The Dark Knight Rises was expected to potentially demolish opening box-office records this weekend. And it did do about $30 million in Friday midnight screenings, according to Box Office Mojo.
However, all of those people went and saw this Batman movie before learning about the massacre in Aurora, Colorado. A lone gunman by the name of James Holmes entered with multiple guns and started shooting at the crowd, killing 12 people and injuring about 60 others.
Now that the massacre is dominating the headlines, everyone knows that there was a deadly shooting at a screening of “The Dark Knight Rises.” The ratings for this movie would have been a big story this weekend but are naturally taking a back seat to this massacre.
How the killings will affect the opening weekend and future box-office rankings of this Batman movie remains to be seen. From reports on TV and online, it appears that many people are still eager to go see the movie. People are not exactly fearful for their lives but are certainly more aware of potential danger around them. Nonetheless, certainly some people may either decide not to go or refuse to let their kids go see the movie. This could hurt the expected blockbuster box-office ratings of “The Dark Knight Rises.”
On the other hand, the story does keep the movie in the headlines, and that could counteract the reduced ratings caused by some people’s fear to go to the movies so close to this Aurora, Colorado massacre.
In the end, I would guess that this will all even out, and that this latest Batman movie will do great at the box office and have some of the best ratings of all time. And the results can be helped by the fact that New York City cops and other police departments are providing additional security for screening of this movie throughout the United States.