'The Dark Knight Rises' Trumped By 'Spider-man' In China

The Dark Knight Rises has been wowing box offices worldwide over the past month or so, however, though it once again notched up impressive figures at the Chinese box office, it found itself taking second place to its action hero rival The Amazing Spider-Man, after the Marc Webb-directed reboot of the franchise opened to a stellar $5.5 million in the country, according to The Hollywood Reporter. This has now added to its $700 million plus worldwide total, fully vindicating Sony's decision to bring back the franchise so soon after the previous trilogy had been made last decade.

Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises took $4.5 million in comparison, still a fine return and, of course, it still trumps Spidey overall, the movie now having taken some $951.7 million globally. Most of the film's joy in Chinese cinemas came from its showing at IMAX screens, where it took $3.2 million of its takings. The performances of films in China are always a bit of a lottery for US studios, given that it is the Chinese government and not they who decide when the film will be released in the country.

At one point there suggestions that The Dark Knight Rises might not do as well commercially as had been earlier predicted, after the tragedy of the Aurora Theatre shootings in Denver during a screening of it. It's proved unfounded however and the film is already assured as going down as one of the highest grossing of all time.