The Dark Knight is Already Poised to Shatter Records!
June 27, 2008
by Alex Billington
The Dark Knight
We're completely in the thick of the summer movie season now and excitement for numerous upcoming films is starting to boil over. You might remember a rather interesting article I wrote last weekend titled: The Financial Success of The Dark Knight. In it, I discussed the potential for The Dark Knight's incredible financial success and in turn started a heated discussion in the comments about how much money The Dark Knight might end up making. An e-mail hit my inbox today with some rather exciting news. "As of June 27th, Dark Knight has sold eight times as many tickets on MovieTickets.com as Spider-Man 3 at the same point in the sales cycle — 21 days from the film's official release." Yes, this movie is going to be big, very big. It's already poised to shatter records and we've still got 21 more days.
The e-mail came from MovieTickets.com's public relations representative and is completely accurate. Let me remind you that Spider-Man 3 currently holds the world record for the biggest opening weekend at $151 million in three days. The Dark Knight has already surpassed ticket sales of Spider-Man 3 at 21 days in advance - that is a strong indication that this movie is easily going to shatter records. Add in this news from SlashFilm as well: Fandango reports that midnight showings on their site are already selling out. I haven't felt this confident in how big the opening weekend of a film will be since 300 changed Hollywood forever with its record-breaking March opening weekend.
Now I won't exactly claim that I think The Dark Knight is going to beat Spider-Man 3, per se, but I have a feeling it will break some records. Passing Spidey's three day weekend total is going to be tough. Even Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, at $135 million, didn't even come that close. Everyone seems to be under the impression that the dark, anti-family nature of the film and it's 150-minute running time are going to hurt its box office. Guess what? They won't. And this information right here is early proof. Get ready for one hell of an incredible July. Everyone who has doubted the potential for The Dark Knight is going to be shocked to see the film shatter all of their perceptions of how the Hollywood system works. That's how big and how powerful The Dark Knight truly is!
Source:
http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/06/27/ ... er-records
And then there's this...
Dark Knight Selling Out Three Weeks Early
By Jenna Wortham EmailJune 27, 2008 | 4:49:28 PMCategories: Movies, Video, Web/Tech
Batman fans anxious to get a glimpse of the late Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker are snatching up tickets online more than three weeks before The Dark Knight's July 17 premiere.
Dozens of midnight screenings of director Christopher Nolan's second installment in the bat-franchise have sold out, causing theaters across the country to tack on 3 a.m. showings to meet fan demand, according to online ticket retailer Fandango.
"We are currently seeing a surge in advance ticket sales," said Ted Hong, vice president of marketing for Fandango, which first began selling tickets for Dark Knight last Friday. "It makes sense that there's a rush for tickets -- it looks action-packed and film fans are anxious to see Heath Ledger."
When Fandango polled members back in March to determine which summer blockbusters its customers were most interested in, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull took first place, with Dark Knight coming in second. However, the scramble for advance Dark Knight tickets is currently outpacing Indy 4's presale numbers.
Exhibitor Relations box office analyst Jeff Bock said he thinks the presale surge was to be expected.
"This movie comes in riding a wave of hype [Batman Begins] didn't," said Bock. He also attributes the rush to fans anxious to see Ledger portray Batman's warped nemesis in what could be the actor's last on-screen performance. Ledger died in January of an overdose of prescription drugs at age 28.
Joel Cohen, executive vice president at ticketing hub MovieTickets.com, said Dark Knight is doing remarkably well, even though advance sales for Nolan's previous bat-flick, Batman Begins, were practically nonexistent in 2005.
"It's tracking much stronger than Spider-Man 3 at the same time in the sales cycle," he said. Director Sam Raimi's second Spidey sequel went on last year to set the record for best opening weekend ever.
A massive viral-marketing campaign for Dark Knight, along with a glowing advance review by Rolling Stone film critic Peter Travers, is adding fuel to bat-fire.
Exhibitor Relations' Bock predicts the Warner Bros. film could push well beyond $100 million in its opening weekend. In May, Marvel's superhero flick Iron Man garnered $102.1 million during its opening weekend, while Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull pulled in $100.1 million.
The question on the tip of every fanboy and girl's tongue is, will this film be able to outpace Spider-Man 3's record-shattering opening weekend of $151 million?
"That record would be really tough to break," said Bock. "But we're expecting really big things."
Source:
http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/06 ... t-pre.html
-I think we can reasonably expect TDK to hit at least $300 million domestically. How much it'll go beyond that, well we'll wait and see... Man, July 18th can't get here soon enough! :)