Box Office Report: 'Dark Knight Rises' Hits $300 Mil Domestic, Third-Fastest Ever

Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures' The Dark Knight Rises jumped the $300 million mark at the North American box office on Tuesday, hitting the milestone in only a dozen days.

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Only two other films have crossed $300 million faster -- Disney and Marvel's The Avengers (nine days) and The Dark Knight (10).

The impressive performance of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Rises has helped Warners jump the $1 billion mark in domestic ticket sales for the 12th consecutive year.

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Most box-office observers believe Dark Knight Rises has indeed been impacted by the Colorado theater shooting during a midnight screening of the film July 20, explaining in part why the threequel continues to pace behind Dark Knight, released in July 2008.

Through Tuesday, the domestic gross for Dark Knight Rises was $304 million, compared with $333.9 million for its predecessor.

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Nevertheless, Dark Knight Rises is an unqualified hit and is already the third-best performer of the year domestically behind Avengers ($615.8 million) and Lionsgate's The Hunger Games ($406 million).

Dark Knight Rises, returning Christian Bale as Batman, is doing equally as well overseas, where its gross through Sunday was $248.2 million. The movie is pacing ahead of Dark Knight in many markets.