Batman's joust with the Joker sets box office record
Last Updated: Saturday, July 19, 2008 | 3:55 PM ET
CBC News
The motion picture The Dark Knight set a one-day box office record on Friday, generating ticket sales of $66.4 million US on opening day.
The one-day haul surpassed the previous record of $59.8 million set last year by Spider-Man 3, Warners Bros. reported Saturday.
Dan Fellman, head of distribution at the company, said the latest Batman movie might break the opening-weekend record of $151.1 million, also held by Spider-Man 3.
The Dark Knight began with a record $18.5 million from midnight screenings, topping the previous high of $16.9 million for Star Wars: Episode III — The Revenge of the Sith.
The opening day grosses for The Dark Knight far exceeded the full weekend haul of its predecessor, Batman Begins, which took in $48.7 million in its first three days in 2005.
Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers, said last January's death of Heath Ledger, who plays the Joker, is one reason for the movie's success.
"The death of a fine actor taken in his prime, a legendary performance and a movie that lives up to all the hype — that all combined to create these record-breaking numbers," he said.
Buzz had been high for the Batman sequel well before Ledger died of an accidental prescription-drug overdose.
Trailers last fall revealing Ledger's demented Joker, with crooked clown makeup, turned up the heat even more. Some fans have even shown up at theatres dressed as the sociopathic character.
With files from the Associated PressShare Tools
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