In only six days, “The Dark Knight” has grossed more domestically than its predecessor “Batman Begins” did in its entire run, Warner Bros told Reuters yesterday.
That’s kind of nuts! In it’s entire four-month North American run, ‘Begins’ took in with $205.3 million. Compare that with ‘TDK’ which by Wednesday had already around $221 million (and this number keeps growing and has likely gone up a few million by now). Box-Office figures are around two days behind, but according to Box-Office Mojo, the film has taken in $245 million worldwide (again, this is not counting Wednesday and eventual Thursday numbers).
Some say the film is ontrack to outgross $1 billion mark record held by James Cameron’s “Titanic,” but that seems far-fetched and total wishful thinking (“Titanic” had a huge female contingent and a teen one that came back multiple times in droves overseas, that won’t happen here; the studio estimates it will eventually break the $400 million mark). ‘TDK’ took five days to reach the “$200 million mark on Tuesday breaking the record set in 2006 by “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” which took eight days to reach the same mark.
Warner Bros. said they’ll probably rack up another $16 million today (Thursday and pundits are claiming even if the film loses two-thirds of its business in its second weekend, it will still have grossed close to $350 million only after 10 days. Nuts!
Meanwhile, asked about his recent legal woes at the ‘TDK’ premiere in Spain, Bale told a roomful of reporters at a press conference, “It’s a deeply personal matter. I would ask you to respect my privacy in the matter.”