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Edwin Davies: I think it'll be very, very close. The Avengers has some considerable advantages; it has the boost of screening in 3D, it has a lot more constant build up going into it, since there have been three Avengers related films in the time between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, and it got out the gate first, so The Dark Knight Rises is going to have to play catch-up.

However, I think that it will top The Avengers because the marketing have really been hitting the idea that it is the final film in the Batman trilogy, and that finality can lead to a massive increase in opening weekend numbers. It also has the advantage of being the sequel to the most successful comic book movie ever (well, the current most successful ever) and we've often said that a sequel's opening weekend is often a reflection of what people think of its predecessor. The Dark Knight is one of the most popular and acclaimed blockbusters of the last 20 years, and Nolan's work on the Batman series, as well as the monumental success of Inception, have given him a lot of leeway with audiences. If The Dark Knight Rises is good, then I think it will have no problem topping the Avengers to become the biggest film of the year, and it will get very close to topping its opening weekend.

Max Braden: I think that The Dark Knight Rises would have broken the opening record were it not for Avengers, but I don't see Avengers making a difference on Batman's box office. I don't think Batman had (or has) any chance of coming close to $200 million, and I don't think there's any way it could come close in the long run either. I think part of that is due to The Avengers' broader audience appeal. Batman is darker and a little more adult, while The Avengers is more easily marketed to both kids and adults.

David Mumpower: When we last debated this, I was of the opinion that The Dark Knight Rises would be the largest movie of the year. After Thursday midnight sneaks, I was relatively certain that was the case. Now that The Avengers has shattered the standing opening weekend record by $38 million (!), the largest dollar amount the record has ever changed, I am conflicted. I cede Edwin's point about 3D ticket pricing aiding The Avengers and I acknowledge Max's argument about The Avengers being (much) more kid friendly. What I still believe is that Batman is a bigger property than anything in the Marvel library, and that is why I am so conflicted. My head tells me that as seminal as The Dark Knight was, its successor is unlikely to improve by $50 million on opening weekend. My gut says otherwise. What I know from my job as a box office analyst is that Batman breaks opening weekend records. That is what the franchise has done four times thus far. As such, I cannot rule out another such instance. Still, if I were a betting man, I would place my money on the leader in the clubhouse rather than the challenger in the on deck circle. The debut of The Avengers is so extraordinary that I have had to flip flop on the subject. I have a hard time reconciling the idea that after no movie had cracked $170 million up until last week, two movies could break $207 million in three months.

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