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Will 'The Dark Knight Rises' Top 'The Avengers' Opening Weekend?

‘The Dark Knight Rises’ already banked $25 million in pre-sales in North America.

Theater doors open at midnight tonight for yet another colossal comic book movie. There is no doubt that Christopher Nolan’s final installment of the Batman trilogy is the most anticipated cinematic extravaganza of the year, but the question is; will The Dark Knight Rises surpass the success of The Avengers in its opening weekend at the box office?

The Dark Knight Rises has created a frenzy with fans, even causing Rottentomatos.com to suspend comments on the site due to harsh and outlandish remarks from feisty zealots who didn’t take well to negative criticism of the film.

The movie’s plot even became a major talking point for people seemingly ignorant to the Batman trilogy or even comics for that matter.

Popular right wing radio host and conspiracy theorist, Rush Limbaugh, went as far as to  suggest that The Dark Knight Rises is a political ploy from the Obama campaign.  Although the Bane character debuted in the DC Comic book,  Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1 in January 1993,  Limbaugh claimed the villain was intended to be a homophone representation of  Mitt Romney’s company Bain Capital.

It has been reported that Dark Knight Rises has already acquired $25 Million in pre-sales in North America alone. A survey conducted by MovieTickets found out that, of the people aware of the movie, 78% said they would see it opening weekend. Scalpers have even taken to the internet via Craigslist and Stubhub selling tickets to sold out showings for $100 apiece. Moreover, in anticipation of the rush of moviegoers, major theater chains have requested more pick-ups from Brinks armored trucks to haul off the expected record amounts of cash.

Still, is all this Batman craze enough to propel the  Cape Crusader beyond the epic performance of Marvel’s superhero ensemble?   Probably not! Here’s why:

The Avengers collected a record-breaking $207 million its opening weekend, but that included 2D, 3D, RealD and IMAX 3D ticket sales. Fifty-two percent of  the films revenue was from 3D tickets. The Dark Knight Rises is a only a 2D movie and will be showing on regular and IMAX 2D screens.

Also its important to note the film has just one caped vigilantly superhero, whereas,  The Avengers not only has an assembled team of superheros who comes with their own fans, but they have a Hulk.

Furthermore, The Dark Knight Rises  won’t come anywhere close to The Avengers when it comes to the foreign market. The film collected its $441.5 million because it played everywhere on earth for the first 12 days. In comparison, Dark Knight Rises will only be showing in 17 international markets it’s opening week, spreading elsewhere after seven days later.

Even with all those obstacles stacked against Nolan’s film, some still Batman can’t be stopped. All in all, the wait to see how everything unfolds won’t be much longer. The Dark Knight rises opens at midnight tonight and stars Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Morgan Freeman and Tom Hardy,  just to name a few.

Do you think The Dark Knight Rises will outperform The Avengers?

 

 

 

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