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FEATURE FOCUS

The Dark Knight: Heath Ledger's Batman movie smashes box office records

By Catherine Elsworth in Los Angeles

Last Updated: 2:52PM BST 21/07/2008

The Dark Knight, the new Batman film, has set a record at the US box
office, smashing the opening-weekend high of last year's Spiderman 3 to
take more than $155 million in its first three days.

As Batman premieres in London tonight - there'll be
one notable absence from the red carpet. We take a look at the film that's
smashed box office records in the United States. ; http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1529569286/bctid1678141926
http://www.brightcove.com/channel.jsp?channel=1139053637

Described as the year's most anticipated film, the superhero sequel from
English filmmaker Christopher Nolan attracted sell-out audiences at a record
number of cinemas across the US. Many hosted round-the-clock screenings from
midnight on Thursday to accommodate crowds, some of whom showed up dressed as
characters from the film.

Warner Bros said the $180 million production, which co-stars the late Heath
Ledger as the Joker, was set to take $155.3 million in ticket sales, surpassing
Sony's Spiderman 3 which made $151.1 million in its debut weekend last
May.

The film's extraordinary debut suggests it could be on course to become the
most lucrative comic book adaptation in history. It also demonstrates how
central the once-niche genre now is to Hollywood, with major studios
increasingly looking to the heroes and villains of hand-drawn strips to provide
a stream of box office hits.

Article
continues

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The Dark Knight, which opens in the UK this week, takes to five the
number of comic book or graphic novel-based films that have dominated the box
office in recent weeks, together generating more than a half a billion dollars
in the US alone.

It comes hard on the heels of Universal's blockbuster Iron Man, which
has made more than $313 million in the US and $565 million worldwide, as well as
recent releases Hellboy II, The Incredible Hulk and Wanted,
based on Scottish author Mark Millar's graphic novel.

Sequels to this year's hits are already planned and dozens more comic
book-based offerings are in the pipeline.

"They have become Hollywood's safety nets," said Jeff Bock, of box office
analysts Exhibitor Relations, who estimates comic book releases could account
for up to a fifth of box office receipts this year, on course to total around
$10 billion.

"During the course of the summer for the last couple of years we've expected
to have two or three of these films. But the number this year shows there's huge
demand. Every studio wants to have their hands in the comic book business."

Previews of some of the next wave of films will be shown at this week's Comic
Con in San Diego, the vast comic book and fantasy convention where Hollywood
studios flock to sow the seeds of a viral buzz they hope will turn their
projects into hits.

They include Watchmen, based on the graphic novel mini-series by Alan
Moore, and The Spirit by Frank Miller, the comics legend-turned-director
of 300 and Sin City fame, which stars Samuel L Jackson, Scarlett
Johansson and Eva Mendes.

Marvel Studios, makers of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk,
will meanwhile give fans a glimpse of its sequel Punisher: War Zone.

The convention is also expected to hear that John Woo will direct an
adaptation of the comic book Caliber, a 19th century Western based on
King Arthur.

All hope to mimic the success of Iron Man and the Spiderman
trilogy, which revived the genre in 2002. Since then the Spiderman
franchise has made more than $2.5 billion worldwide. Naturally, a fourth
film, due out in 2011, is in the works.

Industry analysts attribute the appeal of comic book adaptations partly to
Hollywood's polished marketing formula for such films, using events such as
Comic Con to generate a buzz among ardent fans before a big budget campaign
whips interest into a frenzy. (The hype surrounding The Dark Knight
sparked the biggest pre-release sale of tickets in history with thousands of
screenings sold out before it even opened.)

Then there are the endless clear-cut storylines honed over decades,
franchise-friendly characters, high-octane action and the fact comic books
enable risk-wary studio executives to picture almost exactly what a film will
look like.

"Now that Hollywood can do them justice (with believable CGI), they are
recognising that comic books are ready-made for the big screen," said Jim
Littler, editor of Comicbookmovie.com. "If you look at any comic book, it is
nearly a shot-by-shot storyboard just waiting to be filmed."

Today's cinema audiences also associate comic book-themed releases with "big
tent pole entertainment", said Martin Grove, columnist for the Hollywood
Reporter online.

"It's understood by people not in the movie business that when a comic
book-based movie comes out, that's a big movie. They recognise immediately that
this is something we better think about seeing because it's going to be big."

The genre has recovered from its low point in 1997 when Joel Schumacher put
George Clooney in a nippled bat suit to risible effect.

Other notable duds include 2004's Catwoman, starring Halle Berry,
Flash Gordon in 1980, and Supergirl in 1984, which made only $14
million.

But Hollywood has learned from its mistakes, commentators say, with studios
making every effort to select the right director and actors for projects and
jettisoning the campy tone of earlier films. Robin is long gone as Bruce Wayne's
sidekick and releases now adopt a much grittier tone in keeping with
contemporary fears and sensibilities, Mr Grove said.

Despite the recent rash of adaptations - back in 2004 Mr Grove counted at
least 70 such films in development - he predicts even more are underway now.

"There is no limit to this," said Mr Bock. The two major forces in comics,
Marvel Comics and DC Comics, have "thousands of characters to explore and then
we're not including Dark Horse and other smaller comics that have started
to make an impact as well".

He said he expected to see "at least two films a year from Marvel alone and
I'm sure DC will follow suit."

Specialist "comics-to-film" companies such as Platinum Studios and Kingdom
Comics, set up by Disney in May to develop graphic novels that can be turned
into films, are also generating new projects.

Marvel Studios, which will release another X Men film next year, is
also working on Iron Man 2, Thor, from British filmmaker Matthew
Vaughn, The First Avenger: Captain America, and The Avengers, due
out in 2010 and 2011.

Warner Bros, the studio behind The Dark Knight, has meanwhile been
sitting down with sister company DC Comics to thrash out "how best to exploit
the DC Comics characters and properties".

A Superman sequel is said to be in the works as are versions of
Justice League and Green Lantern. Other rumoured adaptations
include a big screen Wonder Woman, another stab at Flash and even
an Aquaman film.

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Heath Ledger is also hotly tipped to win a posthumous
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