Once again The Dark Knight is breaking records and leaving its mark in the box office history books by surpassing $300 Million in just 10 days. Early estimates from box office analysts were guessing that The Dark Knight would not make more than $70 Million in its opening weekend as this has been a stinky year for movies. Well, The Dark Knight fans have proved the analysts wrong with the record opening weekend, AND proved them wrong once again with a SECOND weekend that also beats out that $70 Million opening guess. Week two has brought in an estimated $75.6 Million - this is the second weekend of The Dark Knight’s release!
I hope that Warner Brothers studio takes care of the Ledger family and his daughter by securing her future with the bonuses that her father H.L. have brought to their studio. The Joker’s performance definitely made this movie and I hope that Ledger’s performance is recognized with an Oscar nomination and a posthumous Oscar win.
Hi Fans! If the record breaking opening weekend for The Dark Knight is not enough to attract the attention of the nominating committees for the Oscars, then you have a chance to raise more awareness.
The tribute site HeathLedger.com has started a petition and is asking fans to sign the petition to raise a public outcry for Heath Ledger to be nominated AND win an Oscar for his role as The Joker in The Dark Knight.
I for one think it is an obvious choice, but think that this is important for us to promote our opinion as fans. I also must say that this is the first time that I have seen Fans yelling for who we believe should win an Oscar. So if you were moved as I was, then take a moment to add your signature to this petition:
On its FIRST day of being up, there are already over 545 signatures when I last checked it! That is amazing. If we as fans can get that to be thousands, there is no way that it can go unseen or ignored. I think this is a great grassroots effort and urge all Dark Knight and Heath Ledger fans to head over and sign the petition today!
It is cool to check out the list of names and see the country Flags for all the different signatures and that this petition is not citywide, but worldwide! To see the list, go here:
Dark Knight fans….we did it!! Fans around the country and world sent The Dark Knight into the Hall of Fame this weekend by breaking the opening weekend records held by Spider-Man 3 and Star Wars. I knew this movie was capable of making it to the top, but quite honestly this speaks volumes of the fan-base and respect that Hollywood has for Heath Ledger.
The Dark Knight broke the opening day record set by Spider-Man 3! Yes that is correct. Initial estimates predict The Dark Knight brought in $66M on its opening day. Final numbers will tell the story, but the bottom line is that The Dark Knight surpassed the $59.84M opening night record previously set by Spider-Man 3.
Steve Mason at Hollywood.com has updated his Box Office preview to say that The Dark Knight WILL Slay the Spider-Man 3 Record. Follow his article all weekend to track the progress of the record breaking weekend of The Dark Knight!
Box Office analysts (yes, that cush job exists) are attentively waiting and making their predictions as to whether or not The Dark Knight will beat the opening day record set by Spider-Man 3.
Well, the 12:01AM to 10:30AM opening dollars totaled almost $18.5M so The Dark Knight only needs another $41.34M thru the rest of today including tonight. Personally, I think that is reachable since I know many fans took their lunch break or even the entire day off just to see this movie! And those are just the fanatics, not including the average Friday night moviegoers and action lovers heading to the theater today.
The wild cards for this weekend include fans that opt for second weekend showing of Hellboy II or opening weekend for Mamma Mia or Space Chimps. But the Mamma Mia and Space Chimps movie goers are not The Dark Knight movie goers so that should not be a threat. I know a certain 2 year old that wants me to take her to see Space Chimps, but I can assure you that I am still going to see The Dark Knight for a second time this weekend! (yes, I already saw it last night) I will be interested to find out tomorrow morning how successful this movie has been.
If you have not seen the movie and are avoiding buying tickets, don’t! Go to MovieTickets.com or Fandango right now. There is nothing like being a part of the buzz of opening weekend to increase the excitement of this movie. There is so much energy in the theater right now!
Here’s a toast to a record opening day and to fleecing the Warner Bros studio and Batman franchise pockets with $60M at the end of today. Let the money burn!
YouTube is full of fans at The Dark Knight at midnight opening day. Below are some of my favorites where fans admitted to getting in line at 6AM to be one of the first in to the theater for the 12:01AM showing of The Dark Knight.
KTLA 5 CW - Fans all dressed up.
