Dark Knight could rise above rest at box office

The Dark Knight Rises was an instant box-office smash when it was released in the United States on July 20, but its UAE release was delayed until last Thursday. Razan Alzayani / The National

The Dark Knight promises rising revenues for cinemas during Eid, with the new Batman movie tipped to be one of the UAE's highest-grossing films.

Director Christopher Nolan's epic is among six blockbusters competing at the box office over the holiday.

The Dark Knight Rises was an instant box-office smash when it was released in the United States on July 20, but its UAE release was delayed until last Thursday.

Gordon Kirk, the general manager of the Dubai-based Reel Cinemas chain, expects the film to rank among the UAE's top-grossing to date.

"As one of the most-awaited blockbusters of the summer, we expect full houses within the first week of The Dark Knight Rises release," he said. "It is safe to say that The Dark Knight Rises could be one of the highest-grossing films."

The film's local distributor, Shooting Stars, could not immediately provide the official box-office numbers for the opening of the Batman movie in the UAE.

But Kifah Ghraizi, the regional manager at Empire International Gulf, which distributes films on behalf of 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures, said he foresees healthy takings.

"It's a huge movie and it's going to break records, of course. Especially releasing on Eid," he said.

The film earned a reported US$160.1 million (Dh588m) in its first weekend in the US, the third-largest opening after The Avengers and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2.

John Chahine, the general manager of the UAE branch of the film distributor Italia Film, said,however, that he did not think the Batman film would enter the record books.

"Batman has very strong competition. It should do well and it should bring up the numbers. But so many other blockbuster movies are released at the same time," he said. "All these movies combined should hopefully make the number of Eid admissions really high. And that will make up for the slow season we had in July and August."

twitter: Follow and share our breaking business news. Follow us

iPad users can read the digital edition of business section as it was printed via our e-reader app. Click here