LOS ANGELES: The new Batman movie The Dark Knight smashed the weekend record set by Spider-Man 3 last year, selling an estimated 155.3 million dollars worth of tickets during its first three days of release across the United States and Canada, distributor Warner Bros. Pictures said on Sunday.
The hotly anticipated film, co-starring late actor Heath Ledger as the anarchic Joker, surpassed the 151.1 million dollars haul for Spider-Man 3 during its first weekend in May 2007.
Going into the weekend, pundits had forecast an opening in the 100 million dollars range, evidently underestimating the Batmania infecting movie fans across the world.
The Caped Crusader also generated 40 million dollars from 20 foreign markets, highlighted by No. 1 bows in Ledger’s native Australia (13.1 million dollars) and Mexico (6.6 million dollars), the Time Warner Inc-owned studio said.
With a little help from another new release Mamma Mia! which opened at No 2 with 27.6 million dollars, The Dark Knight propelled overall North American ticket sales to a record 253 million dollars, according to tracking firm Media By Numbers. The old mark of 218 million dollars was set two years ago, the company said. The Dark Knight stars Welsh actor Christian Bale as Batman, and was directed by English filmmaker Christopher Nolan. They previously collaborated on Batman Begins, which earned 48.7 million dollars during its first weekend in 2005, and finished up with 205 million dollars.
Dark Knight should hit that level by midweek, Warner Bros. said.
The new film reportedly cost about 180 million dollars to make, thanks in part to the pioneering use of heavy Imax cameras to shoot 30 minutes of the 152-minute film for giant-screen theaters. The filmmakers also blew up bits of Chicago, which doubles for the fictional Gotham City.
But it is Ledger’s performance as the Joker, a role last taken on by Jack Nicholson for 1989’s ”Batman,” that has generated the most buzz. It was the 28-year-old actor’s last completed role before he died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs in January.
Many pundits have already declared that he is a shoo-in to receive an Oscar nomination for his creepy turn as the bane of Batman’s existence. (IANS)