'Dark Knight Rises' reportedly earns $160 million
LOS ANGELES (AP) - "The Dark Knight Rises" was on track to earn $160 million, which would be a record for 2-D films, over the weekend following a mass shooting at a Colorado screening of the Batman film.
That amount would best the $158.4 million debut of "The Dark Knight" in 2008 and give "Dark Knight Rises" the third-highest domestic weekend opening ever after the 3-D films "The Avengers" with $207.4 million and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2" with $169.2 million.
Citing box office insiders, The Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times, New York Times and other media outlets reported Sunday that the latest Batman film earned $160 to $162 million.
"This tragedy did not seem to impact the box office in a major way," said Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for Hollywood.com who specializes in box office. "For this film to still be in the rarified air of the top-three openings of all time is phenomenal, given the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the release of this film."
Dergarabedian noted that the box-office ranking of director Christopher Nolan's final installment of his Batman trilogy would not be official until Warner Bros. and other studios release their final weekend box-office tallies Monday.
Sony, Fox, Disney, Paramount, Universal and Lionsgate joined "Dark Knight Rises" distributor Warner Bros in publicly withholding their usual revenue reports out of respect for the victims and their families.
Box-office tracking service Rentrak also did not report figures following the Aurora, Colo., shootings that killed 12 and wounded 58 at a midnight screening of the new Batman sequel on Friday.
That amount would best the $158.4 million debut of "The Dark Knight" in 2008 and give "Dark Knight Rises" the third-highest domestic weekend opening ever after the 3-D films "The Avengers" with $207.4 million and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2" with $169.2 million.
Citing box office insiders, The Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times, New York Times and other media outlets reported Sunday that the latest Batman film earned $160 to $162 million.
"This tragedy did not seem to impact the box office in a major way," said Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for Hollywood.com who specializes in box office. "For this film to still be in the rarified air of the top-three openings of all time is phenomenal, given the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the release of this film."
Dergarabedian noted that the box-office ranking of director Christopher Nolan's final installment of his Batman trilogy would not be official until Warner Bros. and other studios release their final weekend box-office tallies Monday.
Sony, Fox, Disney, Paramount, Universal and Lionsgate joined "Dark Knight Rises" distributor Warner Bros in publicly withholding their usual revenue reports out of respect for the victims and their families.
Box-office tracking service Rentrak also did not report figures following the Aurora, Colo., shootings that killed 12 and wounded 58 at a midnight screening of the new Batman sequel on Friday.
Entertaining flick, to be sure, but the weakest in the trilogy by a large margin; way too many head-scratching/eyes-rolling moments.
This movie was amazing, I saw the midnight release, then came promptly home to tell everyone, only to find out about what had happened. It truly put a damper on the evening. But that in no way shape or form does it take away from this truly awesome movie. But watch the first two before you go! You'll be able to catch more things!
I saw Batman on Friday. it. I won't let some loser from Aurora, Colorado affect my life. This type of tragedy can happen almost anywhere.
The shooting didn't affect the box office? I highly doubt that...I was on the fence about going opening weekend and the shooting definitely made me reconsider...not because I feared a similar event at a local theater but because the massacre left me with a sour association between the film and so many people's deaths.Â
@windtreeman I am going a couple of times just to make sure the opposite happens. Batman doesn't deserve this association.Â
 @whoareyou Totally agree and more power to ya!
 @windtreeman Thanks man! Just trying to make an analogy that we need to be, and not allow the bad element to truly win. This unfortunate tragic incident is horrible, but I refuse it to stop me from seeing the film because of some whack job.Â
 @whoareyou  @windtreeman The film isn't at fault here whatsoever, it's like not wanting to ride in a vehicle because of all the death vehicles cause daily without fail everywhere...that makes just about as much logic to me. As a matter of fact, car accidents probably effect more people than all this country's mass shooting put together.