I love The Prestige. It was the movie that finally made me a Christopher Nolan fan. It's one of the few movies that made my "BD upgrade" list. Sure, I liked Memento and Insomnia a lot, and my love for Begins knows no bounds, but it was The Prestige the one that made me appreciate Nolan's talent on his own, without the need of a character I've loved all my life.

I went into The Prestige knowing one spoiler, but was delighted to find that the entire movie didn't hinge on a single twist or reveal (as you'd expect with a movie about a magician).

I also just listened to Nolan's Batman interview on Fresh Air, where he discusses how Ledger worked up the Joker character.

Good stuff.

You're missing my point about movie attendance -- it used to be much, much higher as compared to everything else. A higher percentage of viewings took place at the theater. So yes, more people may have seen Movie X, but it's relative popularity can't be compared without awareness.

Just like how even some crap comics used to sell $ 1 Million, and the "cancellation level" was 100,000 (a smash hit today).

Goldfinger, though right now even with Dark Knight, was not as popular in relative terms. One year from now, Dark Knight will have blown it away in total "viewings," but none of those affect the box office.

I'm only speaking to those interested in reflecting on which movies were the biggest hits, most popular, and thinking about that next level of reflection -- total relative impact in the culture.

the adjusted for inflation list is far less misleading than the "such and such is #5 of all-time" when movies today cost much more than even 5 years ago. You can still compare it to recent movies using that list, as I did above,

Now I will blow your mind.

There needs to be even another list, because some movies appeal more to children and sell many children tickets and those are often much less than adult tickets! So a children's movie may gross the same as an adult's and yet sell much more tickets!

box office prophets predicts $17.2 million for Dark Knight. Deadline Hollywood predicts $17 million even. We shall see.

Yes, absolutely. Even in my own life, I remember thinking of $100 million as a through-the-roof, change the culture blockbuster.

I'm just making the more subtle point to remember to adjust back if the movie is very old.

I'm also convinced at some times movie ticket prices have outstripped inflation, but I've never seen the analysis. (It leads to a conclusion that "total tickets sold" is the real number)

By the way -- the other thing I meant to mention, is there used to be a lot less releases. Theaters had one, maybe two theaters, and if a movie was a hit, it just sat there being held over for 8 weeks, the only show on that screen.

I saw Star Wars at the "Astro Twin," the largest screen in the state (it was gigantic), and it was on there for the better part of a year.

True, movies in the 30s, and then 50s, and then late 70s/80s were seen by loads of people. and when there were less releases, less screens, and no VHS/DVD, it was a whole different ballgame.

I think in some ways movies back then could have more impact. Back to the Future, which Dark Knight and Spider-Man have passed, was at my local theater for a year! or close to it. That's a long time. Today movies are in and out so fast.

Talked to someone at work Friday who asked me if Iron Man and Indy were still out-and there's nowhere on Long Island to see them. He wants to at the theater, but can't. You get 4-8 weeks, and that's it, even with so many screens.

the game keeps changing. Iron Man is on DVD in September, Indiana Jones in December. 4-6 months later. why see a movie 2, 3, 4, 5 times in the theater anymore?

I sometimes do because I like the theater experience, but most people aren't that crazy. I mean movie in May, DVD September!!!!

and the more and more get HD and sound systems and giant screens, it almost doesn't make sense to see it more than once, if that.

Wow. I gotta see Iron Man at least one more time this month, then.

Back the Future was a huge one. It's a personal example to me that shows the dollars today are inflated, but the attendance figures from 1942 are also misleading. Back to the Future, to my mind, just dominated the culture for about a year.

You can probably identify, Rob, with what a huge personal thing Back to the Future was for me. Michael J. Fox is older than me, but his character on Family Ties was about my age. I was the same Reagan-boy he was, and sort of the same "I've got to be the smart guy" identity with my family and friends.

Then he goes and makes Back to the Future, and I was an 11th grader for that. So in the same ballpark as his character's age -- just at the age where being given your own truck would make you the coolest guy.

Plus it was such freaking perfect movie. I've never heard anyone watch it for the first time and not like it.

It would be interesting if we could track total views (but I'm glad that Big Brother cannot).

I worked with a woman in '87 who mentioned that her son was at home watching Ghostbusters. When I asked how she knew what he was watching, she said, "He watches it every day as soon as he gets home from school." She topped that statement with, "...and then every night his dad gets home from work and watches Top Gun." "Every night?" "Every night."

I'm like that. There is not much incentive for me to go to the movies these days. And I still went to see TDK four times. I hadn't done that since Return of the King.

About the figures, I guess the point is that they don't really give much of an insight of a movie's cultural impact, regardless of whether they are adjusted or not.

One summer I watched Back to the Future some..90 times. I can understand the kid watching Ghostbusters that much.

But Top Gun? I think the husband kept a big secret from her.

I pictured the husband as a beer swilling mulleted guy who punched the air along with Cruise, but you may have a point there.

The two of you go stand in the corner until I figure out what to do with you.

In a sense, her story was like she held up a mirror, eh?

My wife and I laughed histerically as we watched Top Gun in the theater.

We had the same reaction to Backdraft. When De Niro said, "It's time to go and talk to The Animal.", we almost choked with laughter.

Ok Jay, got yer point.

The reason I go by the "adjusted for inflation" list is because every new movie that comes out is hyped as "the highest grossing comedy/action movie/movie based on a Abba musical/whatever" when the first weekend's grosses are tallied. I'm too old to care about hype any more - just give me the facts, man (or maam).

Movies do not have the same impact that they did years ago, that's true. If I'm in a theater, I jadedly rank the trailers as either "rental" or "won't even bother." There are very few movies that are worth going to the trouble of seeing in a theater these days, IMO.

Looks like this is the week The Dark Knight finally falls from the #1 spot at the
weekly box office. It's not going to catch Titanic (especially if the DVD
comes out in November) and if it passes $500 million, it will be a squeaker.
Still, even when you take into account inflation, what TDK has done this
summer is very impressive. At the very least, it's going to get a lot of Oscar
nominations, and I would not be surprised if it gets big nominations like Best
Picture, Director, and Screenplay.

One more thing...there is no WAY that Ledger is going to be nominated merely
for Best Supporting Actor. He will be up for Leading Actor. Ironically, this may
help Robert Downey, Jr. who might not get a (deserved) leading nomination for
Iron Man, but rather a supporting actor nomination for playing "the dude playing
the dude disguised as another dude." (He must have gotten pointers from The Dude
who co-starred with him in Iron Man. )

Eddie, I think you're grossly overestimating the esteem the Academy will hold for any of these summer blockbuster superhero movies. I'd be surprised if any of them got nominations outside the technical categories, with the one exception of Ledger, who will be nominated for supporting if he is nominated at all.

Ummmm.... Why do you guys think The Dark Knight needs Oscar nominations?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leOQmwezYoY[/youtube]

August 15th-17th:

1.'Tropic Thunder' $26M,

2.'Dark Knight' $17M,

3. 'Clones War' $15.5M

according to deadline Hollywood

Exact figures available soon