Warner Bros. Pictures announced Friday that The Dark Knight has crossed a major milestone last week by grossing a total of more than one billion dollars in worldwide box office receipts since its opening in July 2008.

According to the press release, The Dark Knight is the second highest grossing movie of all time domestically (the IMDb reports that The Dark Knight has brought in $533 million in the U.S. and Titanic is #1 with $601 million), and fourth highest worldwide (behind Titanic, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest).

“From our initial record-shattering opening weekend to the unprecedented momentum of the film’s box office run, we could not be more proud of ‘The Dark Knight’s’ unparalleled success,” said Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution. “We salute our filmmakers, cast and crew on making cinematic history.”

“Chris Nolan has taken the Batman franchise to a new level internationally,” said Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, President of International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures. “Audiences around the world have really embraced ‘The Dark Knight,’ which has more than doubled the gross of any of the prior films in the franchise.”

The latest Batman movie is also a hit with our readers, 92% of whom have given it a See Now! rating in the Reader Reviews section. The movie hit home video with a vengeance back in December, and the high definition Blu-ray release set records for the format by selling more than a million units in the U.S. and 1.7 million worldwide.

I guess news like this softens the pain felt at Warner Bros. this week for having the chance to pick up 8-time Academy Award winner Slumdog Millionaire and passing it over...