Coming in third place for biggest opening weekend of all time with $160,887,295 is Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises. The film was behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2 by a mere $9 million, but far behind Marvel's The Avengers which holds the top slot for biggest opening weekend of all time. Still, third place isn't half bad; particularly considering the negative press loosely surrounding the film's release. In fact, many critics speculated that the film would have fared better its opening weekend -- $38 million more, to be exact -- which would have but it on the heels of The Avengers with $198 million.
However, its hard to look at these opening weekend box office numbers and not take into account the horrific Aurora, Colorado theater shooting during the midnight release of the film when a masked man entered the midnight showing at the theater, dropped two smoke bombs into the crowd, and began an armed assault on the innocent moviegoers. The terrible and incredibly sad incident 12 dead, several wounded and far too many families of innocent civilians in turmoil. As a result of these incidents, Warner Brothers canceled the Paris red carpet screening of The Dark Knight Rises, interviews with the director and the film's cast, and pulled commercials promoting the film over the weekend. Needless to say, the shootings left a bad taste in the the mouths of fans and potential moviegoers, and there's a good chance that many didn't make it to the theater over the weekend as a result.
We should probably also take into account the fact that -- unlike The Avengers -- The Dark Knight Rises wasn't shown in 3D, something which would affect the ticket sales as 3D showings tend to be slightly more expensive. Either way, the film did spectacularly its opening night bringing in $30 million and is a fitting end to an era of Christopher Nolan's Batman. Be sure to check out Comic Vine's official review of the film here as well as two in depth discussions here and here, breaking down the film's plot points, characterizations and much more. What did you think of The Dark Knight Rises?