'The Dark Knight Rises' Surpasses $800-Million Worldwide

Alas, "The Dark Knight Rises" probably won't come anywhere near the worldwide grosses achieved by Marvel's "The Avengers." Take heart. It's a safe bet Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros.' $800-million-plus will dry a few tears.

As reported by SuperheroHype.com, the conclusion to writer-director Nolan's Batman saga took in $19.5 million domestically and another $34.2 million overseas this past weekend. Three weeks following its release, even the tragic massacre at an Aurora, Colo., midnight premiere has hardly stalled the picture from earning a total $835.4 million so far.

That's a combination of $390.1 million domestically and $445.3 million overseas, for a $250-million film. This weekend's take shot it past, ironically enough, Nolan's 2010 hit "Inception" to become the 30th highest-grossing film of all time, with less than a million separating it from "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" at $836.3 million.

Unfortunately, barring something miraculous, eclipsing the $1.46 billion earned by "The Avengers" worldwide so far seems out of reach. There's at least faint hope that it might catch up with the $1.001 billion earned by 2008's "The Dark Knight." That achievement would rocket it into 12th place all-time, just behind Disney's 2010 "Alice in Wonderland" ($1.024 billion.)

What's more, it will make it one of the few franchises consisting of three movies or more to have had each film end up higher on the all-time Top 50 than the last. Others to have done it, defying diminishing returns? "The Lord of the Rings" and "Transformers."