The Dark Knight surpassed Spiderman 3′s opening weekend from May 1997.
Warner Bros.’ Batman sequel “The Dark Knight” became box office legend as it opened to an estimated $155.4 million from 4,366 theaters, the highest opening ever for a three-day weekend.
“Dark Knight,” from filmmaker Christopher Nolan and returning Christian Bale as the caped crusader, shot past the previous record-holder, “Spider-Man 3,” which earned $151.1 million in its debut in May 2007. Batman–after multiple stops-and-starts, is now the most successful superhero ever to hit the bigscreen. Legendary Pictures co-financed and co-produced “Dark Knight.”
Universal female-skewing musical “Mamma Mia!” was no wallflower either, grossing an estimated $27.6 million from 2,976 runs in its debut to snatch the best opening for a musical in narrowly beating out the $27.5 million opening of musical “Hairspray” on the same weekend last year.
“Dark Knight,” along with “Mamma Mia” and several stalwart holdovers, delivered the film business its best weekend ever for a non-holiday, with total box office receipts of roughly $250 million. Frame’s performance stunned Hollywood.
Previous best weekend was July 7-9 2006, which racked up total B.O. grosses of $218.4 million, led by the $135.6 million opening of “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.”
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. ‘The Dark Knight,’ $155.34 million.
2. ‘Mamma Mia!’, $27.6 million.
3. ‘Hancock,’ $14 million.
4. ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth,’ $11.9 million.
5. ‘Hellboy II: The Golden Army,’ $10 million.
6. ‘WALL-E,’ $9.8 million.
7. ‘Space Chimps,’ $7.4 million.
8. ‘Wanted,’ $5.1 million.
9. ‘Get Smart,’ $4.1 million.
10. ‘Kung Fu Panda,’ $1.8 million.
[Credit: Variety / Media By Numbers]