The Dark Knight's 'Returns' Pass $400 Million

The Dark Knight officially broke the $400 million dollar mark (in domestic box office revenue) on Monday, according to a report by the Associated Press. Warner Bros. tells the AP the film has grossed $400.03 million dollars per close of business Monday, eclipsing the mark in a record 18 days, a full 25 days quicker than the previous record-holder, 2004's Shrek 2, which took 43 days to turn the feat.

As previously reported , the film is now nearly guaranteed to become only the second film in history to reach the $500 million mark and as a result become the second-highest grossing film of all time, behind James Cameron's Titanic.

The Dark Knight now stands at #8 on the all-time box-office chart, and will move up to the 7th position after Tuesday, passing the $403.7 million gross of 2002's Spider-Man to also become the top-grossing comic-book adaptation ever.

And even when adjusting historic box offices grosses for inflation, The Dark Knight's 'Returns' are impressive. According to figures found at boxofficemojo.com, it will likely wind up the highest-grossing film of this decade (Shrek 2 made $441m in '04, or $503m in adjusted grosses), and the third highest grossing film in the last 14 years, behind only Titanic and 1999's Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, which made $431m that year, or $601m in today's dollars.