Warner Bros. ‘The Dark Knight’ Sets Midnight Screening Box Office Record

By Robin Rowe

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 7/19/08 – “The Joker wants to break Batman, to prove that everybody has a price and even Batman can be leveraged in such a way that he would compromise his principles,” says Christian Bale who plays Batman in ‘The Dark Knight’. “I don’t think the movie would have worked as well if we hadn’t had an actor of the caliber of Heath Ledger, who was able to really up the ante, much as The Joker does in Gotham.”

With Heath Ledger frenzy and wide acclaim by critics (89% and up fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), ‘The Dark Knight’ achieved a record $18.5 million in Thursday midnight screenings in 3,040 theaters according to the Associated Press. ‘The Dark Knight’ broke the $16.9 million record of the ‘Star Wars Episode III’ midnight premiere of 2005.

With a massive 4,366 theater opening and sold-out theaters, ‘The Dark Knight’ is tracking for a $66 million Friday according to Box Office Mojo. That’s bigger than the $60 million Friday of the biggest opening film ever, ‘Spider-Man 3’. At this rate, ‘The Dark Knight’ will achieve a staggering $165 million weekend, retiring the ‘Spider-Man 3’ record of $151 million. Compare that to Warner Bros. popular franchise film ‘Harry Potter 5’ that did $77 million opening the same weekend a year ago.

Friday July 18th Box Office

1. The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.) 4,366 $66,400,000
2. Mamma Mia! (Universal) 2,976 $9,627,000
3. Hancock (Sony) 3,776 $4,550,000
4. Journey 3D (New Line) 2,830 $3,590,000
5. Hellboy II (Universal) 3,212 $3,164,000
6. Wall-E (Buena Vista) 3,310 $3,000,000
7. Space Chimps (Fox) 2,511 $2,450,000
8. Wanted (Universal) 2,433 $1,569,000
9. Get Smart (Warner Bros.) 2,135 $1,230,000
10. Meet Dave (Fox) 3,011 $555,000
11. Kung Fu Panda (DreamWorks Animation) 1,505 $515,000
12. Indiana Jones (Paramount) 757 $275,000

Data Source: Box Office Mojo

Universal’s ‘Mamma Mia!’ opened #2 Friday with $9.6 million. That’s an opening below the $11 million of ‘Hairspray’ in July last year. The female demographic has been strong this year in turning out for films like ‘Sex and the City’ and ‘Baby Mamma’. ABBA song-fest ‘Mamma Mia!’ was hurt by ‘The Dark Knight’ and also that some people just can’t stand ABBA. Ironically, some of the original members of the band ABBA feel the same way, turning down repeated calls for a reunion tour.

Sony’s alcoholic superhero ‘Hancock’ managed to hang on to the #3 spot thanks to Will Smith, under pressure from ‘The Dark Knight’. Universal’s dark superhero ‘Hellboy 2’ fell to #5. New Line’s ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth’ took #4 as solid family entertainment. Expect it to do very well in DVD.

The Pixar robot ‘Wall-E’ in its third week is #6, beating the premiere Fox ‘Space Chimps’ ranked #7. A babysitter movie to entertain young kids, ‘Space Chimps’ is the latest from Vanguard Animation. The chimps are better animated the Vanguard’s ‘Valiant’, but falls well short of the artistry of Pixar. On the other hand, as kid movies go, the animation is better than Universal’s ‘VeggieTales’ that premiered in January.

A question is whether moms will throw on the brakes on the ‘The Dark Knight’ juggernaut after the initial frenzy of devoted Batman fans. That the film is so dark may turn away moms who don’t want their kids seeing a movie so disturbing. Warner Bros. ‘The Dark Knight’ director Christopher Nolan says, “We wanted The Joker to represent pure, unadulterated evil, in the sense that he has no logical motivation for his actions.”