The Dark Knight to Break Titanic's All-Time Box Office Record? Merged

[Woochifer]

Theater owners must be having a celebratory drink or 30 right now. This weekend's domestic movie box office total was the highest ever, with $253 million in ticket sales. Obviously, The Dark Knight led the way with a record breaking opening, but you also had Mamma Mia! opening strong, along with holdovers like Hancock, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Wall-E, and Hellboy II.

The Dark Knight's projected $155 million domestic box office haul this weekend puts it on pace to break the all-time weekend record set by Spider-Man 3. Should be interesting to see how the attendance holds up for next weekend, as Spider-Man 3 had mediocre reviews and so-so audience word-of-mouth which led to a 63% plunge the following weekend.

Batman Begins had a disappointing opening weekend, but managed to hold its audience from week to week, as it benefited from excellent word-of-mouth (and the highest Cinemascore audience rating for that entire summer). The Dark Knight so far has had stellar reviews, and it should be interesting to see how the audience word-of-mouth goes and how these box office numbers hold up. Unlike Batman Begins, The Dark Knight has skyhigh expectations, which might actually lead to more of an audience backlash if it doesn't live up to those lofty standards.

Word though is that The Dark Knight got a Cinemascore audience rating of A, which puts it on solid footing for the weeks to come. (A Cinemascore of B+ [which was Spider-Man 3's score] or below is usually a sign of trouble ahead, because Cinemascore only polls the opening night audiences that are the most fanatical moviegoers)

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