The combination of Batman and that notoriously popular villain The Joker has done it again, breaking Hollywood records for the second time running.

It was back in 1989 that Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson & Tim Burton with the first serious adaptation of the Batman character produced the first movie to gross $100 million in ten days and caused a popular culture hysteria that would be unrivaled for nearly two decades.

But over the last couple of weeks, it has become clear that it has well and truly returned. Warner Bros. have gleefully announced that The Dark Knight starring Christian Bale and the late Heath Ledger in the iconic roles created by Bob Kane and directed by Christopher Nolan has grossed $18.5 million on it’s midnight screenings alone.

We hear the 3am and 6am screenings were well attended also, those figures still to come but the sheer fact they had screenings available at that time shows you how insane the popularity and craze this movie has caused. Indeed, with 4,366 theatres showing the movie, it’s the widest released film on North American record.

To put this in perspective, the midnight showings of Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith were $1.3 million lower for a movie 30 years nearly in the making, The Dark Knight needed just four. Or maybe this has been 70 years in the making. Bob Kane really did create a monster back in the 30’s didn’t he?

The Dark Knight now has an amazing chance of catching up to the one day record set by Spider-Man 3 which opened to $58 million on it’s first full day of release last year and of course the $158 million 3 day weekend. You may remember what I wrote last May when I claimed The Dark Knight was one of the few contending movies that had any chance of beating Spidey 3 in the near future.

Message to WB: Get someone like Nolan on that damn Superman franchise and take notice of what Nolan and his gang have created here. And next time, bloody release the film on the same day worldwide. Jeez!

source - variety