Dark Knight becomes fastest-grossing movie of all time

Aug 6, 2008, 5:14 GMT

Los Angeles - Batman has proven unstoppable, taking out all his rivals, but this time at the box office.

The Dark Knight, the sixth movie featuring the superhero, has become the fastest moneymaker in Hollywood history, exceeding 400 million dollars in ticket sales in the United States and Canada in 18 days, the Hollywood Reporter, a newspaper covering the entertainment industry, said Tuesday.

The previous record holder was 2004's Shrek 2, which took 43 days to reach the same mark.

The Dark Knight's ticket sales in the rest of the world has pushed its total income up to 602.5 million dollars as of Monday, according to the website Box Office Mojo.

Film industry observers said they expected the movie to exceed 500 million dollars in domestic sales, but surpassing the top grosser of all time, Titanic at 600.8 million dollars, was seen as unlikely, even for a superhero.

But the Dark Knight has set other records. It took in 67.2 million dollars on its opening day July 18 in the United States and Canada, eclipsing the previous record set by Spider-Man 3 at nearly 60 million dollars.

It also had the biggest opening weekend with 158.4 million dollars and has gone on to be the top grosser for three-straight weekends.

The movie has drawn rave critical reviews, but a bigger boost to sales was believed to be the final performance of Heath Ledger's career as the Joker. Ledger, 28, died in January of an accidental overdose of prescription medicine.

The Dark Knight also stars Christian Bale as Batman and Michael Caine as the butler Alfred as well as Morgan Freeman, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Aaron Eckhart.

Only eight films in Hollywood history have grossed more than 400 million dollars in the United States and Canada. After 1998's Titanic came 1977's Star Wars with 461 million, Shrek 2 at 441.2 million, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial at 435.1 million, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace with 431.1 million, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest at 423.3 million, Spider-Man at 403.7 million and now The Dark Knight.