Mon Jul 21, 2008 — by Van Jensen

'Dark Knight' Breaks Weekend Record

$155.34 million take knocks 'Spider-Man 3' from top spot

After setting box office records for top midnight opening and top Friday sales, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that The Dark Knight broke the weekend record set by Spider-Man 3.

Sunday's tallies showed The Dark Knight, the sequel to Batman Begins, hauled in $155.34 million for the weekend, according to the Associated Press. That tops Spider-Man 3 and its $151.1 million take.

The new Batman also bested Spidey's IMAX debut, $6.2 million to $4.7 million.

The opening day grosses for "The Dark Knight" far exceeded the full weekend haul of its predecessor, "Batman Begins," which took in $48.7 million in its first three days in 2005. ...

"We've really never seen anything like this," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "The death of a fine actor taken in his prime, a legendary performance and a movie that lives up to all the hype. That all combined to create these record-breaking numbers."

I finally caught a showing Saturday morning, which still nearly sold out. That might be the most applause I've heard at a theater yet, with the most coming somewhat surprisingly for Jim Gordon.

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From Glenn H.

Media By Numbers' OFFICIAL DARK KNIGHT RECORDS SO FAR (in order of occurrence):

1 - Largest Number Of Opening Theatres with 4,366 (More Than The 4,362 Debut Theatres Of Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End in 2007).

2 - Biggest Midnight Preview Gross with $18.489 million in 3,040 Theatres (Beats Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith And Its $16.9 million in 2,915 Theatres in 2005).

3 - Biggest Imax Midnight Previews set a new record with $640,000 (Included in The $18.489 million Preview Number).

4 - Biggest Single-Day Gross in Box-Office History with $67.850 million (Bests The $59,841,919 set by Spider-Man 3 in 2007).

5 - Biggest Opening Weekend Gross in Box Office History with $155.340 million (Bests The $151,116 million set by Spider-Man 3 in 2007).

6 - Biggest Opening Weekend Gross For An Imax Release in Box Office History with $6,214,061 million in 94 Theatres With $66,107 Per Theatre. (Bests The $4.7 million set by Spider-Man 3 in 2007.) Imax Showing At Full Capacity $1.9 million On Saturday Alone.

7 - Biggest Opening Weekend Of 2008 with $151.340 (Beats Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull's $101.137 million From May 23-25, 2008)

8 - Biggest July Opening Ever (Beats Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest's $135,634,554 On July 7, 2006).

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