Weekend Box Office: “The Dark Knight Rises” in spite of Aurora massacre

Christian Bale stars in Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises," which predictably topped the box office this weekend in the wake of an unpredictable tragedy.With wall-to-wall coverage of the Aurora massacre on television, it’s no surprise that “The Dark Knight Rises” did not open to record-breaking numbers (nor should that be of paramount concern to anyone right now). But even as many stayed away from the multiplex–particularly families, I hear from theater managers–the epic conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy managed the third largest opening weekend of all time, behind “The Avengers” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.” Warner Bros and nearly every other studio extended the courtesy of not reporting any box office until Monday, so as not to make light of the tragedy, and that’s why the following figures have not appeared on Critic Speak until now:

No. Title Weekend Per Theater Average Total
1 “The Dark Knight Rises” $160.9M $36,532 $160.9M
2 “Ice Age: Continental Drift” $20.4M $5,254 $88.8M
3 “The Amazing Spider-Man” $10.9M $2,901 $228.6M
4 “Ted” $10.0M $3,115 $180.4M
5 “Brave” $6.0M $2,078 $208.8M
6 “Magic Mike” $4.3M $1,647 $102.0M
7 “Savages” $3.4M $1,455 $40.1M
8 “Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection” $2.3M $1,463 $60.3M
9 “Moonrise Kingdom” $1.8M $2,046 $36.1M
10 “To Rome with Love” $1.4M $2,574 $11.1M

Source: Box Office Mojo