This is hardly news, given that everyone in the world right now is watching this film at this very second (note: slight editorial hyperbole), but The Dark Knight is the biggest opening weekend box office smash of all time.

On Friday – in one day – the mega-blockbuster took $66.4 million, making the next highest taker look like a drunken mother at a wedding: Mamma Mia took $9.6 in the same period. It also pisses from on high on Spiderman 3’s opening day, taking roughly $7 million more.

TOP SINGLE DAY OPENINGS
1. The Dark Knight — $66,400,000
2. Spider-Man 3 — $59,841,919
3. Pirates 3 — $55,830,600
4. Spider-Man 2 — $51,336,732
5. Revenge Of The Sith — $50,013,859
6. Shrek The Turd — $47,077,497
7. X-Men 3 — $45,102,265
8. Shrek 2 — $44,797,042
9. Pirates 2 — $44,443,225
10. Order of Phoenix — $44,232,338

By the end of the weekend it had grossed $155m, beating the all time record set by Spider-Man 3 last year ($151m).

Unlike Spider-Man 3, critical response and word of mouth have been terrific, so The Dark Knight won’t fall away like the webswinger did. Expect it to be number 1 again next week.

The Dark Knight made so much money this opening weekend, it took more than the previous three biggest opening Batman movies (Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Batman Begins) did in theirs – combined.

Source: Box Office Mojo