Whether Batman can do as well overseas is less clear. "Dark Knight" opened this weekend in 20 markets, including Brazil, Mexico and Australia. Though it led the markets in which it opened, it didn't set the all-time weekend record in any of them. It has not yet been released in Japan, South Korea and most of Europe.
Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, president of international distribution at Warner Bros., said the Batman franchise tends to play stronger in the U.S. "It's a nuance of the Batman franchise," she said. " 'Spider-Man' would have played stronger."
The previous best U.S. opening weekend for a Bat-pic is credited to "Batman Forever," which brought in $52.8 million in 1995. The top-grossing installment was "Batman Begins," which totaled $205.3 million in the U.S. and $372.4 million worldwide.
Notable for a film that's heavy on costumed musclemen, pyrotechnics and Bat-gadgets, 48% of the audience for "The Dark Knight" were women, according to Warner Bros. That's a much higher percentage than attended previous installments of the Gotham guardian's saga.
For "Mamma Mia!" the ratio was completely different. Three out of four attendees were women, and many of them had seen the Broadway musical of the same name. Nikki Rocco, president of domestic distribution for Universal Pictures, said the release was intended as a bit of counterprogramming to "Dark Knight."
"This has worked out exactly as we planned it," she said. According to Universal, "Mamma" set the opening weekend record for a musical, squeaking past "Hairspray" by about $140,000.
But for Jaimie Geller of Pacific Palisades, "Mamma Mia!" was of little interest. Passing up the song and dance, she stood first in a long line, along with her husband, to see a 10 p.m. Saturday showing of "The Dark Knight" in Santa Monica.
"I don't really care about Batman," she said. "I came here to see Heath Ledger."
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ken.bensinger@latimes.com
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Biggest sellers
The top-grossing U.S. opening weekends of all time:
*--* Movie 3-day opening Total domestic gross 1. The Dark Knight $155,340,000 n/a Warner Bros., 2008 2. Spider-Man 3 $151,116,516 $336,530,303 Sony, 2007 3. Pirates of the Caribbean: $135,634,554 $423,271,331 Dead Man's Chest Disney, 2006 4. Shrek the Third $121,629,270 $322,719,944 Paramount, 2007 5. Spider-Man $114,844,116 $403,706,375 Sony, 2002 6. Pirates of the $114,732,820 $309,420,425 Caribbean: At World's End Disney, 2007 *--*
Source: Media by Numbers
Los Angeles Times
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Preliminary results (in millions) in the U.S. and Canada, based on studio projections:
*--* -- Movie 3-day gross Total Weeks -- (studio) (millions) (millions) 1 The Dark Knight $155.3 $155.3 1 -- (Warner Bros.) 2 Mamma Mia! $27.6 $27.6 1 -- (Universal) 3 Hancock $14 $191.5 3 -- (Sony) 4 Journey to the $11.9 $43.1 2 -- Center of the Earth -- (Warner Bros.) 5 Hellboy 2: The Golden Army $10 $56.4 2 -- (Universal) 6 Wall-E $9.8 $182.5 4 -- (Disney) 7 Space Chimps $7.4 $7.4 1 -- (Fox) 8 Wanted $5.1 $123.3 4 -- (Universal) 9 Get Smart $4.1 $119.6 5 -- (Warner Bros.) 10 Kung Fu Panda $1.8 $206.5 7 -- (Paramount) *--*
Industry totals
*--* 3-day gross Change Year-to-date gross Change (in millions) from 2007 (in billions) from 2007 $253 +63.8% $5.36 -0.9% *--*
Note: A movie may be shown on more than one screen at each venue.
Source: Media by Numbers
