The Dark Knight has surpassed The Polar Express as the highest-grossing first-run release ever shown on IMAX screens, and the only really amazing thing about that fact is that it took this long. Who knew The Polar Express made so much money? Or that The Dark Knight hadn't already been named Greatest Thing To Ever Grace The Giant IMAX Format In History?
The Dark Knight has made $55 million of its $925 million worldwide on IMAX screens, compared to the $45 million brought in by Polar Express in the same format. But The Hollywood Reporter has some bad news for the Knight fanatics, too. Because Polar Express is re-released on IMAX 3D every Christmas, it continues raking in money at a rate that Dark Knight won't be able to beat. That is, unless it also becomes a perennial favorite.
"That sounds like a really great idea," IMAX executive Greg Foster told THR when they suggested The Dark Knight as a perennial release like Polar Express. ""Ultimately, it's a decision that Warner Bros. has to make. We'd certainly support that."
So would you go see Dark Knight year after year, even though it leaves you feeling shattered and depressed? Or can you just be satisfied that the movie has made a crazy amount of money on IMAX screens, and leave it at that? Given how many people are still trying to see Dark Knight on IMAX and can't get into the sold-out screenings, maybe a return in 2009 wouldn't be unwelcome.
