The latest Batman movie has shattered box office records in its opening weekend. “The Dark Knight” emerged as not just the new number one movie at movie theaters but also became the top grossing movie for its opening weekend, taking in an estimated $155 million dollars and eclipsing the previous record established last year by “Spider-Man 3” by $4 million. On “The Dark Knight”’s opening day alone the movie grossed $66 million, setting another benchmark record for ticket sales for an opening day. By comparison the previous adventure, “Batman Begins”, opened to a moderate $44 million dollar opening weekend before finally coming to a full stop with a little over $200 million in ticket sales. At the pace “The Dark Knight” is traveling it will surpass the total ticket sales of “Batman Begins” sometime in the middle of this week.

“Mamma Mia”, another new movie out this weekend, didn’t reach the same high watermark as Batman but it nevertheless did alright by grossing $27 million. Will Smith and his superhero tale “Hancock” dropped to third place with $14 million in ticket sales, bringing that film’s total gross to $191 million.

It was another Big Willie Weekend as Will Smith’s action superhero movie “Hancock” took in an impressive $66 million dollars over the American holiday weekend. Sony Pictures had opened the $170 million budgeted event movie on Wednesday but also held Tuesday evening showings to beef up their ticket sales. That plan of attack worked well and the combined five day tally for “Hancock” elevated its total gross to $107 million. “Hancock” is the second-highest movie to open for Smith after last December’s “I Am Legend”.

The “Ali” and “Men in Black” star plays an alcoholic, homeless superhero in “Hancock” who doesn’t give a care as to how his image is looked upon by the public. Audiences may have gone out to take in Will’s new movie but critics haven’t been as favorable to the picture with negative reviews popping up in “Entertainment Weekly”, “The Washington Post”, “Newsweek”, “The Wall Street Journal” and more outlets. “’Hancock’ is a hodgepodge of intriguing ideas that, if developed further or presented as more than throw-ins to a confused production, might have made for a unique superhero film,” wrote James Berardinelli in his review of the movie.