Christopher Nolan rounded out his acclaimed superhero trilogy with a pair of back-to-back billion dollar hits, which makes it easy to forget that Batman Begins hardly set the box office on fire when it was released in the summer of 2005.
While the gritty reinvention of the Caped Crusader was a million miles away from being a disappointment, many analysts at the time were expecting a film that was instantly singled out as one of the greatest comic book adaptations of all-time to fly a lot higher than a global tally of $373 million.
Of course, the ten-figure hauls posted by The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises overcompensated in pretty spectacular fashion, but that still doesn’t make it any less impressive that Matt Reeves’ The Batman has already surpassed the lifetime gross of Christian Bale’s debut under the cape and cowl after just ten days in theaters.
Robert Pattinson’s introduction as the World’s Greatest Detective dipped just 41% on the domestic front this weekend, and another strong frame overseas has propelled The Batman to a running total of over $400 million. Based on the current trajectory, the atmospheric Gotham City mystery will pass $500 million in a matter of days.
There was a lot of chatter in the buildup to release about whether or not The Batman would be able to reach the coveted $1 billion milestone, but if it gets halfway there in less than two weeks, it definitely can’t be discounted. At the very least, it should end up as the top-earning title starring the iconic superhero that wasn’t helmed by Nolan.
