Will ‘Dark Knight Rises’ Hit the Billion Dollar Box-Office Mark?

With another $34 million from overseas this weekend, the overall worldwide gross for "Dark Knight Rises" is at $835.4 million

“Dark Knight Rises” continued pushing toward the billion dollar mark, bringing in $34.2 million overseas this weekend.

After 24 days in release, its overall foreign gross is $445.3 million and its overall worldwide total stands at $835.4 million. With another $19.5 million this weekend, the domestic gross for “The Dark Knight Rises” is at $390.1 million.

“Dark Knight Rises” will be the first Batman movie to make more money abroad than at home, and that overseas success will be critical if it is to hit a billion dollars worldwide. While “Dark Knight Rises” has opened in most major foreign territories, China is yet to come. The studio is still working on a final date for release there.

Also read: 'Bourne Legacy' Vanquishes 'Dark Knight Rises' at Box Office

Overall, 55 percent of the Batman franchise’s $2.6 billion in grosses have come from North America. Compare that with the “Harry Potter” films from Warner Bros., which drew just 31 percent of their $7.7 billion gross domestically, or the studio’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, which made 35 percent of its $2.9 billion at home, and you see what an anomaly Batman has been.

“The Dark Knight” made $533 million overseas and $469 million, or 53 percent, domestically in 2008. The first Nolan film, “Batman Begins,” made 55 percent of its $373 million in the U.S.  Compare that with 1992’s “Batman Returns,” on which foreign contributed just 39 percent of its $269 million worldwide total.

Of course, the impact on the box office from the Colorado shootings will never be clear. Warners Bros. canceled red-carpet premieres in Tokyo, Mexico City and Paris in the tragedy's wake.

Comments