The DC movie that has had Batman‘s highest box office for close to 15 years is set to face two major challenges to this тιтle in the near future. Unsurprisingly, when it comes to movie success, Batman is one of the biggest names in the superhero genre, with his unwaveringly popularity translating well over into this world.

However, Batman’s movie history has some colossal wins that stand out amongst the roster, as is the case with the movie that has had the highest box office out of any Batman film for 13 years now. With DC’s on-screen landscape set to transform mᴀssively in the next few years, DC’s upcoming movies present two major contestants for this record.

The Dark Knight Rises Has Had Batman’s Highest Box Office For Over 10 Years

Saying The Dark Knight Rises is a big movie is arguably underselling it on a few different levels. While the final film in The Dark Knight trilogy isn’t as critically well-received as The Dark Knight or Batman Begins, as the conclusion to the film series, it managed to bring home more than both of these films at the box office.

In terms of its worldwide box office, The Dark Knight Rises managed to net $1.08 billion (via The Numbers), making it one of the biggest superhero movies of all time, if not just outright one of the biggest movies of all time. The film was one of the first superhero movies to hit this mark, helping the genre blossom.

Breaking the $1 billion mark is still impressive all these years later, since even over a decade later, only a small number of superhero movies have broken this metric with their own results. This is especially true when it comes to DC’s own results, which don’t boast the likes of Avengers: Endgame‘s staggering $2+ billion success.

That said, it doesn’t seem that this result is impossible for other movies to reach, especially given Batman’s immense popularity is still clear to this day. In fact, The Dark Knight Rises‘ box office record is set to face two big challenges in the near future, which both seem to have their own unique potential.

DC’s Next Batman Movies Present Some Major Challengers To The тιтle

Batman has two major movie franchises that are currently being built up, each seemingly focusing on different sides of the hero’s lore. Unsurprisingly, the first of these is The Batman series, which currently appears to have its own trilogy on the horizon, with The Batman 2 set to debut not all that far away on October 1, 2027.

While The Batman‘s worldwide box office is lower than The Dark Knight Rises, with a $772 million result (The Numbers), this is still not all that far off $1 billion. Indeed, it’s over double Batman Begins‘ $356 million (The Numbers) initial results for the trilogy, suggesting future installments could also build to equal or bigger heights than The Dark Knight Rises.

On the other side of things, the DC Universe’s Batman – and his solo live-action movie, The Brave & The Bold – offer another challenge for The Dark Knight Rises. Though much about the film isn’t yet clear, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn’s comments about taking the hero seriously and working on making his story as strong as possible bode well.

The Brave & The Bold promises to be essentially the first live-action DC movie focusing on Batman set in a wider interconnected universe. With the DCU’s Superman already setting a promising start for the rebooted franchise – that can rebuild trust in the brand’s movies – the DCU’s Batman also presents a new challenge in his movie debut and potential followups.

Why It Could Be Good For The Dark Knight Rises’ Box Office Record To Be Broken

The Dark Knight trilogy will live on forever as a cornerstone of Batman’s movie history – and a movie series that defined the superhero genre in a big way. However, having The Dark Knight Rises‘ box office record succeeded would be good for the hero on several levels, mainly in terms of reinvigorating things further.

First and foremost, it’s worth noting Batman has had relatively few live-action movies centered around him since The Dark Knight trilogy. As such, a new film breaking this record would help redefine a new age for the hero, and demonstrate how the potential for the Caped Crusader still very much persists.

With two different new eras for Batman both underway, it’s not impossible to imagine one of their installments resulting in a comparable box office. This is especially true with over a decade of inflation factored in, which ostensibly means big releases need to get closer to higher numbers like this to be considered box office successes.

Even if The Dark Knight Rises‘ box office results are bested, this doesn’t diminish the poignant results of the series, especially since the trilogy’s reputation and significance will always resonate more than its financial takings in the long run. Instead, a movie besting these results would show how Batman‘s movie empire has continued to develop thanks to releases like this.