Kerplow! Batman Movie Smashes Record

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It was a bright weekend for The Dark Knight.

The Batman movie brought in $155.34 million in its opening weekend, according to estimates from Warner Bros., the Time Warner (TWX) unit that distributed the film. That's the highest opening-weekend gross for any movie in history, according to Box Office Mojo, which tracks motion picture statistics. Another superhero saga, Spider-Man 3, which was released in May 2007, held the previous record, with an opening-weekend gross of $151.12 million.

Moviegoers were out in force over the weekend, and not just for The Dark Knight. The total gross for all movies from Friday through Sunday was a record $251.69 million, according to The Numbers, another industry tracker. The previous top-selling weekend for the industry was July 7, 2006, when Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest opened. The total for all films that weekend was $218.16 million.

Time Warner shares ended Friday up 5 cents at $14.70.