Dark Knight fires up cash registers

10:52am Sunday 20th July 2008

A Warner Bros executive says the Batman sequel The Dark Knight has set a single-day box office record by taking 66.4 million dollars (£33.2m) on its opening day.

It surpasses the previous record of 59.8 million dollars (£30m) set last year by Spider-Man 3.

The Dark Knight may also break the opening weekend record of 151.1 million dollars (£75.5m) that also was posted by Spider-Man 3.

Warner Bros head of distribution Dan Fellman says the death of co-star Heath Ledger and the buzz about his frenzied performance as the Batman villain Joker was a big part of the movie's allure.

Paul Dergarabedian, president of tracking firm Media By Numbers LLC, said: "There is an unbelievable demand for this movie."

"The Heath Ledger factor is a major part of this. Beyond that, the movie is so good, it's worthy of all these accolades."

The film directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale as Batman cost 185 million dollars to make. The late Ledger has been tipped for a posthumous Oscar for his performance as The Joker.