The Dark Knight -- Destroys Movie History -- Brings Hollywood Along For Ride

Batman has sent Spidey packing as king of Hollywood's box-office superheroes.

"The Dark Knight" took in a record $155.34 million in its first weekend, topping the previous best of $151.1 million for "Spider-Man 3" in May 2007 and pacing Hollywood to its biggest weekend ever, according to studio estimates Sunday.

"We knew it would be big, but we never expected to dominate the marketplace like we did," said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros., which released "The Dark Knight." The movie should shoot past the $200 million mark by the end of the week, he said.

Hollywood set an overall revenue record of $253 million for a three-day weekend, beating the $218.4 million haul over the weekend of July 7, 2006, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers. (AP)

The final numbers:

1. "The Dark Knight" $155.3 million 
2. "Mama Mia" $27.6 million
3. "Hancock" $14 million
4. "Journey To The Center Of The Earth" $11.9 million
5. "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" $10 million

(credit Fox News Television)
 DKK

Box Office and Preview

The Chronicle of Narnia saga continued and topped the box office with $56.5 million followed by Iron Man with an additional $31.2 million. That brings Iron Man's three week total to over $222 million on a budget of $140 million making it certain to break even for Marvel in their first foray as a stand alone studio.

Box Office Mojo has the chart for the weekend.

In addition to iron man I am really looking forward to seeing Narnia, Prince Caspian and another sequel, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Here are some pictures to whet your appetite.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

William Mosley as Peter


Ben Barnes as Prince Caspian






And Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Harrison Ford and Shia Lebeouf.