Out of respect for the victims in Aurora, CO, Warner Bros. delayed releasing their weekend box office numbers, but screenrant.com has some rough estimates. Despite the events of Friday morning, "The Dark Knight Rises" did go on to break box office records and achieve numbers that Bruce Wayne himself would be proud of.
"The Dark Knight Rises" is now the title holder of highest grossing weekend for a non-3D movie, taking in $161 million over three days, beating its forerunner, "The Dark Knight," by a little more than $3 million. It's speculated that because of the event in Colorado, box office numbers were lower than they could have been, we'll never know for sure.
It also joins other Bat films for breaking weekend box office records; Tim Burton's "Batman" and "Batman Returns," Joel Schumacher's "Batman Forever," and Nolan's "The Dark Knight" all broke box office records on their launch.
"Rises" brought in $30.6 million just off of midnight releases alone, leaving Marvel's "The Avengers" midnight opening numbers of $18 million in the dust. "The Avengers" also had the benefit of being in 3D, boosting numbers due to increased ticket costs. Many were asking if DC's vigilante would have the strength to go up against the box office earnings of Marvel's "The Avengers," especially after DC's poor showing at the box office of late with poorly received movies like "Green Lantern" and "Jonah Hex." But it seems like DC is up to the challenge.
"Rises" is off to a great start, but it still has a ways to go if it hopes to break "The Avengers" worldwide gross of over $1 billion. "The Dark Knight Rises" is in theatres now.