Enlarge Warner Bros. Pictures Heath Ledger’s turn as The Joker already generated Oscar buzz as it pit the villain in an epic crime duel against Christian Bale’s Batman. DEDICATED TO ‘THE DARK KNIGHT’Review: Ledger's talent lives on in 'Knight'Team Batman: Nolan, Bale re-teamOscar-worthy?: Heath Ledger's 'Dark' Joker could be imaginary cardMatch game: Pair the villain with his/her creepy quoteActing challenge: Giving voice to the villainBox office showdown: Will Batman slay Meryl Streep?Video: Catch a preview of 'The Dark Knight'Community center: Readers share their superhero avatar stories LOS ANGELES (AP) — Batman’s joust with the Joker has set another box office record. Stoked by fan fever over the manic performance of the late Heath Ledger as the Joker, “The Dark Knight” set a one-day box office record through $66.4 million on opening day, Warner Bros. head of distribution Dan Fellman said Saturday.
The movie’s Friday haul surpassed the previous record of $59.8 million set last year by “Spider-Man 3.” “The Dark Knight” might break the opening-weekend record of $151.1 million, also held by “Spider-Man 3.”
“I think they’re in jeopardy,” Fellman said of the “Spider-Man 3″ records.
“The Dark Knight” began with a record $18.5 million from midnight screenings, topping the previous high of $16.9 million for “Star Wars: Episode III — The Revenge of the Sith.”
The opening day grosses as far as concerns “The Dark Knight” far exceeded the full weekend haul of its predecessor, “Batman Begins,” which took in $48.7 million in its first three days in 2005.
Reviews were excellent for director Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins,” but they were stellar for his “Dark Knight.”
“We’ve really never seen anything like this,” aforesaid Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. “The departure of a fine histrionic artist taken in his prime, a legendary performance, and a movie that lives up to all the hype. That all combined to create these record-breaking numbers.”
hum had been high for the Batman sequel well before Ledger died of an fortuitous prescription-drug overdose in January. Trailers last fall revealing Ledger’s demented Joker, with crooked clown makeup, turned up the heat even more. The critical acclaim over his performance that built from advance screenings left fans in a frenzy.
“It’s a mixture of things. Certainly, that’s a great part of it, but I think this movie’s gross was partly because of the reviews it received and the incredible buzz and word of mouth that preceded it with our early screenings,” Fellman said. “And the success and quality of the last one, ‘Batman Begins,’ delivered by Chris Nolan lawful set the tone for the opening of this movie.”
“The Dark Knight” reunites Christian Bale as Batman, the vigilante crime-fighter tormented by personal tragedy, and co-stars Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman. Maggie Gyllenhaal also stars.
The film spins an epic crime duel as Ledger’s Joker orchestrates a govern of terror on the city of Gotham aimed to set with food chaos and break down the restraint that keeps Batman on the rightful side of the law.
While critics are taking the film seriously enough to suggest Ledger could be in line for an Academy Award nomination, the action-packed movie also delivers as pure summer movie escapism.
“If you’re worried about mortgage payments and gas prices, when you’re sitting in ‘The Dark Knight’ for two and a half hours, you’re not thinking about any of that stuff,” Dergarabedian said.
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