Eighteen days.
That's all it took for The Dark Knight to break $400 million.
The Batman movie grossed another $6.3 million on Monday, per final numbers from Exhibitor Relations, bringing its overall domestic total to $400,038,494 and setting yet another land-speed record.
The fastest film to $100 million, $200 million and $300 million is now the fastest film to $400 million. By a lot.
The "old" record, set back in 2004, was held by Shrek 2, which reached $400 million in a then-swift—and still impressive—43 days.
After just two-and-a-half weeks in release, The Dark Knight sits at eighth place on the list of all-time grossers. But it won't sit there long.
Today, it should pass the original Spider-Man ($403 million) and climb to seventh. By the weekend, it'll make its move on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (sixth place, $423 million), Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace (fifth place, $431 million) and maybe even E.T. (fourth place, $435 million).
At the same point in its release, 18 days in, Titanic, the No. 1 all-time box-office champ, had grossed $160 million.
But as much as director Christopher Nolan's superhero epic now appears to be unstoppable, it is slowing down—something Titanic, which accumulated its record $601 million when ticket prices were about 50 percent cheaper than today, didn't do for months and months after its debut.
Don't expect, though, The Dark Knight to feel bad about (maybe) settling for No. 2. Even before it has opened in countries such as Japan, Germany and South Korea, it has already taken in more than $600 million worldwide, per Box Office Mojo.
That kind of money can buy a very nice consolation prize.