Top Summer Movie Openings

Glowing reviews and Academy Award buzz are nice, but when America goes to the movies each summer, the studios are looking at the bottom line: Blockbuster numbers at the box office.

Usually, how a film opens will give you a pretty good idea of how well it eventually will do. After that first weekend, word of mouth goes a long way toward determining continued success, and negative comments can drive a film to the second-run houses before you can say “Love Guru.”

The Dark Knight had no such issues. In its first weekend of release, Batman’s latest joust with Joker earned $155.34 million, making it the biggest opening ever. 

Who else has produced some of the biggest summer debuts of all time? Here’s a list of the other movies movies that brought in $100 million or more in that all-important debut weekend:

1. Spider-Man 3 (2007): $151,116,516

2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006): $135,634,554

3. Shrek the Third (2007): $121,629,270

4. Spider-Man (2002): $114,844,116

5. Pirates of the Caribbean (2007): At World’s End: $114,732,820

6. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005): $108,435,841

7. Shrek 2 (2004): $108,037,878

8. X-Men: The Last Stand (2006): $102,750,665

9. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008): $100,137,835

Source: BoxOfficeMojo.com