After over a decade of movie releases, I’m impressed and at least a little surprised thatThe Dark Knight Risesstill holds one major movie landmark for Christopher Nolan. As a director known best for his sci-fi and action releases,The Dark Knight trilogystands out amongst Nolan’s filmography - and indeed stood out to audiences when news was first announced that the creative would be making the first line oflive-action Batman moviessince the original series. Said Batman movie reboot making some of the best superhero movies of all time only furthered the trilogy’s notable position in film history.
Exemplifying the promise of the superhero genre, The Dark Knight trilogy’s overall results brought in over $2 billion in box office earnings alone, and its gritty reimaginging of Gotham helped pave the way for the future of herokind’s cinematic offerings unshakably. With that said, Christopher Nolan’s continual and impressive success as a director since the movie trilogy makes one movie record especially impressive for the DC film in question.
The Dark Knight Rises Has Christopher Nolan’s Highest Box Office Record To Date
As of early 2025,The Dark Knight Risesstill holds pride of place as the movie with the highest box office in all of Christopher Nolan’s filmography(as perThe Numbers), even 13 years after the film initially debuted and brought the Batman movie trilogy to a close in July 2012. While holding this record for over a decade is impressive in its own right, this does make sense given both thatThe Dark Knight Rises’worldwide box office made it over $1 billion - with reports ranging from between $1.08 billion (The Numbers) to $1.11 billion (Box Office Mojo).
Interestingly enough, this also makesThe Dark Knight Risesthe movie with the highest overall worldwide box office in all ofBatman’s movie historyas well, further reinforcing just how immensely well it did in cinemas and how well it has consistently held up since then, despite other well-received Batman films likeThe Batmanreleasing in the years since. In fact, only two movies have come close to dethroningThe Dark Knight Risesfrom its lofty box office record, withJokercoming the closest, andThe Dark Knightcoming in a little behind that.
Christopher Nolan’s Other Movie Releases Highlight Just How Strong The Dark Knight Rises' Box Office Really Is
Christopher Nolan is an established name in the movie world for good reason, with the roster of movies he’s directed earning not only colossal box office results, but also positive critical reviews broadly speaking to boot - a combination that can be complicated for even the best directors to consistently achieve. This is arguably what makesThe Dark Knight Rises' place in Nolan’s film history so interesting, as though the movie was a major event, Nolan has created other hits in the time since that seemed to stand a real chance of beating the Batman movie in this regard.
Perhaps the most notable of these is that ofOppenheimer, the 2023 hit movie that garnered much attention for its considerable box office results, with its release alongsideBarbiecontributing to the “Barbenheimer” trend wherein viewers would go to see both films - something that may have helped contribute toBarbie’s own box office results being over $1 billion. However,Oppenheimer’s own box office came in lower than this, with the worldwide box office ending up at around $975 million.
GivenOppenheimerwas the fifth highest grossing movie of 2023 - a year of some immense box office successes - it still being a notable amount away fromThe Dark Knight Rises’box office further solidifies the DC film’s phenomenal results. Similarly,the fact that other major movie releases from the annals of Christopher Nolan’s time as a director - including releases likeTenet,Inception, andDunkirk- were all a notable chunk away from matching or exceedingThe Dark Knight Rises' own worldwide box office makes the trilogy’s finale all the more stand out.
Why The Dark Knight Rises' Box Office Results Are So Strong
As the final movie in a film trilogy that had redefined one of the most iconic superheroes of all time - and that had only grown in terms of audience reception and financial results since its first release, withThe Dark Knightmaking around twiceBatman Begins' worldwide box office - it stands to reason thatThe Dark Knight Riseshad an edgethat made it something viewers felt they needed to see in the cinema. Much likeAvengers: Endgame, the power of wanting to know how a story arc ends and not wanting it spoiled beforehand are considerable movie motivators.
It’s also worth noting that this year also saw the release ofThe Avengers, which itself saw massive financial success after building up to the crossover story for several years. With this in mind, the superhero genre’s burgeoning new success may have also played a useful part in making the results ofThe Dark Knight Risesas considerable as they are - and in doing so, defined a key part of movie history for years to come.
The Dark Knight Rises
Cast
The Dark Knight Rises follows Batman as he returns to Gotham City eight years after the death of Harvey Dent. Now pursued by law enforcement, he faces new challenges from Selina Kyle and Bane, a formidable terrorist leader who threatens the city’s safety, compelling Batman to defend a city that sees him as a foe.
