Knight," $75.63 million.

2. "Step Brothers," $30 million.

3. "Mamma Mia!" $17.9 million.

4. "The X-Files: I Want to Believe," $10.2 million.

5. "Journey to the Center of the Earth," $9.4 million.

6. "Hancock," $8.2 million.

7. "WALL-E," $6.3 million.

8. "Hellboy II: The Golden Army," $4.9 million.

9. "Space Chimps," $4.4 million.

10. "Wanted," $2.7 million.

Wow, Dark Knight is really outgrossing all other movies at a rapid pace. Setting a trailblazing record....

Hatuey · 07-28-08, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zyphlin

I respect your opinions Hautey...

Here, come walk with me and I'll show you a magic trick and we'll make it all better

Does it involve a pencil?

Orius · 07-28-08, 05:00 PM

I saw The Dark Knight on IMAX.

I like.

Trinity · 08-01-08, 10:48 AM

Yahoo! Movies: Movie News -

Titanic's Been Unsinkable...Until Dark Knight?

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Los Angeles (E! Online) - Ten years after sailing off with $600.8 million, Titanic remains the top-grossing movie of all-time, a title which, up until The Dark Knight onslaught, hasn't been seriously challenged.

Why?

Statistically speaking, says Jeffrey Simonoff, borrowing a famous line from screenwriter William Goldman, "Nobody knows."

"Many people have noted if the stock market is a high-risk market, the movies is far riskier," says Simonoff, professor of statistics at New York University's Stern School of Business.

Huge opening weekends and great buzz certainly increase a movie's odds of making lots and lots of money, but beyond that, Simonoff argues, it's all guesswork.

"What Titanic had was the amazing word of mouth that just kept growing and growing," Simonoff says. "[But] it wasn't like after the second weekend people could say this is going to be the No. 1 movie for the next three months."

Actually, Titanic was the No. 1 movie at the weekend box office for about three-and-a-half months, or 15 weeks, the second-longest run in the top spot after E.T., which logged 16 weeks there in 1982.

To Vicki Kunkel, author of upcoming Instant Appeal: The 8 Primal Factors That Create Blockbuster Success, movies that play on and on and on, like Titanic, are the cinematic equivalent of potato chips—one viewing is not enough.

"Titanic pretty much had all the elements that light up the endorphins on the brain," says Kunkel. "Anything that makes us feel good is addictive."

If all blockbuster movies contain like elements, Kunkel points out, then Titanic had all the right elements, including a love story (see: Leonardo DiCaprio's Jack and Kate Winslet's Rose), a self-sacrificing heroine (see: Rose spurn her rich fiancé, Billy Zane's Cal, for poor Jack) and a clear-cut battle between good and bad (see: Jack take on Cal).

Kunkel finds a couple of these key elements, especially the conflict between good and evil, at play in The Dark Knight. She doesn't, however, foresee another bag of potato chips. Or, more precisely, a bigger bag of potato chips.

"We relate more to real people than we do to superheroes," Kunkel says. "And that's when the real addictiveness happens, when we have a deep primal connection."

Christopher Sharrett, professor of communications and film studies at Seton Hall University, thinks there could be a different kind of connection going on between the seriously dark Dark Knight and today's moviegoers.

"It's ripped out of the headlines," Sharrett says. "It's something that appeals to a cynicism of the population."

More than that, Sharrett thinks the untimely death of Heath Ledger, so prominent in The Dark Knight as iconic villain The Joker, is the film's X factor—the something different that, as he sees it, distinguishes the superhero-action movie from all the other recent superhero-action movies.

But does that add up to The Dark Knight moving from $400 million, its certain next stop, all the way to Titanic's $600 million neighborhood?

"For what it's worth," Simonoff says, "I would certainly say it wouldn't be surprising given the way things look like now."

Then again, he says, it wouldn't be surprising if it fell $100 million short.

Says Simonoff: "You can never know for sure."

Up until its release, after all, Titanic was considered a $200 million gamble. Until it paid off. And off. And off.

With US$400 million firmly in Dark Knight's sights... there is a good chance Dark Knight can beat Titanic to claim the highest grossing movie ever... who thinks Dark Knight will beat Titanic?

Trinity · 08-18-08, 10:39 AM

Why Does Everyone Love 'The Dark Knight'? | Editorials | RopeofSilicon.com Entertainment News

Why Does Everyone Love 'The Dark Knight'?

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What is going on? This weekend The Dark Knight became the second highest grossing film in history as it passed Star Wars and currently sits $129 million behind the all-time leader Titanic. Now I don't want to hear anything about inflation and how Gone with the Wind would be #1 with $13 gazillion if ticket prices were the same back in 1939. Dark Knight is #2, Titanic is #1 and Star Wars and all its re-releases are #3. That's the way it is. But why? What is it about The Dark Knight that has brought audiences to the theaters in droves?

In the past two years I have seen ten films more than once at the theater. Those films include Blood Diamond, Smokin' Aces, 300, Reign Over Me, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, The Kingdom, No Country for Old Men, Atonement, In Bruges and The Dark Knight. Of course being a film reviewer I typically don't pay to see movies a second time. Of the bunch I listed above the only two I paid to see a second time were In Bruges and Atonement. I actually would not have gone to see The Dark Knight a second time in a traditional theater. Both times I went to see it was in IMAX and it was primarily because of IMAX I went to see it a second time. However, IMAX theaters are not in abundance across the States and IMAX screenings have contributed very little to The Dark Knight's bottom line.

So, why is everyone going to see this movie?

Is it Heath Ledger's performance? Does it take a sadistic clown dressed in purple and a cut-up face to get you folks into theaters?

Is it the story? Is this film actually that much better than everything else that people can't help but go see it three and four times?

Is it the politics? No matter what side of the political spectrum you fall on it seems people see a little bit of the right and left in this film and it is drawing up debates.

Is it a combination of everything? Does this film just move you so much that everything about it makes you just want to see it again?

There is no way you can look at The Dark Knight and say it is flawless. If you believe it is, just go see it again and tell me how the Joker got out of Bruce Wayne's penthouse after Batman saves Rachel. Sorry, but that is my one major pet peeve with this film and I love it.

Many folks have pointed out Batman's voice as something they don't like and I am sure many of you have various other nitpicks you may have with the film. Too long perhaps?

So what is it? Despite any flaw you may or may not see, why are you going back and seeing this film so many times. I know this film didn't make $471,493,000 based on folks going and seeing it only once.

We all realize it won't be beating Titanic since Warner is going to have to announce that holiday DVD and Blu-ray release date soon, but as it held the #2 spot this past weekend earning an additional $16.7 million it isn't showing any signs of leaving the box-office top ten any time soon.

Dark Knight is officially highest grossing #2 in all history.