The Dark Knight Passes $500M Domestic Gross!

The Dark Knight has now added one more record to the list of records it has broken during its amazing run over the past month and a half. On Sunday morning, The Dark Knight surpassed $500M in domestic gross.

The Dark Knight is only the second film ever to accomplish the feat. Titanic, the only other movie to pass $500M, took 91 days to reach the mark. The Dark Knight was able to do it in only 45 days.

Industry analysts still expect The Dark Knight to top out around $520-535M so there seems little hope that the film will surpass Titanic’s record breaking haul of $600.8M domestic unless the studio can figure out a way to rerelease the film and get people to come see it again. Still, it’s a remarkable accomplishment.

• Largest number of opening theaters with 4,366 (beating the 4,362 theaters of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End in 2007).
• Largest number of total theaters at one time with 4,366.
• Largest midnight preview gross with $18.489M in 3,040 theaters (beating Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith which had $16.9M from 2,915 theaters in 2005).
• Largest IMAX midnight preview gross with $640,000 (this amount is included in the above record of $18.489M).
• Largest single day gross in box office history with $67.2M (beating the $58,841,919 collected by Spider-Man 3 in 2007).
• Largest opening weekend gross in box office history with $158.4M (beating the $151,116,516 collected by Spider-Man 3 in 2007).
• Largest opening weekend gross for an IMAX release in box office history with $6,214,061 in 94 theaters for a $66,107 per theater average (beating the $4.7M set by Spider-Man 3 in 2007). It’s interesting to note that IMAX showed at FULL CAPACITY on Saturday, July 19, and collected $1.9M on that day alone.
• At MovieTickets.com The Dark Knight broke the record for tickets sold by a single film in a single day on Friday, surpassing the previous mark set by Spider-Man 3 on May 4, 2007. MovieTickets.com also reports that Friday they sold the most tickets (for all movies) in a single day in their eight year history.
• Daily/Hourly/Weekend Top Ticket-Seller on Fandango – The Dark Knight broke Fandango’s daily and hourly ticket sales records on Friday, July 18. The previous record holder in both categories was Spider-Man 3. TDK broke Fandango’s 3 day weekend record on Sunday.
• Fastest Seller Ever On Fandango – The Dark Knight tickets were selling as fast as 15 tickets per second during extended periods on Friday the 18th. Spider-Man 3 held the record previously with tickets that sold as fast as 10 per second on Friday, May 4, 2007.
• Largest Friday gross in box office history with $67.2M.
• Largest Summer Season opening weekend gross in box office history with $158.4M.
• Largest July opening weekend gross in box office history with $158.4M.
• Largest PG-13 opening weekend gross in box office history with $158.4M.
• Largest Sunday gross in box office history with $43.6M.
• Fastest movie to $100M – 2 days.
• Fastest movie to $200M – 5 days.
• Fastest movie to $300M – 10 days.
• Fastest movie to $400M – 18 days.
• Fastest movie to $500M – 45 days.
• Largest 3 day gross in box office history with $158.4M.
• Largest 4 day gross in box office history with $182.9M.
• Largest 5 day gross in box office history with $203.8M.
• Largest 6 day gross in box office history with $222.2M.
• Largest 7 day gross in box office history with $238.6M.
• Largest 8 day gross in box office history with $261.8M.
• Largest 9 day gross in box office history with $289.9M.
• Largest 10 day gross in box office history with $314.2M.
• Largest opening week gross in box office history at $238.6M (beating the $196M grossed by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest in its first seven days
• Largest second weekend gross with $75.6M (beating the $72.2M that Shrek 2 did in May of 2004).