Sat Jul 19, 2008 — by Van Jensen

'Dark Knight' Sets Midnight Record

Huge early box office returns for Batman sequel

Extimators are already guessing at Dark Knight's opening take, figuring on an opening north of Iron Man's $100 million-plus first weekend in May. Variety reports:

Based on the enormity of tracking and advance ticket sales, "Dark Knight" has a shot at opening as high as "Dead Man’s Chest," although anything over $100 million would be a big win. "Dead Man’s Chest" presently sports the second-best opening on record after that of "Spider-Man 3," which nabbed $151.1 million over the May 4-6 weekend last year.

It's off to an excellent start after the Thursday midnight opening. According to the main story on CNN.com, the film set a record for midnight openings.

The film already has the biggest midnight debut ever, with tracking firm Media By Numbers reporting "Dark Knight" made $18.5 million at its midnight showings alone. That breaks the record of $16.9 million held by "Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith."

During a survey of people who buy tickets through Fandango.com, 38 percent of those who are working said they would be taking either some time or the day off to see the movie.

The movie was expected to be shown on 9,400 screens in a record-breaking 4,366 theaters for its opening, according to its studio, Warner Bros.

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