'Dark Knight Rises' set to earn $160M

"The Dark Knight Rises" was on track to earn $160 million, which would be a record for 2-D films, over the weekend following a mass shooting at a Colorado screening of the Batman film, The Associated Press reports. Citing box office insiders, media outlets reported Sunday that the latest Batman sequel earned $160 million to $162 million.

That would best the $158.4 million debut of "The Dark Knight" in 2008 and give "Dark Knight Rises" the third-highest domestic weekend opening after the 3-D films "The Avengers" with $207.4 million and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2" with $169.2 million.

Sony, Fox, Disney, Paramount, Universal and Lionsgate joined "Dark Knight Rises" distributor Warner Bros in withholding usual revenue reports out of respect for the victims and their families.

"This tragedy did not seem to impact the box office in a major way," said Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for Hollywood.com. He noted that the box-office ranking of the latest Batman film would not be official until Warner Bros. and other studios release their final weekend box-office tallies today.