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The Dark Knight is Already Poised to Shatter Records!

by Alex Billington
June 27, 2008

We're completely in the thick of the summer movie season now and excitement for numerous upcoming films is starting to boil over. You might remember a rather interesting article I wrote last weekend titled: The Financial Success of The Dark Knight. In it, I discussed the potential for The Dark Knight's incredible financial success and in turn started a heated discussion in the comments about how much money The Dark Knight might end up making. An e-mail hit my inbox today with some rather exciting news. "As of June 27th, Dark Knight has sold eight times as many tickets on MovieTickets.com as Spider-Man 3 at the same point in the sales cycle -- 21 days from the film's official release." Yes, this movie is going to be big, very big. It's already poised to shatter records and we've still got 21 more days.

The e-mail came from MovieTickets.com's public relations representative and is completely accurate. Let me remind you that Spider-Man 3 currently holds the world record for the biggest opening weekend at $151 million in three days. The Dark Knight has already surpassed ticket sales of Spider-Man 3 at 21 days in advance - that is a strong indication that this movie is easily going to shatter records. Add in this news from SlashFilm as well: Fandango reports that midnight showings on their site are already selling out. I haven't felt this confident in how big the opening weekend of a film will be since 300 changed Hollywood forever with its record-breaking March opening weekend.

Now I won't exactly claim that I think The Dark Knight is going to beat Spider-Man 3, per se, but I have a feeling it will break some records. Passing Spidey's three day weekend total is going to be tough. Even Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, at $135 million, didn't even come that close. Everyone seems to be under the impression that the dark, anti-family nature of the film and it's 150-minute running time are going to hurt its box office. Guess what? They won't. And this information right here is early proof. Get ready for one hell of an incredible July. Everyone who has doubted the potential for The Dark Knight is going to be shocked to see the film shatter all of their perceptions of how the Hollywood system works. That's how big and how powerful The Dark Knight truly is!

Filed under Hype, Movie News, Opinions

From around the web:

http://blog.myspace.com/shero_rauf Shero

I told you
Keith

Buying tickets to midnight iMax as we speak...
http://screenrant.com ScreenRant.com

See now here's the thing... the entire tone of the post at Screen Rant was in the form of a speculative question, considering the aspects you noted above. It wasn't a "We're right and if you think this movie will break records you're nuts" kind of post. It floated a question for discussion. That's all. I hope you're right about the record breaking as that will more easily pave the way for a third film, but if it DOESN'T blow the doors off I hope you're prepared to eat some crow, my friend. I still say loser has to buy drinks at Comic-Con. Vic
Staatz

Neat, this movie is so hyped I feel I've already seen it thoguh...
Boris Van Der Ree

Got my midnight showing tickets a week ago on fandango. WHOO! Maybe I should have bought 100 more and sold them on eBay...
dee

got my tickets to the imax showing! can't wait!!
The Enchanted One

Hell yeah. Got my tickets. Can't wait for TDK! =]
Kail

Shit I need to get my tickets now then
Aubrey

I already got mine a week ago as well and I'm putting it together with my plastic gym card so that whenever I'm done working out, I look at my dark knight tickets and feel strong lol. I can't wait till I watch it with my buddy
3nigma

I got my tickets already!!!!!!!!!! HURRY THE FUCK UP JULY 18!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Spider

(Opening Movie Tickets.com in separate window)..............................
John

The marketing of this movie has been superb in every aspect. Not only does it include a highly interactive internet marketing campaign that is both original and creative, it brings (in my opinion) the absolute best theatrical trailer ever released. It is not only due to its marketing, but also the intense story line, and strong cast that will lead to this film's triumph at the box office. It will be great entertainment to say "I told you so" to many of the pessimistic critics of this film.
Arun

I tried booking for Seattle IMAX midnight show on the day tickets sale went online...and i couldnt get a ticket for midnight :O...
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2838902/ Ivan

I just bought my tickets this morning for the midnight showing at the finest cinema in all of California: the Pacific Arclight in Hollywood. Bought eight tickets for about $115 bucks... I am so pumped for this film. A shame that its original comics counterpart are fucking themselves over with the "Batman RIP" story arc that will have Bruce Wayne quit as Batman for good and be replaced by Robin.
Don

Stupidest metric for predicting an opening ever: 1) MovieTickets.com is being used by more theatres this year than it was when Spider-Man 3 opened. 2) as we can see from the comments, the fanboys all feel they need to rush to get their tickets so they don't get shut out at the window. $75M tops from the Batman fanboys. The rest of planet earth doesn't care that much.
Ricky

I hope this movie tops Spiderman 3's weekend record. That movie was a big stinky pile of crap. Although it wasn't quite as dark, Spiderman 3 was fairly dark as well. I remember there being some concern about that as well....didn't seem to hinder that movie at all. There's an interesting clip on YouTube that compares the original Batman trailer to the Dark Knight trailer. They're almost identical, I mean literally shot for shot. It's hard to call them out for copying themselves, and who could blame them....both are great trailers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZJWyxLD0oU
Ardd

Ricky, that's not the original Batman trailer. It's scenes from the film edited to match The Dark Knight's trailer.
SMY

http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/04/23/ews-wacky-summer-box-office-predictions/ You guys remember that article back in April? Read post 4, that was my summer prediction for the box office. And while I'm way off with a lot of them (Speed Racer, probably the Mummy 3), I stated in post 4 and post 18 that Batman will be the biggest film of the year. $400 Million domestic and $800 Million worldwide is looking pretty accurate to me....
SMY

And read all the douchebags below me who think I'm crazy. Who's crazy now?
Emmett

