Box Office Buzz ‘Knight,’ ‘Mamma’ to Draw Crowds

By GREG HERNANDEZ

This is what can safely be called a dream weekend at the multiplex, with buzz everywhere.

“The Dark Knight,” the new Batman movie, arrived at midnight Thursday and is going to record one of the biggest opening weekends in history. Then there is “Mamma Mia!” the highly anticipated musical starring Meryl Streep, which is going to attract a significantly large audience for itself.

How do you pick? You don’t! See one today, the other on Saturday.

BATMAN’S BACK: This is the second film in the rejuvenated franchise to star Christian Bale as the Caped Crusader. His reviews have been strong, but the real drawing card this time is the late Heath Ledger as The Joker. It was one of the actor’s final performances before his unexpected death, and critics say it’s sensational.

Advance ticket sales have been through the roof, with hundreds of sold-out midnight showings, according to online sellers Fandango and MovieTickets.com. “Knight” is playing in 4,300-plus theaters and more than 9,200 screens overall.

So how big is this gonna be?

I think when you figure in Thursday night grosses, “Knight” will have an opening weekend of about $130 million. That would make it the third-highest opening weekend behind “Spider-Man 3″ ($151.1 million) and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” ($135.6 million).

MAMMA MERYL: I never saw “Mamma Mia!” on stage but I did see the film last week and loved, loved, loved it. Meryl Streep can do no wrong! But Meryl had me at hello. So what about the masses?

I think “Mamma” will be a big hit despite opening at the same time as “Knight.” We found out with “Chicago” and “Dreamgirls” that popular stage musicals can be successful on screen, and “Hairspray” showed us last year that they can ring up some good box office numbers even in the summer.

“Mamma” opens in about 3,000 locations today and will likely gross at least $30 million in its first three days.

SPACE CHUMP: OK, the name of the movie is “Space Chimps,” a G- rated animated flick that is playing in 2,400 theaters. I just don’t see it making much of an impact this weekend — or any weekend really. “Chimps” might be able to peel away maybe $5 million in ticket sales, which is pretty much chump change for a movie opening in that many theaters.

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