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‘Dark Knight’ (above) is soaring into record box office numbers, but ‘Titanic’ won’t sink from the No. 1 all-time spot in the near future.
It may not end up being the proverbial iceberg that sinks “Titanic” as the top-grossing movie of all time, but “The Dark Knight” still has shown a super-powered punch at the box office.
In the first 12 days since the film’s release, it has grossed $343 million, by far the fastest a film has gotten to that mark. Most industry experts believe that “The Dark Knight,” starring Christian Bale and the late Heath Ledger, will vault past “Star Wars” ($461 million) and eclipse the half-billion-dollar mark domestically before it leaves theaters. Holy pop culture phenomenon, Batman – in an entertainment era dominated by DVD players and high definition television, that’s a pretty impressive haul.
The sequel to the 2005 blockbuster “Batman Begins” almost tripled that movie’s opening day weekend with a record $158 million take. That means it wasn’t just comic book fans or teens or Ledger fans in the audience. It was almost everybody.
It’s a haul that also makes “Titanic’s” eye-popping totals of $600 million – almost $1.9 billion worldwide – that much more impressive.
Dan Fellman, head of distribution at Warner Bros., compares Titanic’s decade-long berth at the top to Joe DiMaggio‘s 56-game hitting streak in baseball: one of those records that’s almost impossible to break.
“I’m thrilled that we have the opportunity to maybe become the No. 2 movie of all time,” said Fellman. “We knew we had something very special, but we didn’t know how special it could be.”
Ten years later, ‘special’ also describes the perfect storm of factors that has made “Titanic” virtually unsinkable as the No. 1 all-time box office movie. Before its release on Dec. 19, 1997, there were rumblings in the industry that the movie would not break even with its massive production costs – reportedly $200 million. Delays related to the special effects had pushed back what was supposed to be a summer blockbuster six months. The three-hour running time meant fewer shows to sell tickets for.
Boy, were they wrong.
“That film is the greatest word of mouth film of all time,” says Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers, a box office tracking firm. “The perfect storm proved to be the release date, the marketing campaign and the buzz.”
“Titanic” found that perfect mix – women viewers who swooned over the Leonardo DiCaprio–Kate Winslet love story and men who swooned over the CGI recreation of the doomed ocean-liner’s sinking. The film kept steaming at No. 1 for 15 straight weeks and was still open for business in theaters, when the Academy Awards rolled around. Director James Cameron was king of the world when the movie notched 11 Oscars. But the film was also a product of a different time, before DVDs or TiVo really caught on.
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