400 Million Bats (And A Lot Of Expectation)

Yet another entry for The Dark Knight in Hollywood's record books the sequel has climbed past $400 million at the box office in just 18 days, the fastest pace ever.

The film hit that mark in less than half the time it took for the previous record-holder, Shrek 2, which crossed the plateau on its 43rd day of release. The Dark Knight is now at No. 8 on the all-time box-office charts and will likely be No. 7 at day's end by passing the $403.7 million haul of the original Spider-Man. That'll make it the top-grossing comic-book adaptation ever.

Industry watchers predict it will pass the original Star Wars ($461 million) in about two weeks, making it No. 2 on the all-time domestic list behind Titanic ($600.8 million), but there is debate that it has the wheels to take out the big boat, which was the number one film for nearly three months. And big deal that the movie is, discussion has also turned to the next potential bat-film.

The hottest Batman 3 rumors call for the next super villain to be either the Riddler, played by Johnny Depp, or the Penguin brought to the screen by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Of course, that’s all speculation at this point, and if you want to travel down that fanboy road, go ahead and mention Catwoman and Angelina Jolie. But if so, consider that Maggie Gyllenhaal and Aaron Eckhart signed on for two Bat-pictures...so do they play into the plot of the next movie? Cillian Murphy had a nice little cameo as The Scarecrow, so why not them? Screenwriter David Goyer (who penned them both with Nolan) has already said that we won't be seeing Catwoman (or, for that matter, the Penguin) in the next chapter:

Batman has been published for 70 years. In the first movie, we used Ra's Al Ghul and the Scarecrow, who had not been in the movies before, and had not been in the '60s TV show before... There are dozens if not hundreds of other characters that fit that bill. Everyone says it's got to be the Penguin or Catwoman...well I completely disagree.

Oh, the plot thickens...and who could have seen Heath Ledger as The Joker? Casting against type not only kills the star factor for a Depp or Hoffman villain, but steers away from the bloat of the first franchise, which just became a villain-of-the-moment showcase. Although can you see anybody else but Angelina as Catwoman? Me-ow!

For those who have yet to see it, I really have to insist on going the IMAX route. Big, awesome blockbuster movies deserve that treatment, and is a reward to a visually dense and well crafted flick. And I'm already planning next year's Watchmen IMAX viewing (that trailer killed in IMAX). The Dark Knight, as I expected, lowered my cholesterol and taught me Swahili, and was the greatest movie of all time ever in the history of everything. Okay, it a lot of fun, and clearly, has the box office to show for it.