Batman Dark Knight opened Friday among some of the most hype in recent memory for any movie. That hype paid off as the movie was able to overtake Spiderman 3 as the highest grossing opening weekend film in box office history.
"The Dark Knight" took in a record $155.34 million in its first weekend, said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros., which released the "Batman Begins" sequel.
That topped Hollywood's previous best of $151.1 million, set by "Spider-Man 3" in May 2007.
"We knew it would be big, but we never expected to dominate the marketplace like we did," Fellman said. The movie should shoot past the $200 million mark by the end of the week, he said.
Factoring in higher admission prices, however, "Spider-Man 3" may have sold slightly more tickets than "The Dark Knight."
At 2007's average price of $6.88, "Spider-Man 3" sold 21.96 million tickets over opening weekend. Box office tracker Media By Numbers estimates today's average movie prices at $7.08, which means "The Dark Knight" would have sold 21.94 million tickets.
Money means everything though, so it will still get the title of highest opening weekend, although it probably sold less tickets than Spiderman 3 did. I spent the weekend in my sexy swimwear rather than going to the movies so sorry, Dark Knight, I didn't do my part.
