Okay, let’s not beat around the bush. We all know The Dark Knight was huge. But how big exactly was it? Let’s break the numbers down:

• The film grossed approximately $158.3 million, beating the record set by Spider-Man 3 ($151.1 million) last year. The total already comes within reach of Tim Burton’s Batman. (The $251.2 million grosser has been the best earner in the franchise so far.)
• Knight pulled in $18.5 million during its Friday midnight screenings alone. The previous record holder was 2005’s Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith ($16.9 million).
• The movie had the best Friday total ever: $67.8 million.
• The sequel earned $6.2 million from IMAX showings alone. That number, again, beat Spider-Man 3 ($4.7 million).
• In one weekend, The Dark Knight grossed more than the last three Batman installments made in their opening weekends combined.
• The Christopher Nolan feature, along with the strong performance from Mamma Mia!, helped the industry attain the best box office weekend ever. Mamma‘s $27.6 million outperformed last year’s Hairspray ($27.5 million) to become the biggest musical opener ever.

Next Friday, The X-Files: I Want to Believe and Will Ferrell’s Step Brothers will do their best to come in at least second.

1. The Dark Knight, Warner Bros., $158,411,483 (avg. $36,283)
2. Mamma Mia!, Universal, $27,751,240 (avg. $9325)
3. Hancock, Sony, $14,040,178 (avg. $3718)
4. Journey to the Center of the Earth, Warner Bros., $12,340,435 (avg. $4361)
5. Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Universal, $10,117,815 (avg. $3150)
6. Wall-E, Disney, $10,070,396 (avg. $3042)
7. Space Chimps, 20th Century Fox, $7,181,374 (avg. $2860)
8. Wanted, Universal, $5,072,805 (avg. $2085)
9. Get Smart, Warner Bros., $4,125,021 (avg. $1932)
10. Kung Fu Panda, Paramount, $1,860,854 (avg. $1236)

(You can review last week’s numbers here.)