 |
| "The Dark Knight" opens July 18 in the U.S. |
The box office strength of films adapated from comic books continues to show its worth in dramatic ways. Following a record breaking $18.5 million dollar midnight screening, "The Dark Knight" took in an estimated $66.4 million on Friday (including the midnight screenings), making it the biggest Friday opening ever according to Variety. The 4,366 theaters the film bowed in is also a record, narrowly edging out the 4,362 theaters "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" debuted in.
That Friday haul surpasses the previous record holder and another comic book adaptation, "Spider-Man 3," which had a Friday opening of $59.8 million and went on to gross $151.1 million for the weekend.
"Batman Begins," the first of the latest Batman franchise, only opened with a $15 million dollar Friday, going on to gross $48.7 million its opening weekend.
If Friday's performance is any indication, "The Dark Knight" could go on to grab the title of biggest opening gross ever for a non-holiday weekend.
With these early figures giving us a clue as to how the Batman film will perform over the weekend, now is the perfect time to take CBR's poll asking how much money you think "The Dark Knight" will earn over the next three days.
For more on "The Dark Knight," be sure to check out CBR's index of all our coverage of the film, including reviews, interviews and reports from the live viral events.
Keywords: the dark knight, box office