 SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- One of the summer's most anticipated movies opened at midnight with showings across the country, but some excited San Francisco fans stayed up far past 12 a.m. to catch one of the first showings of the latest Batman installment.
The movie features Heath Ledger's final performance, playing the Joker, and that was what had most fans buzzing as they left San Francisco's Metreon at 6:15 a.m. Friday.
The group had lined up at 1 a.m. for the 3:30 a.m. sold out IMAX showing of the "Dark Knight."
We bought our tickets online last week," said one fan. "And the midnight show was already sold out. The evening shows for Friday night were all sold out too, so we could either have gone at 1 in the afternoon on Friday, or 3:30 in the morning!"
Despite the fact that some of them still had to go to work today, they said it was a summer movie well worth losing sleep over.
A tracking firm says "The Dark Knight" has set a box office record for a midnight debut.
Media By Numbers says the new Batman movie from Warner Bros. brought in $18.5 million Friday from its midnight screening in 3,040 theaters.
That bested the 2005 performance of "Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith," which took in $16.9 million at its debut.
"The Dark Knight" figure did not include any of its 3 a.m. or 6 a.m. showings. (MGO) |
KCBS' Holly Quan reports