That there was even a possibility that the film would perform better than The Dark Knight is frightening to me.

Never underestimate the power of teenage girls.

exactly.

I'm a huge fan of TDK, but why in the world does it matter how our favorite movies rank in terms of opening weekend box office and total worldwide gross? Am I missing something? Is it just geek pride or what?

From a sociological point of view box office numbers can give a glimpse of what captures the interest of a given culture. In 2009 an ungodly number of Americans say they totally dig vampires - creatures who are close to immortal and fashionably goth. Five years ago it was pirates - folks who take what they want consequences be damned.

Hell, The Dark Knight is one the largest social indicators of this decade (along with snuggies and William Hung). It's a great movie, but you can't convince me a healthy portion of the opening weekend wasn't a direct result of people wanting to see what drove Heath Ledger over the edge.

That and geek pride.

I honestly never thought I'd see snuggies and William Hung in the same sentence as The Dark Knight, so thank you for that!

In all seriousness, though... Other than geek pride, which I understand (to a point), what is it about a movie threatening [insert favorite movie's box office] that makes people so uncomfortable? When the Twihards grow up, they'll recognize the Twilight movies for what they are.

In the end, the great movies (or, The Great Movies, as Ebert would have it) will maintain their proper places in history, regardless of the box office.

If you're asking me specifically, I'd like to take this moment to clarify my stance: my comment was not a response to the fact that a film I have no interest in might've performed better than a film I love.

My comment was a reaction to A TWILIGHT FILM nearly overtaking the current weekend box office champion to earn the status of BIGGEST OPENING WEEKEND RELEASE OF ALL TIME.

As somebody with a deep respect for cinema, that prospect scares me.

and the fact TRANSFORMERS and GI JOE performed well at the box office scare me.

Meh, I think the "Biggest Opening Weekend Release Of All Time" (TM) title is extremely overrated, given how powerful the hype machine has become in the internet age combined with inflation. I'm a Spider-Man fan but let's not kid ourselves, Spider-Man 3 only achieved the title pre-TDK because of the quality of Spider-Man 2 coupled with the hype over Venom. The fact that a respectable film like TDK even got to that mountaintop was a huge lift for those of us who would like to believe that a film can have quality and popularity at the same time. Yes, I'm glad we can still say Batman is king, but if New Moon did overtake it, there's no way anybody would chalk it up to being a better film, and the overall run the film had would be a much better indicator.

But yeah, in response to the question posed, I just think it's the belief that a well-made, quality film can still have huge commercial popularity, even moreso than films bankrupt of any quality in narrative or performance in favor of ridiculous CGI/SFX or capitalizing on a fad.

Too close.

WAY too close.

Dark Knight came out in the summer when everyone was out of school. Makes New Moon's numbers even scarier.

Similar to New Moon, Christian Bale did take his shirt off in Dark Knight. The difference is Bale looked severely bruised. And here I thought chicks dig scars?

Thank, God. @Adam - completely agreed. I didn't even think this would be a possibility until I read this post. Thank You, Universe, for protecting my sanity, one box office gross at a time.

In other news, my fragile faith in humanity remains intact.

That makes one of us.

There is a God. Kind of.

It's upsetting a movie as bad as that can make that much money in just one weekend.... god damn twilight. it's up there with when Meet The Spartans was top in the box office.

by the way, that comic posted is really funny.

I am not a Twilight fan by any stretch of the imagination but just going to point out that there are still more films to come so it isn't a question of if Twilight is going to top Dark Knight's record, but when. In addition to all the fans now there is going to be a whole new batch of 12 year old twihards with money to spend on the next one, and the one after that.

On another note, I don't think it really matters, so who really cares.

I believe "Eclipse" is coming out next summer, so it may beat it.

But it also comes out on Wednesday, and that won't let it.

I honestly think Summit may have lied about the Sunday gross, and it might even fall back behind At World's End come final grosses tomorrow. It won't crack $325m domestic.

I have to agree with everyone here. This was a little too close. However there is hope at the end of the tunnel.

Nolan Lives!!!

It broke the opening weekend record in Australia. :(

Love the artwork. Guys we all have to see Avatar now. New Moons record can't stand. I'm calling it right now Avatar $145 million opening weekend

I LOVE the Joker/Edward comic strip so much, I'm saving it to my Photobucket.

Dude that comic is so fucking funny for some reason...

I love how the Joker is eating shrimps. A real professional shrimp-eater.

Thank goodness, now people will hopefully stop complaining about this.

the cartoon's very funny! haha. but hey, i still love edward even if he and the rest of the hew moon cast didn't break dark knight's record at the box-office!