That made for a sensational $8,010 average for one night. Some theaters added extra shows after the midnight ones to accommodate fan demand for the nearly three-hour film. Of the total, $2.3M came from 330 IMAX locations.

It was the second largest midnight debut ever trailing just the $43.5M of the studio's franchise-ending epic from mid-July of last summer, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Both films did sell-out business from higher-priced IMAX venues, however Potter also benefited from 3D surcharges. The only other films to hit $30M from midnight debuts were the last two Twilight pictures - $30.3M for last November's Breaking Dawn Part 1 and $30M for Eclipse from June 2010.

Consumer behavior when it comes to midnight shows can vary greatly across franchises and seasons of the year. With students out of school in the summer, they are generally better attended then and can account for a larger portion of the full opening day which starts at 12:01 a.m. and ends at the close of business Friday night. The horrible tragedy at the Colorado theater shooting could also affect moviegoers in many different ways.

The Dark Knight did $18.5M from its Thursday night midnights accounting for only 28% of its $67.2M opening day. Both figures set all-time industry records in 2008 but have since been beaten a few times each. With more of a midnight push, Rises should see those grosses make up a larger share of the Friday tally.

Check the charts for the Top Opening Weekends and Top Opening Days of All-Time.

For a NEW review of The Dark Knight Rises visit The Chief Report.