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How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

Kim Hollis: Other than Heath Ledger, what do you think are the primary reasons for The Dark Knight to open $100 million higher than its predecessor, Batman Begins?

Max Braden: I think it's the non-super hero element. Nolan was successful in restarting the Batman franchise because he grounded closer to reality than the theatrics of the earlier films. I think that's also why Iron Man did so well - these guys are human and use determination to become heroic. The Hulk and Helllboy 2 didn't do as well, because they're about supernatural forces. I think Hancock (and the previous record holder Spider-Man) bridged the two worlds by being a regular guy with super powers, rather than some otherworldy supernoble Superman.

Pete Kilmer: The DVD life of Batman Begins and the constant showings on cable really helped push this film. Viewers really gave the creators and performers of this movie a lot of credit after seeing the first one. Max I might disagree with using Hulk and Hellboy, with the Hulk it had to overcome the Ang Lee debacle in order to become a modest hit. For Hellboy, he doesn't have the name recognition that Batman does...I'd put Hellboy more in the 'Blade' level of movies, Hellboy II was a big hit compared to the first one, but not close when you look at The Dark Knight or even Batman Begins. Plus the other factor is...there are more IMAX screens now compared to Batman Begins and I have to think that played a big part.

Calvin Trager: I'd argue that Begins is the anomaly that needs explaining away, not Dark Knight. Take the inflation-adjusted performance of the original Batman ($65 million on 2194 screens), double it, and you get Dark Night's screen count and darn near it's weekend take. Give Ledger credit for the extra $20 mil.

David Mumpower: I agree with Calvin Trager. It's almost forgotten now, but the 1989 release of Batman shattered this same opening weekend record we saw surpassed by its successor over the weekend. That movie inflation adjusts to a $72.7 million opening and $447.6 million in domestic receipts. So, The Dark Knight probably will not sell as many tickets as the Jack Nicholson version did. This franchise was to the early 1990s what Spider-Man has been to the 2000s, but Joel Schumaker undid it with nippled costumes, a 30-year-old Robin, and Uma Thurman. Movie-goers want to go see Batman movies, but Batman Begins had to regain consumers' trust.





Tim Briody: I happened to be looking at our Batman Begins discussion from a couple years ago recently and I think we agreed that Batman Begins was going to suffer at the box office at the expense of setting up future films in the franchise. The reboot was necessary to get the stink of Batman and Robin off of it. For the record, The Dark Knight outgrossed B&R after Saturday.

Kevin Chen: It might be the white elephant with black eye makeup and smeared red lipstick in the room, but Batman versus the Joker is the Ali/Frazier of the comic book world. Compare this to the villains of Batman Begins: The Scarecrow and Ra's Al Ghul. Give a non-fan audience those names out of context, and you'd probably think that one of Dorothy's companions had teamed up with a Middle Eastern terrorist.

Scott Lumley: Really, this is the textbook example of how to do a movie. Get a stellar cast, a stellar script, a stellar director, create a wickedly cool marketing campaign and make sure you own the release date. It didn't hurt that word on Batman Begins was uniformly excellent.

Brandon Scott: Infamous Rap group Public Enemy told us not to believe 'it', but a record number of us bought into it this weekend...HYPE.

Daron Aldridge: Two things apply here: quality and word-of-mouth. The reviews have not only been positive but rabidly enthusiastic about how great the film is. There is often the danger of raising already high expectations of the public, who are then disappointed in the endgame. But apparently, the critics didn't lie, as I haven't heard a soul say they were disappointed, which then contributes to tremendous positive word of mouth.

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