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“Breaking Dawn’s” million and “Dark Knight’s” millions
PHOTOS
The weekend saw two “million” milestones in pop culture.
In books, Stephenie Meyer’s Breaking Dawn, the presumed final book in her vampire romance series Twilight Saga, sold an impressive 1.3 million copies. According to the Associated Press, that put it in the ballpark of Bill Clinton’s My Life and Hilary Rodham Clinton’s Living History for first-day sales. In comparison, J.K. Rowling’s final Harry Potter novel topped 8.3 million in its first-day.
(My prediction for the next million-selling blockbuster release: Karl Rove’s upcoming memoirs. We’ll see if bookstores shelve it in fiction, non-fiction or vampire romances … )
In movies, The Dark Knight continued its summertime steamrolling through box office records. It’s expected to pass the $400 million - $400 million - today or tomorrow, which would put it in shouting distance of box office king Titanic, the 1997 romantic drama set during the steamship’s fateful 1912 sinking. That film logged $601 million; The Dark Knight is presently No. 8 on the all-time domestic blockbusters list (here’s the one at www.boxofficeguru.com and another at www.boxofficemojo.com). Another healthy week or two at the box office and The Dark Knight could end the summer close to No. 3 Shrek 2 and so sad that Heath Ledger’s not around to enjoy it.
It’s worth noting, btw, that the box office figures in the blockbuster charts aren’t corrected for changing ticket prices or inflation; $600 million Titanic dollars are worth more than $600 Dark Knight ones and the former film played at about 1,000 fewer theaters. Boxofficemojo.com has a handy tool that adjusts for ticket prices over time, so you can see how much an average ticket to Titanic, 1977’s Star Wars or The Dark Knight cost at the time (respectively, $4.59. $2.23 and $7.08).
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