I’ll be the first to admit that I actually thought that The Dark Knight would supersede Titanic in all time box office sales. The Dark Knight’s record breaking run during its first weekend along with the overall hype of the film made it a likely candidate to sink the unsinkable ship. However, according to Warner Brothers Pictures, The Dark Knight will fall close to a hundred million dollars short of Titanic’s record breaking run.
“Titanic was once in a lifetime, and I don’t think we’ll ever have another gross like that in the history of the industry,” Warner Bros. domestic distribution president Dan Fellman said. “Of course, if there is one, I’d like to have it.”
What I found even more interesting was that The Dark Knight didn’t even crack Top 20 on the all time money makers list when ranked against earnings based on today’s current price inflation. My all time favorite sci-fi series “Star Wars” ranked #1 and would have raked in well over a billion dollars at today’s ticket prices.
This is the exact reason why I thought The Dark Knight was overrated. I thought it was a fantastic film, but to rate it higher than classic films like the Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the Godfather? Come on, we all know that was going a little overboard. In my personal opinion, The Dark Knight doesn’t even crack the Top 20 list of all time greatest films. Was The Dark Knight a well made movie? Absolutely. Best of all time? LOL.
Still haven’t watched The Dark Knight yet. WIll try to squeeze it into my schedule sometime this week.
I guess a positive thing about your viewing of the Dark Knight as opposed to when you and Mel watched Titanic — is that after the movie you still had your car!
@Polaris671 – haha. Very funny. Yep, after Titanic the car goes missing and is never recovered. lol. Funny how you remember that piece in history.
the Darknight was pretty good. i’d say maybe even better than the few before it; i like to gauge my love of a movie by its repeated watchability factor. i can see myself watching, “Pulp Fiction” or “Shakespeare in love” or “Nottinghill” over and over- or at least once every few weeks but i can’t see myself watching the, “dark night” with enthusiasm for more than 3-4 times.
i agree with MOST people. Heath Ledger basically carried the movie.
@bert – Good call bert and I agree entirely. Thanks for poppin in!
I was listening to some radio DJs debating this topic the other day. They said that Titanic didn’t have any competition since it came out in December. Dark Knight is competing with other summer movies, but is still #1 thus far. Although, Titanic wasn’t a blockbuster hit at first, it gradually gained momentum. That is why Titanic is #1 in box office sales.
@Car – Take a look at the inflation prices. I linked it on the post. The Dark Knight doesn’t even crack the TOP 10 in total sales when matched up evenly with other films. DK didn’t compete with other movies this summer. Yes, other blockbusters came out, but everyone had their calendar’s marked for July 18th. No movie stood a chance against DK this summer. I dont buy into the whole December thing.
Dark knight is over rated,to some people it was the best thing that happened
in their movie world.I don’t think i can watch it a second time.
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@tyna – I definitely couldn’t sit and watch it a second time.
I thought the Dark Knight was a good movie. But to compare it to a movie like the Titanic is crazy. It would be prettty tough for a comic type movie to compete in overall sales with a movie of such mass appeal as Titanic. It’s amazng the run it’s giving already but for sure if you put inflation into mix it won’t come close.
With Titanic you had an audience from Grandmas to tweenies in mass. Books, posters, toys and magazines were seen everywhere you turned because of the mass appeal to such a wide audience.
I loved the Dark Knight. For a comic themed movie it was really good. I thought it represented Batman pretty good. There was no happy ending here. That in itself is enough to turn away grandma. lol…I think comparing The Dark Knight to the Titanic in any way is a stretch. Even box office numbers.
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I think it’s sad that Wanted and Hancock came out around the same time. They’re good movies. True they’ve weak plots but I enjoyed them very much but I got to see Hancock today and there were 15 of us in the theatre… while there was still a line up for The Dark Knight. strange… I ? Titanic as cheesy as it was :)
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Comparing two movies of diffrent types is pointless. Some people liked The Dark Knight more while others thing Titatin was better as a movie. I personally like TDK more as a movie then Titanic, which I thought was cheezy at best, but again that is besides the point.
Now as far as box office sales, which is the REAL point in my opinion, there are several factors to consider. Offcourse inflation is one, making TDK less of a hit in the total sales chart (and other movies WAY above Titanic), however, people should also take into consideration other factors, including reduced sales due to internet “bootleg” copys and lost sales from there (which was less of a factor for older movies and more of a factor for newer movie). Re-releases of other movies (Star wars) is another factor, increasing sales of certain movies alot. Finally as far as Titanic is concerened, while it started with low-medium sales, oscar time came and the (exagerated in my opinion) 11 oscars gave Titanic an insane boost to its box office sales (more then the boost some people think Ledger’s death gave TDK). Personally I think his perfomance as the Joker would have been enough for the word of mouth to do its thing.
@George – I agree. It is pointless yet its brought up time and time again. Even before the release of TDK people were saying it was the greatest movie ever made. I couldn’t help but laugh.
Personally, I’d rather watch TDK than Titanic myself, but this post came out of the pure need to tell fanatics “hey”… yeah, TDK was a hit and was done very well, but to go around boasting its the best movie of all time is a slap in the face to so many other movies who have done so much more and have actually revolutionized film making.
Still, I agree George, you make some very valid points.
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That list was wrong. It quoted Dark Knight at 471 million, and then went to inflation based Top 20 and didn’t have Dark Knight on it. Why not? Considering #20 was 444 million, Dark Knight at 471 should have been on the list.
@Eric – I think that list was prior to the current earnings of $471 Million. Not too sure. Still nowhere near Top 10 eh?
Executives at Warner Bros. studios are re-releasing The Dark Knight next year in a bid to win the Batman movie an Academy Award.
@Walrus Films – Do they really think its going to do any better being re-released? bleh.
The Titanic has a bigger appeal for women and older audiences so I didn’t think the Batman sequel Dark Knight would beat the Titanic’s movie box office record. The Dark Knight’s box office pace is still impressive.
@Batman Dark Knight – It is undoubtedly impressive although even before it was released people were calling it the best movie ever. Many predicted it would in fact surpass the Titanic and by a good margin too.
@trench –
If they do a theatrical re-release, maybe they will do it like Blade Runner….”The Director’s Cut”…”The Final Cut” They must have enough extra footage to do a marketing gimmick like that. By the way, I did enjoy the Batman sequel The Dark Knight…Blade Runner doesn’t compare to it. I’m just trying to say we know how Hollywood studios love to milk a cash cow.
@Halloween Batman Joker Costumes – I definitely agree with yo there man! Thanks for stopping in again.
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I’m not sure if you understood the source you cited on the top 20 films, but if you read closely-or even read at all-you would notice that those numbers are not from just theaters. That includes all the money that the film has ever brought in, and I quote, “The figures represent the total amount of money a movie has taken in the United States over its lifetime,” keyword-lifetime. That would include VHS sales, the transition to DVD sales, collectors edition sales, and even current download sales. Given that many of those movies a head start of a couple of decades and The Dark Knight is still in theaters I would have to say that your analysis is a little off.
@Spencer – Read the link I gave you again. It says TOTAL BOX OFFICE. Box Office meaning THEATER sales. Not all the other stuff you mentioned. Would you like a screenshot?
Here’s a little more to tickle your fancy.
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I dont care about the movie TDK but I did love the Titanic movie. That being said, what I really care about is Ex frontman Steve Perry of Journey releasing his new album after 13 years!!!