Breaking news: Batman robs the national treasury, US economy caves in. Okay, so while the collapse of the our country?s infrastructure is only imminent and it may seem like Batman robbed a bank ? no crimes involving the Caped Crusader were committed this weekend (unless you count the people who spent 27 million dollars seeing Mama Mia instead going to see that wonderful Batman movie again ? yikes!). The Dark Knight did take the box office by brute force this weekend though, commanding an opening weekend that set just about every record in the books. The latest Chris Nolan film first pushed its predecessor Batman Begins to the top of the DVD charts last week, as well as handing the number two spot to its animated, direct-to-video kin Batman: Gotham Knight. Then Knight really unleashed its fury and posted the following titles for its own: Top Gross For Midnight Showings (18.5 mill, beating Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith?s previous 16.9), IMAX Opening Weekend Sales (6.2 mill, taking down Spiderman 3 who posted 4.7 last year), Single Day Gross (On Friday, Knight nabbed 67.8 mill, ousting another previous Spidey 3 title ? 58.9 mill), and Total Weekend Gross (155.3 mill exhausting Spidey 3?s 151 mill in one last takedown). Congrats to the cast and crew that has brought the Dark Knight this great fortune.

In related affairs, if you did check out Batman this weekend then it must be time to check out our coverage of the Dark Knight red carpet or read our interview with Christian Bale as well as our Q&A with director Chris Nolan and the rest of the Dark Knight cast. If you didn?t see the Dark Knight, read ?em all anyway ? and be sure to check out our review of the film!

written by Eric Walsingham