C'mon BvS...make up the highway robbery that was TDKR's opening weekend in 2012...please...

The wound is still raw.

I know.

No shooting + 3D the record would have stood until TFA.

Ha.

Excel the broken record even if the record didn't break

This is the What If? show that I want to see. I dunno if it would have been able to beat The Avengers without 3D, but it would have been one of the most fun box office weekends ever. Instead, it was marked by tragedy, and even thinking back on it makes everyone sad. It also ruined the allusion of safety in movie theaters. We shouldn't have to worry that the guy two rows back is going to murder us if he is having a bad day, yet that fear will always be there, even if only in the smallest doses, taking away from the experience.

Avengers without 3D was $170m flat. Hollywood Reporter noted that it had $37 million in 3D surcharges during the opening. TDKR would have easily defeated that number. I think it would have the $190-$200m mark.

I think its time to stop beating the dead horse. TDKR run was tainted post the shooting.

That said worst thing is how active this forum was in 2012 and now its in a sorry state. :-(

I tried estimating admissions for weekend few weeks back.

TDKR was short of The Avengers at around 18M, but TDK & Spider-man 3 were over/under The Avengers, all of them being 20M.

TFA around 21.5M, A:IW 24M+ and A:EG 34M+.

That estimates what happened in reality, though. No shooting and TDKR sets an admissions record that probably lasts until Infinity War.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie ... ce-352081/



That puts Avengers 3D-less opening at $172 million. The Dark Knight with 4 years of inflation from its $158m 2008 opening, would have been around $180m wish by 2012. Avengers got a 20% bump from 3D to get to $207m total. TDKR would have destroyed the admissions record with no shooting. We're talking $190-195 million or so, minus 3D. With the same 3D bump of 20%, that gets TDKR to $235 millionths in 2012, a record which would stand until DA FORCE AWAKENS.

A few other notes:

-TDKR and Avengers had true "midnights". The later films ala DA FORCE AWAKENS and Avengers 3+4 had sneaks starting at 7 PM add A LOT of showtimes to the opening weekend count.
-Transformers 2 would have been there too if it hadn'topened on a Wednesday

For the 20 years that I have followed the box office closely, these are the most anticipated films, in order, based upon opening weekend numbers IN CONTEXT and the visible buzz surrounding the release:

The levels
1) Endgame....by a mile, everyone knows this, the most anticipated film in history without question
2) The Dark Knight Rises - the sequel to the centurys most beloved film...the hype for this was beyond insane.
3) The Matrix Reloaded - $134m 4 day opening (opened on a Thursday) with a R rating. ATTACK OF THE CLONES did only $110m over the exact 4 day period the previous year w/ a PG 13 rating...
4) Da Force Awakens - the return of the original trio

The level
5) The Dark Knight - insane over perform, had an utter stranglehold on the 16-30 demographic
6) Spider-man 2002 - insane overperformer, the country needed the film at the time
7) Infinity War - everyone was pumped
8) Avengers 2012 - the first team up movie...insane breakout
9) Spider-man 3 - huge
10) Transformers 2 - huge
11) Sith - everyone thought this was the last Star Wars movie lol

The level
12) Spider-man 2 - obvious
13) Harry Potter 1 - obvious
14) Pirates 2 - everyone was pumped for captain jack's return
15) Jurassic World - epic breakout oqerperformer, would have done more had theaters been more prepared
16) Harry Potter 8 - huge but front loaded

The level
17) Return of the King - huge
18) Last Jedi - huge
19) Ultron - tainted by having Mayweather-Pacman on it's 1st Saturday night...
20) Pearl Harbor- summer 2001 most hyped film, would have crushed the opening weekend record had it not opened on a 4-day holiday weekend with a ton of competition taking away show times and screens.

Everyone sees the benefits of having 4 quadrant/kid appeal, but a film can still truly explode with teenage/young adult audiences only if it is good enough ala MATRIX RELOADED and DARK KNIGHT 2 & 3.