'Dark Knight' Breaks Box Office Record With $158M Take

The "Batman Begins" sequel "The Dark Knight" broke box office records across the board, pulling in $158.3 million in its opening weekend, slipping past last year's "Spider-Man 3" opening, which at the time accounted for $151.1 million.

"The Dark Knight's" opening far exceeded the opening weekend of its predecessor film. "Batman Begins" opened with $48.7 million in 2005 on its way to earning $205.3 million domestically. "Dark Knight" is poised to beat the total box office take of "Batman Begins" in its second weekend.

"We've really never seen anything like this," Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers, told CNN. "The death of a fine actor taken in his prime, a legendary performance and a movie that lives up to all the hype. That all combined to create those record-breaking numbers."

"Dark Knight" features the return of Christian Bale in the iconic role of Bruce Wayne and Batman, but also introduces Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes, a role originated by Katie Holmes in the first movie.

The movie also includes what some are talking about an Oscar-worthy performance by Heath Ledger in the role of the Joker. Ledger died in January from an accidental drug overdose. While his death contributed to the buzz surrounding the movie, audiences already were talking heavily about the sequel long before his untimely passing.

In a single weekend, "Dark Knight" already made back its $150 million estimated budget, according to Internet Movie Database, which means every penny earned from here is profit for Warner Bros. which is finally seeing some success once again with its DC properties.

Superhero movies have been the way to go so far this year. "Iron Man" opened with $102.1 million on its way to $313.4 million domestically so far. "The Incredible Hulk," another Marvel property, didn't hit the movie market as strong. It opened with $55.4 million, and so far as earned $129.9 million domestically.

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