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LONDON — The U.K. box office biz enjoyed its best weekend so far this year, thanks largely to the arrival of caped crusader “The Dark Knight.”

According to figures released Monday by the Film Distributors’ Assoc., 3.19 million people went to the cinema over the weekend. That was north of the previous best 3.04 million who visited July 4-6. Overall weekend grosses came in at $38.1 million, up 26% on the previous frame.

Bumper results were particularly impressive given the weekend weather was sweltering hot — traditionally not conducive to a rush on indoor entertainment. In fact, Sunday was the hottest day so far this year.

Christopher Nolan’s comicbook actioner “The Dark Knight” led the charge, opening top with a massive $22.3 million (including $5 million in Thursday previews) at 502 screens via Warner Bros.

"The Dark Knight" dominated the international box office with $65.6 million at 7,143 playdates in 43 markets.

With its first European launches and impressive holdover biz pushing foreign cume to $126.3 million, "The Dark Knight" appears well on its way to becoming a massive blockbuster outside the United States.

Combined with its record-setting domestic take, worldwide gross has already hit $440 million in a dozen days.

The Batpic sold 8.5 million tickets overseas and its offshore weekend total exceeded the combined grosses for the next four pics -- "Hancock," "Kung Fu Panda," "Mamma Mia" and "X-Files: I Want to Believe" -- even though Warner Bros. has held off launching "The Dark Knight" in many key markets.

France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and Spain will see August openings.

In Australia, it declined only 37% to $7.2 million for the third best soph sesh ever, trailing "Shrek 2" and the final "Lord of the Rings."

In Italy, "Knight" obliterated the competition with a $5 million launch that represented over 70% of the top five.

And its $3.2 million in Brazil represented the third-best second frame ever for that market.

After a softer than usual June due to the Euro Cup soccer tourney, July's biz has helped pull overall overseas biz for the six major studios about even with same point with last year's pace.

With "The Dark Knight" providing a major shot in the arm, the final 2008 number could match or even top last year's $9.5 billion record.




LONDON — Box office sensation “The Dark Knight” opened whammo at London’s BFI Imax, banking $220,000 in its first four days. Opening weekend result was bigger than any other Imax site worldwide.

First 20 shows of “Dark Knight” at the 435-seater London cinema were sellouts. Huge bow was boosted by squeezing in extra nighttime screenings (at 2.30 a.m. and 5.30 a.m.) and by sizable advance ticket sales — 37,929 across the program (also a worldwide Imax record).

"Many of our customers have traveled to London from around the country to ensure that they see the film on the U.K.'s biggest screen,” commented Justin Johnson, head of operations, BFI. “Apart from creating more hours in the day, there is nothing more that we can do to meet the huge demand that the film has created.”

The Christian Bale topliner is skedded to run at BFI Imax until Sept. 4 with 38 performances already sold out.

Christopher Nolan’s brooding comicbook actioner features six sequences filmed with Imax cameras.