Will 'The Dark Knight Rises' Beat 'The Avengers' Opening Weekend At The Box Office?

Box Office Mojo reports that The Dark Knight Rises will be playing at 4,404 theaters, the second-biggest film opening after The Twilight Saga: Eclipse's 4,468. To beat The Avengers opening weekend box office gross of $207,438,708 would require an average gross of $4,7102.34 per theater.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the average movie ticket price in America for 2011 was $7.93. With this figure considered, Christopher Nolan's Batman finale will have to sell approximately 5,940 tickets per theater.

Another factor to be considered, aside from direct gross, is that The Dark Knight Rises will not be released in 3D. The film will be available in 2D and IMAX theaters, while The Avengers brought Ironman, Captain America, Thor and The Hulk into the third dimension and IMAX 3D for an extra charge.

Handicaps considered, Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt should see their epic film break records. None of the five films whose characters joined forces in The Avengers made the box office impact that The Dark Knight did.

Part two of Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy, with Heath Ledger's final full performance, ended up becoming the second highest grossing film of all time, for several years. It currently resides at number four on the box office gross list, just $80,725,257 behind The Avengers.

The Dark Knight Rises' strong foundation and stellar reviews have set up the film as a contender to take the opening weekend box office record from The Avengers. DC vs. Marvel will be put to the test, yet again!