Batman has sent Spidey packing as king of Hollywood's box-office superheroes. The Dark Knight" took in a record $155.34 million in its first weekend, topping the previous best of $151.1 million for "Spider-Man 3" in May 2007 and pacing Hollywood to its biggest weekend ever, according to studio estimates Sunday. Hollywood set an overall revenue record of $253 million for a three-day weekend, beating the $218.4 million haul over the weekend of July 7, 2006, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers.
The downside for the movie was that "Spider-Man 3" may have sold slightly more tickets than "The Dark Knight" but this could be because of the higher admission prices. At 2007's average price of $6.88, "Spider-Man 3" sold 21.96 million tickets over opening weekend. Media By Numbers estimates today's average movie prices at $7.08, which means "The Dark Knight" would have sold 21.94 million tickets. The movie's release was preceded by months of buzz and speculation over the performance of the late Heath Ledger as the Joker, Batman's nemesis. Ledger, who died in January from an accidental prescription-drug overdose, played the Joker as a demonic presence, his performance prompting predictions that the role might earn him a posthumous Academy Award nomination. "The Dark Knight" reunites director Christopher Nolan with his "Batman Begins" star Christian Bale, whose vigilante crime-fighter is taunted and tested by Ledger's Joker as the villain unleashes violence and chaos on the city of Gotham.
Overseas, "The Dark Knight" added $40 million in 20 countries where it began opening Wednesday, including Australia, Mexico and Brazil. The film opens in Great Britain last weekend and rolls out to most of the rest of the world over the next few weeks. "The Dark Knight," which cost $185 million to make, also broke the "Spider-Man 3" record for best debut in IMAX large-screen theaters with $6.2 million. "Spider-Man 3" opened with $4.7 million in IMAX cinemas. On opening day Friday, "The Dark Knight" also took in more money than previously counted, Fellman said. The film pulled in a record $67.85 million, up nearly $1.5 million from the studio's estimates a day earlier. The previous opening-day record also had been held by "Spider-Man 3" with $59.8 million. Universal musical movie "Mamma Mia!" meanwhile debuted at No.2 with an estimated ticket sales of 27.6 million. Women accounted for most of the audience for "Mamma Mia!", which Universal opened as counter-programming to the male-dominated audience for "The Dark Knight." [End of report]
When I first heard about the news, I couldnt believe it. I expected it to be big, but not as big as what is being reported on the article. If you see how much revenue that the movie got as compared to "Mamma Mia!", it looks like an outstanding feat. I dont remember when was the last time I saw the top 2 movies for the weekend having such a huge difference in the amount of revenues receieved for the opening weekend. In fact here in Singapore, the movie is also doing very well. I dont know exactly how much money the movie companies here have been getting from the first weekend but I'm pretty sure it is probably one of the the best opening weekend in terms of its ticket sales. I first went to watch the movie on Thursday, the opening day of the movie here and it was the first show. The cinema wasnt exactly full packed mainly because its a weekday when everyone is working and because it was 11am but I still thought it was a good turnout, more than what I usually see everytime I went to see a movie on the weekday. But I expected the weekend to be different though and I was right. I tried to do some research on all the movie website from Golden Village to Cathay and almost all of it was fully occupied for 'The Dark Knight'. I couldnt get enough of the movie so I went to see it again with my family last Saturday, fortunately for us, there was still some available seats.
The popularity of the movie doesnt end at the cinema itself though. If you go to Youtube and search for some of 'The Dark Knight' movie clips, you can see the number of views and how many time the clips are being add to the favourite list, it is just great. You might still be able to buy a ticket for the movie easily here but in America, almost all the shows are a sold out and the people there are going to the extreme to get their hands on the ticket. Some moviegoers were surfing eBay for tickets, and they are willing to pay five times the face value for them. The going online-auction price for an Imax "Dark Knight" ticket for example seemed to be around $50 with many sellers asking $60 and many buyers offering $40. And eBay has seen a surge in activity related to Batman in general, with nearly 23,000 items listed on Friday. As for movie-related Batman gear, Christian Bale paraphernalia is the most popular. I went to JB earlier today and I overheard one of the pirated DVD seller saying to one of its customer that the movie was out of stock. I dont support buying pirated items but Im sure their business is doing well too after the release of the movie.
Some of you might be wondering, what is so good about the movie? Well it is because I think The Batman is everyone favourite hero, well at least for me and also for the fact that this is Heath Ledger final completed film before he died due to accidental drug overdose. When Christopher Nolan's first batman movie 'Batman Begins' came out back in 2oo5, there wasnt much excitement and hype because it is a completely new Batman movie and people were wondering if it is going to be as good as the past Batman movies or even better. I think the movie was quite successful and that is why people are very excited about 'The Dark Knight' as well. Another reason could be the fact that 'The Joker' is the villain the movie. I think as any Batman fan would agree with me when I say he is probably Batman No.1 enemy and as the villain, you should hate him of course. But his character is so unique that you will find it difficult to hate him. Heath Ledger's acting as The Joker was another reason too. Many Batman fan I know wanted to know whether his potrayal of The Joker was much better than Jack Nicholson's and after watching the movie, I would say yes.
There are many other reasons but Im not going to explain any further. I dont know whether there is going to be a third Batman movie, Im hoping that will be the case. I think there will be because I have read somewhere about Christian Bale saying he has sign for 3 Batman movies, plus the ending of 'The Dark Knight' seems to suggest that there will be, although it was not as obvious as the ending of 'Batman Begins'. It would be interesting to see who is going to be the villain if there is a 3rd installment. I wont tell you whether The Joker died in the end or not in 'The Dark Knight' so I cant say whether there could or there could not be a Joker in the next movie should it happen. But for now, if you are one of those who have yet to watch the movie, I suggest you do it soon because it is worth the money you are paying for.
*The report was taken from REUTERS.
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