Total Worldwide Box Office Gross: Nearly $1.1 Billion The Dark Knight Rises was Christopher Nolan's swan song to not only his Bat-franchise, but also to the great Batman legacy as well. The film is comprised of multiple elements from Batman's iconic comic book backstory, with influences taken from both the KnightFall storyline and also Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, among several others. The film also introduced us to Anne Hathaway's Selina Kyle, and concluded the League of Shadows storyline that was set forth with Batman Begins. The film opened behind its predecessor with only $231 million at the box office, but it was a commercial juggernaut nonetheless. In the immediate, the film performed worse than The Dark Knight, opening with just over $51,000 per screen, and a week to week gross box office drop off that was significantly higher than TDK's as well, averaging over 40% each week following its initial release. The film was bolstered by a huge oversees market that was responsible for nearly 59% of its overall box office take. The film also had a significantly higher budget than The Dark Knight's $185 million, to the tune of a whopping $250 million dollars (which it returned within its first two weeks of release). Again, Nolan filmed much of this final entry in his trilogy in IMAX, which led to overall global IMAX earnings coming in at a staggering $448 million dollars. This release of Rises into IMAX across the country and the world has also helped to usher a new era of film viewing, with IMAX becoming more and more prevalent among movie-goers. In recent memory, films such as Man Of Steel, Gravity, and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire have all benefited from this new standard of watching new releases in cinemas across the world. The Dark Knight Rises currently sits at #9 on the box office chart of worldwide gross receipts. What surprised you, Bat-fans? Were you shocked that Burton's Batman was such a high performer, but his Batman Returns didn't even make the list? Sounds off below in our comments section.
