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The Dark Knight Sets Single Day Box Office Record
posted by
Ross Melnick
on
July 19, 2008 at 1:32 pm
The Dark Knight has set a new single day box office record with $66.4 million (a figure that includes the also record-breaking midnight to 3 am screenings across the country that earned $18.5 million). The film opened in a record-setting 4,366 theaters according to Deadline Hollywood Daily’s Nikki Finke.
Read more from the Associated Press.
Comments (15)
Lot of good it did me!
I showed up 45 minutes before 3 PM showing today at largest auditorium at Philadelphia’s Bridge /theaters/10911/ “The Dark Knight” was also scheduled for 3:30 PM in the 2nd largest auditorium. Ticket sellers told crowds of us disappointed customers that it was sold out for both screenings!
Congrats to Warners.
Just so everyone knows, quite a lot was shot with IMAX 15 perf cameras, and has been inserted into the film. If you see it at an IMAX theater, only the Cinemascope footage has been DMRed, the rest is pure IMAX negative, projected in a 1.33:1 (if your local IMAX screen can accomodate that, unlike mine). I’m very anxious to see the film, because of the IMAX experiment.
saw it in dlp. very film like with minor flickers, great sound mix, decent crowd. sat thru the whole thing. mansfield was where i saw it at.
Howard and the rest,
All should know by now that event films such as this demand you buy your tix way ahead, days ahead if you want the showtime, sound and picture format you prefer. Our only IMAX venue showing Batman is sold out this weekend, so I’ll probably see Mama Mia and catch Batman next weekend.
Its good news for theaters that traffic is built up for this movie. Even better for the independents that were lucky to secure a print in spite of the competition from the chains.
Awesome night- My friends and I got the last six seats at the Arclight in Sherman Oaks, Ca for the 12:45 AM show. They ended up adding an additional auditorium I heard. The movie is great, and it is a memorable experience with friends, which is what it’s all about.
Ok, so thats how many theaters opened with it. How many screens was it on? As many of the megas had it premier in multiple auditoriums.
Neither article noted a screen count, but I’m sure the Sunday morning recaps will have a near final total.
why Warner’s simply couldnt front the price of shooting the entire film in IMAX is beyond me – the changing aspect ratio seems so gimicky. Sure shooting IMAX is costly but Warner weren’t totally in the dark in knowing that this film’s BO intake wouldn’t pay for that option.
There’s a website called Studio Daily with two articles on the technical production and postproduction process of the film, and choices of why and how the IMAX parts came to be: http://www.studiodaily.com/main/topstory/9645.html
and View link
Thanks for the links, Roloff. The articles are insightful if a bit technobabblish. Its great that the film’s director, Chris Nolan, has an appreciation for the wide screen process making much of it in IMAX. One comment post article that I agree with states that with all the talk of wide screen moviemaking, why not just film the whole thing in 65mm? You’ve still got the distribution network out there, albeit a much, much smaller one of 70mm capable film houses and more that could be brought up to date for less than an IMAX or DC Cinema install ($100K plus?).
There’s only one or two labs worldwide that can strike the prints (so how will they strike say 100 70mm prints in time?!), hardly anyone currently has the 70/35mm projectors they have, capable of running 70mm and need to put in place anything from new double rollers to larger platters. Then there’s the projectionists haven’t been trained to work with 70mm, as it’s really hard work and not the same as 35mm! So I think it all boils down to money/cost-effectiveness for something that may not really generate that much more box-office cash and is hard to market and a young audience that really doesn’t care much for a format they’ve never heard of or have seen. IMAX is something they have heard. And with the new smaller Christie, Barco and NEC projectors, prices have significantly come down for a DC install (if you have smaller screens you want to digitize). 4K and 3-D are the ‘new’ words in town that have a better marketing factor. And don’t get me wrong, I love 70mm and have visited quite some widescreen festivals.. but it has gone the way of the … (VIstaVision, 3-strip Cinerama, Senssurround, ShowScan, you name it)..
JodarMovieFan was right. I simply wasn’t used to the Bridge selling out afternoon shows. Yesterday, before departing, I purchased for today’s 3 PM. Today those 3 PM & 3 PM screenings were again sold out, but I was in the audience, enjoying 35mm. Unfortunately, Roloff is correct and there won’t be any more new films in 70mm.
Saw it at The Bridge IMAX in LA. BEST COMIC BOOK MOVIE EVER! Most definitely ranks alongside “Star Wars”, “ET” and “Raiders” as one of the best Summer Blockbusters ever!
Ah, Roloff, how I miss 70mm. I happen to be a longtime (over 30 years) projectionist, who had the honor to run several movies in 70mm during the 80’s. Those were the good old days.
actually the next 70mm film is Ron (Baraka) Fricke’s ‘Samsara’ – coming out in 2009. (It will commercially be released in 35mm, DLP and 70mm)