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The Dark Knight Has Already Broken One Record - Theater Counts!

by Alex Billington
July 17, 2008

Hollywood Reporter has announced that Warner Brothers is dropping The Dark Knight into 4,366 theaters this weekend, officially setting a new record. Previously, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End held the theater count record, playing in 4,362 theaters last May and earning $114.7 million at the box office in its opening weekend. Now The Dark Knight has even surpassed that which means it definitely has the potential to set some earnings records. Incredibly positive buzz has put this film into its final epic tail spin and all eyes will be watching this weekend as it hopefully sweeps its way through the box office, shattering records left and right. And with this announcement, I'm pretty damn sure most people are going to be absolutely shocked by the massive records that this masterpiece will set.

I don't like arguing about box office potential, but now this makes that $200 million mark all the more realistic. In addition to the 4,366 domestic theaters that The Dark Knight is playing on starting on Friday, July 18th, they also mention that double and triple screenings and midnight shows mean that the film will play on 9,200 screens! Included in this are 94 IMAX screens (the only way to truly see the film). Warner Brothers has been battling for spots in theaters around the country, but the excitement for this film has guaranteed them an incredible record-setting number of theaters. And of course we all know that it's already been selling out in advance for weeks. I think we're in for one hell of an exciting weekend. If you don't already have your tickets, you're probably out of luck. But if you do, then I'll see you in theaters! Just make sure you remember where you were when The Dark Knight shattered all the box office records!

Explore tags: Hype, Movie News

big r

That is great news! I'm so pumped for this movie, i have my tickets for an IMAX theater in NYC and i can't wait! I hope this movie smashes records this weekend
Tom

Hell yeah!
http://www.mayhemstudios.com mayhemstudios

I hope it does really well this weekend. It would suck to get all this great press/reviews and it flops. Like the Hulk, it got good reviews but it didn't make that much.
Robert

It won't flop - it's well past the point of the film being any good or not having any influence on the takings. It's a done deal - overhype = big box office. A 'masterpiece' of marketing, that's for sure.
Garrett.king

you're forgetting though, mayhemstudios. Batman and The Joker are GOOD characters. this should be quite pleasing this weekend. My theaters small, and even it has screenings at 3:00 AM and 6:00 AM. which is WAY out of the ordinary, as this theater doesn't open until about 12:00 PM usually. crazy shit. got my tickets a couple weeks ago, cannot wait!
Obiwopkenobi

Going early Sat morning. My wife picked me up a kick ass Joker/Ledger t-shirt. Awesome.
Carlos

TDK blew my mind! It was a great movie and im happy to see that it will be a success in box office I'll be seeing it again t midnight!!!
Fatal Error

Mark my words, well over 150 million opening weekend...
http://fenfilms.blogspot.com taybo20

hey alex good article I can't wait!! Btw, I quoted an article you did a couple weeks back in an article on my blog in which I talked about the chance to break box office records. Let's remember that if it passes $200million then it will most likely surpass all that "Batman Begins" grossed domestically!!
Curtis

Now thats what im talking about, this movies is gonna kill everything this year. Sunday here i come!
Tyler

I'm sure this movie will be everything we all anticipate but it cannot generate 150mil+ in one weekend. Not possible.
Bruce Batmen

I will be seeing it tonight. It shall be exquisite. -Bruce Batmen
Keith

Theres no way it will surpass $200 million. Its simply not going to happen. I want it to as much as anybody but let's be realistic here. The movie is what, 2 hours and 45 minutes long or something like that? With that long of a runtime there will be at least one if not two fewer showtimes per day per screen than a normal movie. If the film was 2 hours it MIGHT have chance. I would still be surprised even if it surpassed $150. I guessed yesterday that it would make $120. I rescind that statement; I would be surprised if it didn't make at least $125 million.
Brian

It will completely annihilate box office records. This movie is PHENOMENAL!!!! I stated $180 Million opening weekend. The more people talk about it, the more money it will make. Most people will end up seeing it just for Heath Ledger, and that's okay. He was indescribable! I could be wrong about the $180 million: It could be more than that! Worldwide, when it's all said and done, this will destroy Titanic by FAR!!!!!!
http://movieguyreviews4u.blogspot.com Ryan

Alex, that is the problem. 9200 screens!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 9200 is 800 less than SM3 and the running time is about the same. This is why I am predicitng $125M opening which is a major and superb success in its self. As I said before, SM3 was beginning of May with plenty of screens available. Now in the middle of July, not so many. With two new wide releases and Wanted, Wall-E, Journey and HBII and some others holding up well, it is hard to cut screens. $150M is a maybe, but anything above that would really require for every time in every theater to be sold-out.
Aaron

The AMC in Dallas at Northpark added 4 screens earlier today, in addition to the six that the movie was already scheduled in. I bought my tickets a week ago, 5 of them. One of our friends had to drop out, so we had an extra ticket. While walking into the theater tonight, a woman was trying to buy a ticket for her son. They were COMPLETELY sold out. All Ten theaters. I sold her my extra ticket, and she gave me a hug, then rushed off to find her son, waving the ticket around like a lottery winner. Have you ever seen a movie do that to anyone? This is going to be HUGE.
uffr@yahoo.com

The movie was below my expectations, it moved too fast, hard to keep up with the film, Ledger is satisfying to say the least- batman and wayne are a very silly experiment in this movie, the first one works better for me for some reason. Too much realism, plots and twists. in othe words: this movie is too smart for it own good. The average viewer in the theater that I was at were teenagers and college guys- sorry for Nolan and crew. The movie almost falls flat if it wasn't for ledger this movie would be a disaster. Over and out, the waiting is over and now I can move on with my life.
ferdinand

I'm from the Philippines. The premiere of the movie was jam-packed. Movie houses were full. This is the best superhero movie ever-made!!! Among all the superhero movies, this can be a potential contender for Oscar Best Picture. Batman Begins was great but Dark Knight is of different league. Kudos to Nolan. By the way, while it is true that Ledger owns the acting in this movie, this is not a one-man show. Everyone is superb! I felt so much better after leaving the theater. It's more than my money's worth!
http://fenfilms.blogspot.com taybo20

update from Oklahoma city. my Theatre started with 6 screens and expanded to 9... All sold out! Total gross for my theatre was $17,500 at midnight. They actually canceled other movies to start seating theatres at 9:00
Tim "Cloverfield"

SUPER PISSED UP DATE! All IMAX in KC are sold out till this coming Wenesday...and the HACKS would not sell in advance till Thursday.....even the theatre that had the "Bat Pod" on display on the 3 rd of JUly. I have been enjoying the Cinema for many, MANY years....I have never seen anything like this. Most theatres here for instance have 20 screens...all MIDNIGHT 1 AM and 2 and 3 AM were sold out showing on an average of 18 screens per. THough being more pissed to view in a "screening room" which I RUFUSE to do. Whenever this happens to me...aka Wall-e and Wanted I demand and RECEIVE my money Back! This is an incredible time in our history, and we should dig this....but I am still waiting for my showtime. TDK FOREVER!
http://fenfilms.blogspot.com taybo20

To all the naysayers: $66.4 million in one day!!! It will beat $120 million for sure....