'Dark Knight' sets opening weekend box office record

* Story Highlights
* "Knight" earned $155.3 to beat opening weekend record of $151.1 million
* "Dark Knight" brought in $66.4 million on its first day in theaters
* Previous record was $59.8 million, held by "Spider-Man 3"
* Film has received a boost from stellar reviews, buzz around Heath Ledger



LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A Warner Bros. executive says the Batman sequel "The Dark Knight" has taken in $155.34 million to top "Spider-Man 3" for best opening weekend ever at the box office.
Heath Ledger as the Joker and Christian Bale as Batman are breaking box office records with "The Dark Knight."

Heath Ledger as the Joker and Christian Bale as Batman are breaking box office records with "The Dark Knight."

The figures released Sunday show "The Dark Knight" more than $4 million ahead of the $151.1 million first weekend for "Spider-Man 3" in May 2007.

Studio distribution chief Dan Fellman says "The Dark Knight" also broke the "Spider-Man 3" record for best debut in IMAX large-screen theaters with $6.2 million. "Spider-Man 3" opened with $4.7 million in IMAX cinemas.

Stoked by fan fever over the manic performance of the late Heath Ledger as the Joker, "The Dark Knight" also set a one-day box office record with $66.4 million on opening day, Fellman said Saturday.

The movie's Friday haul surpassed the previous record of $59.8 million set last year by "Spider-Man 3." iReport.com: Did you see 'Dark Knight'?

"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 for "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.
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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," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "The death of a fine actor 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."

Buzz had been high for the Batman sequel well before Ledger died of an accidental 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 combination 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 just 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, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Gary Oldman.

The film spins an epic crime duel as Ledger's Joker orchestrates a reign of terror on the city of Gotham aimed to spread chaos and break down the restraint that keeps Batman on the right side of the law.

Although critics are taking the film seriously enough to suggest that 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.