Dark Knight Rises Now $68.4M Worldwide: $28M Midnights Shatter Avengers Record: $30M Pre-Sales; International $10.4M So Far; But How Will Tragedy Of Colorado Mass Shooting Affect Todays Batman Opening?
By NIKKI FINKE | Friday July 20, 2012 @ 6:42am PDT
EXCLUSIVE
FRIDAY 6:30 AM, 6TH UPDATE: Ive just learned that Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures 2D The Dark Knight Rises is headed north of $28M for its 3,700 midnight showings of the pic.
EXCLUSIVE
FRIDAY 3 AM, 5TH UPDATE: Fans waited in long lines for hours despite the sweltering heat and the torrential rains in some parts of North America just to attend one of the 3,700 Thursday midnight show locations for Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures 2D The Dark Knight Rises. Now my sources are tracking this final installment of Chris Nolans Batman trilogy to open with a whopping $27+M. The West Coast is still selling tickets with some theatres adding 3 AM shows, a Warner Bros exec told me. This is effing huge! The Dark Knight Rises 2D midnights number shatters the $18.4M midnights generated by 3D Marvels The Avengers earlier this summer. With pre-sales of $30M and international grosses from 9 countries totalling $10.4M, thats already $67.4M worldwide for the mega-pic before its even in wide release. Hollywood began emailing me they thought this weekend could generate between $185M-$210M in domestic grosses and possibly set a new weekend record.
But then tragedy struck. Colorados mass shooting happened around 12:39 AM today leaving 14 dead and 50 wounded after a lone gunman opened fire in a packed suburban movie theater at the Aurora Town Center where The Dark Knight Rises was showing just after midnight. Now no one in the movie business knows how this terrible event will affect box office today. Despite isolated incidents, nothing on this horrific scale has ever occurred inside film theaters. Not what you expect to happen when youre waiting in line to go to the blockbuster film of the summer, one local TV anchor told viewers.
Moviegoers at first thought the gunshots were part of the films action sequences. Police told TV stations the shooting was first reported at 12:39 AM after the gunman just appeared from the front of Theater 9. Then police arrived and found the suspect in the rear of the theater. The adult male attired in protective gear had a rifle and two other guns when he was taken into custody, authorities said.
In other parts of the country, first fans lined up for hours ahead of time to see The Dark Knight Rises at the midnight screenings at NYCs AMC Loews Lincoln Square 13 Theater. Scalpers had been selling those tickets for $65 and as much as $100 for days prior. At the AMC Uptown in Washington, crowds endured torrential rain and lightning but kept standing in line even when the theater didnt open its doors on time.