The Dark Knight took in a record $155.34 million in its first weekend, says Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Brothers.

“We knew it would be big, but we never expected to dominate the marketplace like we did,” Fellman said.

The long awaited sequel to the 2005 film Batman Begins also smashed previous single-day box office records, earning a massive $66.4m on its opening night in the US. The previous one-day record of $59.8m was set by the third installment of Spider-Man last May.