Showbiz411

It’s a terrible loss in Colorado. So reporting box office numbers from “The Dark Knight” seems frivolous. But despite the tragedy, “The Dark Knight Rises” was already pre-sold around the country. Boxofficemojo.com is reporting that overnight totals are $30.6 million. The record for midnight showings is the final “Harry Potter” movie, which did $43,5 million.

Friday night’s take will count as the official first night, and I guess that money will be included. But “The Dark Knight Rises” is set to knock off a bunch of records this weekend. Meanwhile, there are numerous messages of condolence all over the internet. And by far the most unusual story so far is that of Jessica Redfield, who narrowly missed being in another shoot-out in a Toronto mall in June. And that’s Canada, which is supposed to be so safe. Some kind of gun control is needed everywhere.

PS Four years ago, “The Dark Knight” took in $67 million on July 18th, 2008. To beat that number, the new movie only has to do $37 million today.

Roger Friedman

Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News. Friedman previously wrote the Intelligencer column at New York Magazine, He writes for Parade magazine and has written for Details, Vogue, the New York Times, Post, and Daily News and many other publications. He is the writer and co-producer of a film about R&B Music called “Only the Strong Survive,” which was released by Miramax in 2003 and was a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals.