Will Dark Knight go the distance?
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Everyone and their dog wrote about how The Dark Knight blew away virtually every weekend and opening record, but the real prize is worldwide all-time gross which is currently held by Titanic. You couldn't have asked for a better film title to describe the $1.8 billion that Jame Cameron's epic made during its theatrical run. Titanic also holds the all-time domestic record at $600 million, nearly double what Dark Knight has pulled in so far, which says a lot about what international appeal and very long legs will do for a movie.Amusingly, Titanic holds the record for highest grossing film that never held the #1 spot at the box office too.
Dark Knight has earned $470 million since its July 18th release meaning we're rolling into its third weekend, one which will probably see it cede the top spot to the third installment of The Mummy franchise. So look at these numbers: $1.8 billion, and $.47 billion (and a long time to go still.) No, I don't think any movie has a realistic shot at Titanic anymore. That movie took advantage of one of the worlds saddest and best known stories and no movie is going to get up in that territory without doing the same thing, and people, there aren't that many world renown tragedies left to exploit nor are there that many people who could pull it off like Cameron did.
Additionally, if you're looking to compare the popularity of Batman internationally to other comic heroes, you might be unaware that Spider-Man 3 still holds the records for opening weekend worldwide and foreign only. SM3 grossed a filthy $230 million outside the United States in its first weekend, so that list isn't going to move anytime soon. Still, it's hard to argue with such unprecedented success after a franchise has fallen apart. Terminator looks like it has found new life, can Alien be far behind?
August 1, 2008 6:17 AM | Reply
Now that I have, here's the correct: Titanic held the #1 spot for 15 consecutive weeks, one shy of the all-time record held by E.T.
As I said, Dark Knight is probably going to fall out of first place *this weekend* after three weeks at the top -- no way it takes the all-time title.