The Dark Knight Approaches $300 Million in 10 Days

Now in its second weekend, The Dark Knight continues to set records for the highest-grossing film over such a short duration.

On Monday, 21 July, on its fourth day of release, The Dark Knight all but matched its estimated production cost of $180 million. Monday’s gross set a record for the highest Monday gross without a holiday, adding $24.5 million to the film’s total, which was brought to $182.9 million.

On Tuesday, 22 July, on its fifth day of release, The Dark Knight became the fastest film ever to reach $200 million — blowing its competition away. Three films (2006′s Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest, 2005′s Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith, and 2004′s Spider-Man 2) had reached the $200 million mark in a mere eight days. The Dark Knight beat the record by some three days.

It should be pointed out that Batman Begins grossed a total of just over $200 million, meaning that its sequel all but matched its total gross in a mere five days.

On Friday, 25 July, after only eight days of release, The Dark Knight surpassed Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman as the highest-grossing Batman film ever, which took in $251.2 million — though it should be pointed out that, adjusted for inflation, Batman‘s gross is over $400 million in 2008 dollars.

The film looks certain to set the record for the fastest film to reach $300 million — a record now held by 2006′s Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest, which took 16 days. Only four films in history had taken less than 22 days. The Dark Knight seems poised to hit that mark over the weekend — in 10 days of release, assuming the film reaches $300 million on Sunday.

All along, from one day to the next, the film has performed better than any other film in history over the same period.

According to Warner Bros, the film has played especially broadly — as suggested by such stellar success. Only 52% of the audience was male, far less than super-hero and action movies in general. The studio also reported that viewers were evenly split between those over and under 25 years old, meaning that the film not only did well with young adults but also scored with older audiences.