NYPost review - “everyone exiting raved about the movie”
At FRIDAY 10:30 a.m. (Pacific), Hollywood.com box office guru Steve Mason reported that it’s official. The Dark Knight crushed the midnight opening record set by “Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith” at $16.9M with Dark Knight bringing in an amazing $18.4M overnight.
Yes, I contributed my dollars to those millions. And you can be sure I am going again this weekend!
New York premiere of the Dark Knight brought rave reviews from Celebrities, news sources, and fans alike. Not to mention that it brought some of the beauties in Hollywood out to the theater. Gotta love hot chicks that love comics and movies…
The stars came out at night for the premiere of the Dark Knight in New York City. For all the fans, here are the hunks and stars of the movie as they strut the red carpet of the New York premiere…
Michael Caine was honored with a Hands and Footprint ceremony at the Grauman’s Chinese theatre in Hollywood this afternoon. As always, the crowd was enthralled in Caine’s presence and I found myself pushing my way towards the front to watch his every move. I truly respect Michael Caine for his acting and general persona in public. He appears so sincere.
Yes, it was perfect that his backdrop was a movie poster for Batman: The Dark Knight. Alfred is the guardian, father, uncle, and friend that any man would want. And Michael Caine embodies everything that Alfred exudes through the films.
Michael Caine talked to reporter’s Friday saying that he thinks Heath Ledger is likely to get a posthumous Oscar nomination. Caine said that Heath was an incredible actor and delivered an amazing performance as the Joker. If you can’t trust the opinion of Alfred, who can you trust!
Hollywood.com has a sweepstakes offer for visitors to win a Grand Prize of over 10 Dark Knight prizes as well as four First Prizes that includes a package of Dark Knight merchandise. Grand Prize includes a Watch, Jackets, Set of 4 Movie Posters, Tank Top, Bracelet, Shirt, Hat, MP3 grip, Cell phone grip… and they say more!
Okay, they had my submission just by saying “The Dark Knight Sweepstakes”. And then I read the winner gets a Set of 4 Movie Posters, which is exactly what I would want anyways. The rest is gravy and in my book just crazy. Nice that there is so much in the sweepstakes, but now I fear too many people will be in the running. So why not more! If interested, click the image below:
or click here to check out The Dark Knight Sweepstakes. As a Dark Knight fan, you cannot pass it up. You know you are going to buy this crap anyways. I know I am. May as well try to win it for free.
I wrote two days ago about the viral marketing campaign where the Bat Signal was shown on the side of the Woolworth Building in New York City and on the Sears Tower in Chicago. Tonight, the Joker has responded by taking over the Bat Signal and replacing it with HA HA HA HA HA HA in the shape of the Batsignal. Batman must be pissed.
I have to admit, part of me is laughing with The Joker and rooting for Heath Ledger to blow the roof off this movie. All recent reviews seem to agree that he does as do the proposals that Heath Ledger should be given a posthumous Oscar nomination.
Check out the video of The Joker’s menacing takeover of the Bat Signal:
Prepare yourself for the release of The Dark Knight next week. To enjoy the marketing fun that is being spread all across the web, check out whysoserious.com and click through the links on the torn phone listing paper. The Joker has vandalized all the marketing sites and left clues that most expect are leading to the final surprise before the release of The Dark Knight. Have fun and enjoy the hype!
Hollywood.com has released a Comic Heroes Movie Vault featuring all movies based on a comic book. Characters were then selected from each movie and featured in the vault. Of course, The Joker was chosen as the character to feature for The Dark Knight. Is he a Heroe though? Well, for me he is so I guess I can accept that choice.
I received an email today from the owner of a start-up company in Santa Monica, California who informed me that he purchased tickets for all his employees to go as a team to watch The Dark Knight at 6:05AM on opening day!
The team will be meeting at 5:15AM and carpooling to the theater. He also mentioned that he was springing for breakfast afterwards to build the relationships amongst his team. He preferred to remain anonymous, but said that this is one of the perks of working at a small company.
All I can say is YES! That is the type of boss I want to work for… The Dark Knight on opening day as a team building event. Of course, he could have chosen the 12:00PM showing so that the employees do not have to wake up at butt crack dawn. But I guess he is trying to be cool by springing for a movie + breakfast and still squeeze his staffers for a full day of work. Guess I can’t blame him.
