Dark Knight Rises' Pacing to Score Biggest Weekend Opening of All Time for 2D Movie
1:30 PM PDT 7/9/2012 by Pamela McClintock
Warner Bros. Pictures
Prerelease tracking indicates Christopher Nolan's final Batman movie will eclipse the $158.4 million opening of his 2008 film "The Dark Knight."
Hollywood was abuzz Monday over the strength of tracking for Warner Bros.' The Dark Knight Rises, which hits theaters in two weeks on July 20.
Box-office observers widely believe that Dark Knight Rises will outperform the $158.4 million opening of The Dark Knight on the same weekend in 2008, then the biggest three-day debut of all time at the domestic box office.
Christopher Nolan'sDark Knight remains the top opener of all time in terms of a 2D pic. A pair of 3D films -- May release The Avengers and last year's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 -- claim No. 1 and No. 2 spots with $207.4 million and $169.2 million, respectively.
Overall tracking numbers for Dark Knight Rises aren't that far behind Avengers, but the Christian Bale starrer won't enjoy the boost from the upcharge for a 3D ticket. To boot, Dark Knight Rises runs 164 minutes -- 21 more than Avengers and 12 more than Dark Knight.
Dark Knight Rises has plenty going in its favor. In addition to being the last installment in Nolan's wildly successful Batman trilogy, it should be big draw in several hundred Imax theaters, which charge a premium (Nolan shot more than an hour of the film with Imax cameras).
With The Amazing Spider-Man in theaters, tracking for Dark Knight Rises surged over the weekend. According to those who have seen Monday's tracking numbers, unaided awareness for Dark Knight Rises is 19, compared with 20 for The Avengers. First choice is 30 for Dark Knight Rises, versus 33 for The Avengers. Definite interest in Dark Knight Rises is 66, compared with 65 for Avengers.
Females are slightly less interested in seeing Dark Knight Rises than The Avengers, though Warners marketing operation has two weeks to further woo this demo.
1:30 PM PDT 7/9/2012 by Pamela McClintock
Warner Bros. Pictures
Prerelease tracking indicates Christopher Nolan's final Batman movie will eclipse the $158.4 million opening of his 2008 film "The Dark Knight."
Hollywood was abuzz Monday over the strength of tracking for Warner Bros.' The Dark Knight Rises, which hits theaters in two weeks on July 20.
Box-office observers widely believe that Dark Knight Rises will outperform the $158.4 million opening of The Dark Knight on the same weekend in 2008, then the biggest three-day debut of all time at the domestic box office.
Christopher Nolan'sDark Knight remains the top opener of all time in terms of a 2D pic. A pair of 3D films -- May release The Avengers and last year's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 -- claim No. 1 and No. 2 spots with $207.4 million and $169.2 million, respectively.
Overall tracking numbers for Dark Knight Rises aren't that far behind Avengers, but the Christian Bale starrer won't enjoy the boost from the upcharge for a 3D ticket. To boot, Dark Knight Rises runs 164 minutes -- 21 more than Avengers and 12 more than Dark Knight.
Dark Knight Rises has plenty going in its favor. In addition to being the last installment in Nolan's wildly successful Batman trilogy, it should be big draw in several hundred Imax theaters, which charge a premium (Nolan shot more than an hour of the film with Imax cameras).
With The Amazing Spider-Man in theaters, tracking for Dark Knight Rises surged over the weekend. According to those who have seen Monday's tracking numbers, unaided awareness for Dark Knight Rises is 19, compared with 20 for The Avengers. First choice is 30 for Dark Knight Rises, versus 33 for The Avengers. Definite interest in Dark Knight Rises is 66, compared with 65 for Avengers.
Females are slightly less interested in seeing Dark Knight Rises than The Avengers, though Warners marketing operation has two weeks to further woo this demo.
Around-the-World Roundup: 'Dark Knight Rises' Joins Billionaire Club
by Ray Subers
September 4, 2012
Thanks to a massive opening in China, The Dark Knight Rises is now the 13th movie ever to reach $1 billion worldwide. Including Monday domestic grosses, The Dark Knight Rises has now made over $1.01 billion, which means sometime this weekend it passed The Dark Knight ($1.003 billion) to become the highest-grossing Batman movie ever.
Since opening last Monday, The Dark Knight Rises has earned $31 million in China. That's not quite the highest opening so far this year (that title belongs to Titanic 3D) but it is way up on The Avengers ($17.4 million) at least. The movie also debuted this weekend in Italy, where it earned $9.1 million including previews. That tally alone is 73 percent of The Dark Knight's total there, indicating that Italy will be a growth market for the three-quel. Through Sunday, the movie's foreign total was at a very impressive $577.7 million, and it will cross $600 million by next weekend.
The Batman series joins Pirates of the Caribbean as the only franchises with two $1 billion movies. The Dark Knight Rises is also now the second movie (after Avatar) to reach $100 million in worldwide IMAX grosses.
Based on the current trajectory, it's likely that The Dark Knight Rises winds up closing with just below $1.1 billion in worldwide grosses. That will be good for seventh place on the all-time worldwide chart, and third place all-time for a 2D-only title.
In a bizarre attempt to suppress ticket sales for imports, the China Film Group scheduled The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man on the same weekend. Spider-Man actually came out slightly ahead: the movie scored an incredible $32.5 million since it debuted on Monday. That's more than Spider-Man 3 made in its entire run there, which is due to the rapid expansion of the market and the addition of 3D. The Amazing Spider-Man has now earned $474.5 million overseas (more than any Spider-Man movie except the third one) for a worldwide total of $735.1 million (still the lowest in the franchise).
by Ray Subers
September 4, 2012
Thanks to a massive opening in China, The Dark Knight Rises is now the 13th movie ever to reach $1 billion worldwide. Including Monday domestic grosses, The Dark Knight Rises has now made over $1.01 billion, which means sometime this weekend it passed The Dark Knight ($1.003 billion) to become the highest-grossing Batman movie ever.
Since opening last Monday, The Dark Knight Rises has earned $31 million in China. That's not quite the highest opening so far this year (that title belongs to Titanic 3D) but it is way up on The Avengers ($17.4 million) at least. The movie also debuted this weekend in Italy, where it earned $9.1 million including previews. That tally alone is 73 percent of The Dark Knight's total there, indicating that Italy will be a growth market for the three-quel. Through Sunday, the movie's foreign total was at a very impressive $577.7 million, and it will cross $600 million by next weekend.
The Batman series joins Pirates of the Caribbean as the only franchises with two $1 billion movies. The Dark Knight Rises is also now the second movie (after Avatar) to reach $100 million in worldwide IMAX grosses.
Based on the current trajectory, it's likely that The Dark Knight Rises winds up closing with just below $1.1 billion in worldwide grosses. That will be good for seventh place on the all-time worldwide chart, and third place all-time for a 2D-only title.
In a bizarre attempt to suppress ticket sales for imports, the China Film Group scheduled The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man on the same weekend. Spider-Man actually came out slightly ahead: the movie scored an incredible $32.5 million since it debuted on Monday. That's more than Spider-Man 3 made in its entire run there, which is due to the rapid expansion of the market and the addition of 3D. The Amazing Spider-Man has now earned $474.5 million overseas (more than any Spider-Man movie except the third one) for a worldwide total of $735.1 million (still the lowest in the franchise).
