Batman has sent Spidey packing as king of Hollywood's box-office superheroes.
The Dark Knight took in a record $155.34-million (U.S.) in its first weekend, topping the previous best of $151.1-million for Spider-Man 3 in May 2007 and pacing Hollywood to its biggest weekend ever, according to studio estimates yesterday. However, factoring in higher admission prices, Spider-Man 3 may have sold slightly more tickets than The Dark Knight.
At 2007's average price of $6.88 in the U.S., Spider-Man 3 sold 21.96 million tickets over opening weekend.Media By Numbers estimates today's average movie prices at $7.08, which means The Dark Knight would have sold 21.94 million tickets.
The Dark Knight set at least five other box-office records. They include the biggest single-day gross for a movie ($67.9-million), the largest midnight preview ($18.5-million) and the most opening theatres (4,366).
In some U.S. cities, theatres sold out of Dark Knight tickets days in advance of show times. "It's a watershed moment in box-office history," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers. "These are numbers that are extremely rare."
The movie's release was preceded by months of buzz and speculation over the performance of the late Heath Ledger as the Joker, Batman's nemesis.
Ledger, who died in January from an accidental prescription-drug overdose, played the Joker as a demonic presence, his performance prompting predictions that the role might earn him a posthumous Academy Award nomination.
"The average opening gross of the last five Batman movies is $47-million. This tripled that, and for a reason," said Dergarabedian. "A big part of that was the Heath Ledger mystique."
The Dark Knight, which cost $185-million to make, also broke the Spider-Man 3 record for best debut in IMAX large-screen theatres with $6.2-million. Spider-Man 3 opened with $4.7-million in IMAX cinemas.
"Every single show is sold out," said Greg Foster, IMAX chairman and president. "We're adding shows as much as we can, but we're at 100 per cent capacity."
The musical Mamma Mia! debuted at No. 2 with $27.6-million.
Women accounted for most of the audience for Mamma Mia!, which Universal opened as counter-programming to the male-dominated audience for The Dark Knight.
Based on the stage musical set to the tunes of ABBA, Mamma Mia! features Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Julie Walters and Christine Baranski. Hancock was at No. 3 with $14-million.