With all the hype surrounding the release of The Dark Knight in the U.S. on July 18th, an entrepreneur is reselling 4 tickets to The Dark Knight for more than twice the cost. The tickets are for the 11:00PM showing on Friday July 18, 2008 at AMC Loews Universal City Citywalk IMAX. The seller states that the showtime has been sold out for over a week, which is true.
The funny thing is that there are other IMAX theaters in the surrounding Los Angeles area that have available showtimes on opening day. As you can see in my previous post, I checked Fandango last night and fans can still purchase tickets for IMAX theaters on opening day at various showtimes.
If you are determined to see the movie at the 11:00PM time at Universal Citywalk on opening day, then feel free to see the posting on Cragslist and make him an offer.
Whether you are a fan of Batman or want to honor Heath Ledger and the exceptional performance he is being acclaimed for all across Hollywood, you do not want to miss out on seeing this movie on opening day or weekend. There has been so much build up to this movie and it will be remembered for lifetimes to come - maybe even honored with an Oscar. Besides, you know everyone will be talking about the movie on Monday, so don’t be left out of the conversation. And if you have a choice, choose IMAX.
For Los Angeles Fans, there are a couple of IMAX theaters with showtimes still available to choose from, but many are sold out with more than a week before the opening. Here are the availabilities I found at the time of making this post:
The Dark Knight: The IMAX Experience on Friday, July 18th
Another successful viral marketing campaign with Citizens of Batman (CFB) brought fans out of their houses and out in to the streets in search of clues. Fans were rewarded with swag and the clues led to a sky view of the batsignal which lit the side of the Woolworth Building in New York City.
While I could not partake in the festivities last night, I must say that it is exciting to see movies brought our daily lives. Now if only I could trade in my Camry for a fuel efficient Batpod…
Go to citizensforbatman.org to see a recap of the event as well as the other rally location in Chicago where the Batsignal lit the Sears Tower.
The Glasgow Science Centre will be featuring The Dark Knight on IMAX, the only way to see this movie, when it is released on July 25th. As a special incentive, the Glasgow Science Centre is offering a giveaway of two family four packs with Access All Areas pass to the IMAX as well as the Science Mall and Planetarium.
So how do you win? Fans need only answer one question:
How many sequences are filmed with IMAX cameras in The Dark Knight?
In case you are a fan that does not know the answer off the top of your head, then please reread the first paragraph of the article featuring the offer:
“The film wil feature six sequences filmed with IMAX cameras. This marks the first time ever that a major feature film has been partially shot using IMAX cameras, marking a revolutionary integration of the two film formats.” (Hamilton Advertiser)
Apparently IMAX is not as popular in Scotland as in the U.S. that they are handing out tickets on silver platters in order to fill the seats. If only my tickets could have been that easy to win.
Our own Alfred, Sir Michael Caine, will be honored with a Hand and Footprint Ceremony at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Friday, July 11 in Hollywood. Sir Maurice Micklewhite, C.B.E. (Michael Caine) has been in over 100 movies and was knighted by the Queen in November 2000. This Hand and Footprint Ceremony is an honor that is much deserved and his character as Alfred is excellent! You can bet that I will be at Grauman’s Chinese on Friday to honor our good friend…
WHEN:
Friday, July 11
Crew Arrivals: 10:30AM
Ceremony: 11:30AM
WHERE:
Grauman’s Chinese Theatre
6925 Hollywood Blvd.
Hollywood, CA
Chris Nolan rose a couple more notches in my director ranking today. Comic Book Resources posted an interview today with Maggie Gyllenhaal, who plays Rachel Dawes in The Dark Knight, where she states that Nolan is not in to CGI and he tries to avoid it where possible. Maggie did some of her first stunt work in this film, which speaks volumes about the Nolan as a director and the expectations he places on his actors. I too am not a fan of CGI, so this is great to hear about Nolan - and great to hear about The Dark Knight.
Maggie also discusses that one of the biggest differences in making The Dark Knight versus other indie films that she has been in is that “all my clothes were made for me.” Now you are probably thinking of course the woman is going to like having custom clothes made for her, but for Maggie this was a necessity.
“I had a seven-month-old when I started this movie and fourteen-month-old when I finished and I stopped nursing her in the middle, so I was surprised that you couldn’t tell watching the movie. The wardrobe woman was unbelievable on this movie and she tailored all the clothes to me. She somehow nipped them and tucked them as I changed. She was really incredible and I really loved her.” (Comic Book Resources)
