TheDarkNight

According to tracking service Media By Numbers, with excellent reviews the Batman adventure The Dark Knight has set a box office record for any midnight debut. The movie made $18.5 million on Friday, topping the $16.9 million made by the debut of 2005’s Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith. Starring Christian Bale and the late Heath Ledger, the movie is the follow-up to the action hit “Batman Begins.” “The Dark Knight” is distributed worldwide in theaters and IMAX by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company and has been rated PG-13 for “intense sequences of violence and some menace.”

The Dark Knight figure excludes the box office from any of its 3 a.m. or 6 a.m. screenings. Some industry observers foresee the movie making as much as $130 million this weekend – another record.
– Stephen M. Silverman -

Update: The Dark Knight has set a new record for one-day box office record, taking $66.4 million on opening day, topping the previous record of $59.8 million set by Spider-Man 3 in 2007.