The rest of the world does care about a decent movie. Heath Ledger fans care about a great performance. Stop being an asshole. Tim Burton's Batman at a time was one of the greatest grossers of all time. People who have doubted Batman have seen Batman Begins and some of them thought that it wasn't a Batman film until the second half. Don, you want this movie to fail. It's not and it's going to kick ass in ways that Indy should have but couldn't. Do you see who is behind and in front of the camera? If you are not impressed, I have nothing to say to you, except that you should stop watching American films and keep on watching European and Asian films for the rest of your life.
harrison

batman can and may blow spiderman 3(which was crap by the way) out of the water, its going to be many many times better and you can just see that from the trailers and people are already showing that by buying tickets so far in advance as for tickets i honestly didnt know you could get them this far in advance, i have to go find out where the nearest imax is now and buy tickets if possible on a side note, anyone think that theyre going to bring Robin back into the new franchise?
Gdn | TD

Damn!! Can't wait.. Gimme a ticket plz..
rodan8812

Please no robin, the first franchise started going down hill when he showed up (also counting other factors).
http://movieguyreviews4u.blogspot.com Ryan

I agree with Don. Alex and everyone is blowing this film up WAY too much. Movietickets is used much more know (prompting the sales) and also Batman fans (like myself) feel the need to buy the tickets ASAP. My Imaxs around me are sold-out the first day completely and then a steep drop off there after which is the same for most theaters looking on movietickets and fandango. $85M tops opening.
http://screenrant.com ScreenRant.com

Wow, this is gonna be AWESOME! I guess that if Spider-Man 3 made $150MM on its opening weekend and TDK has 8X the ticket sales 21 days out that means it'll open with a $1.2 billion weekend. Sweet. Vic
Treidon

Spiderman 3 was a fat pile. Don't tell me it was darker, it was aimed at 13 year old ritalin-enduced-pokemon-loving kids. This movie has a different market-niche. If it makes anywhere near 80 mil it will be considered a huge success. Nolan for president.
Will

Can't decide if I should go to the midnight show of Batman here in Co. Springs or try to work that night... In regards to the potential of this movie, I really think the doubters are wrong. I'm not sure if this'll beat Spidey 3. However, it has the ability. It's been a massive marketing campaign, which has been widely successful. This movie caters to so many people. The Heath Ledger mourners who will show up in funeral garb. The Batman fanboys. Normal people such as myself, who've been excited for this movie since the teaser in I Am Legend. I really think this'll be the number one movie of the summer, bar none.
fancastfan

I can't believe how much comment is already out there for a movie that doesn't even open for more than 2 weeks - but it does look AWESOME! Anyway, here's the best site for previews - some exclusive clips (in amazing HD) behind-the-scenes and making-of stuff, and downloadable buddy icons, wallpapers, etc. http://www.comcast.net/thedarkknightmovie/
790

What cracks me up is you can just wait til the next day and see TDK as a Matinee for a reduced price and with no line. But yeah go out spend all your time and money to see it at midnight. Ha ha ha ha ha ha
bltzie

I sure hope this gets a worldwide release =)
Will

@29 Obviously you've never been to a midnight show. And definitely not one done by Firstshowing.net. There is a certain appeal to attending the midnight shows. You're basically putting 300 people in a room who're just as pumpT to see this movie as you are. Costume contests and other games. Free merchandise. Being able to tell your friends what you thought at 2:30 AM, bragging that you saw it first. Okay, maybe I'm the only one childish enough to do the last one, but you get the point. Also, I have a pretty good feeling that in larger cities, TDK will be sold out in almost every show all weekend. Especially if you want to see it in IMAX. So I'd show up early, wanting to get a prime seat. Perhaps even wait in a line.
ben

Don & Ryan, there is one factor you guys are missing that plays into the dark knight's success. I know of several girls that are going to see this movie that dont even like batman or even seen the last one. THEY ARE GOIN MERELY TO SEE HEATH LEDGER. The number of people goin to see TDK for him is probably equal to or greater than that of the fanboys. More people are talking about heath and his last role than anything batman related. 150 to 170 mil cume seems likely........
Sahil

"What cracks me up is you can just wait til the next day and see TDK as a Matinee for a reduced price and with no line. But yeah go out spend all your time and money to see it at midnight." -790 I would rather see it with a bunch of people then see it with few people. Plus most of the people that will see this at midnight loved part 1 and they dont care about saving $2-3. I have been waiting over a year for this movie so I know that I dont care about the $2-3.
790

Didn't you notice my Joker laugh. That's cool just offering an alternative. I personally love seeing Blockbusters in a low crowd enviroment.
Guo Yuan

go TDK! my prediction for three days opening: min: 170 million max: 200 million
bgates87

This move is going to be huge. It already had a lot going for it; Big-name actors, a director who's never made a bad movie (IMO), massive viral marketing campaign, fans' favorite villains, and the fact that people relate to Batman better than most other superheros because he is just a normal human being (no superpowers). All of this would be enough to draw in all superhero fans and appeal to casual moviegoers. The raving reviews it's already getting doesn't hurt either. And, as cynical as it may sound, Heath Ledger's death will draw in even more people who wouldn't normally care about this movie. This really is the perfect storm, it's too bad it took a tragedy to create this monster. I predict a box office record that will not be broken for a long time: $190 million.
Larry King

The Dark Knight is the BEST Batman film EVER!!!! It more than lives up to the hype. Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker is more than worthy of an Oscar. Me and the girlfriend are going to see it at least two more times. This is one movie that no one should miss. PS: Keep an eye out for the Joker's "magic pencil trick".
James

Have seen the Dark Knight, and will see it AGAIN!!! It's AWESOME!!! Heath did a great job as the Joker, in fact all the actors did a great job in this one. And yes the Joker does a trick where he makes a pencil vanish.. I agree with the post above this movie should be seen by all.