Movie going went batty as The Dark Knight exploded on the scene with an estimated $153.7 million in a record-breaking session. The frenzy almost obscured the feisty and impressive debut of Mamma Mia! that ranked second with $27.6 million while the monkey shines of Space Monkeys were largely ignored with a $7.3 million bow.

Specialized and limited openers included a good Bollywood circuit launch of Kismat Konnection of $260,000 and an encouraging $34,200 start on two for Transsiberian. Other exclusives ranged from good to poor with the best of the bunch repped by the French import Before I Forget that soloed to $8,600.

The enormity of The Dark Knight tracking was largely disbelieved within the industry with some initial estimates predicting slightly less than a $100 million opening weekend gross. However, as showtime loomed, the ante steadily climbed to a more representative range of between $140 million – $160 million. Advance ticket sales were moving at close to an all-time record with the picture representing a tad more than 80% of all pre-sales while the film itself corralled roughly 61% of the weekend box office tally.

Warner Bros. was projecting a marginally stronger 1% domestic start but regardless of what Monday actuals reveal, the margin should be sufficient to give the superhero sequel the best gross for both opening day and the biggest individual weekend debut. It also set an opening weekend high for Imax engagement of $6.2 million with those 94 engagements posting averages twice as potent as those at conventional sites. The studio is also anticipating that it will out-perform the previous Batman Returns in its first six days in domestic release.

Internationally The Dark Knight stepped out selectively in 20 Latin American and Austral-Asia nations to an estimated $40 million. Highlights included grosses of $13.5 in Australia, $5.7 million in Mexico and $3.5 million in Brazil. It also debuted in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The potential potency of Mamma Mia! was signaled by international debuts in 12 countries last weekend that generated close to $25 million. Critics were grudgingly appreciative if derisive of the musical melodrama propelled by the sappy emotional beat of the bygone Abba repertoire. Regardless it proved to be effective counter-programming; drawing heavily on an older female crowd that failed to see the charm of Batman or The Joker.

Weekend box office ballooned to a record non-holiday tally of about $253 million. It was a 70% improvement from seven days earlier; 68% better than this frame last year; and 16% more than the prior peak set during the 2007 launch of The Pirates of the Caribbean finale. One year back the debut of I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry led all titles with $34.2 million while the debut of Hairspray ranked third with a Mamma Mia!-like bow of $27.5 million.

Space Chimps was also courting traction as a counter-programmer targeted at pre-teens and families. However, despite some positive critical response the result generated chump change.

The Dark Knight/Mamma Mia! wave only left hold over titles with 25% of the marketplace and that translated into most continuing titles experiencing more than 50% box office declines. Last weekend’s leader Hellboy II dipped a steeper 71% with niche titles such as Tell No One and The Wackness bucking the trend as they effectively orchestrated slow roll out strategies.

– Leonard Klady

Estimates – July 18-20, 2008

Domestic Market Share – To July 17, 2008

Top Global Grossers – To July 17, 2008

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