“The Dark Knight” has climbed past $400 million in just 18 days, hitting the mark faster than any film ever, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 
The film should pass the $403.7 million tally of ”Spider-Man” today, which would move it up to seventh on the all-time box office charts.  It would also make the film the top-grossing comic-book adaptation of all time.
Below are last weekend’s box-office totals from Nielsen EDI as of Sunday, August 3rd, as well as a full weekend box-office wrap-up from The Hollywood Reporter.

RANK
FILM
STUDIO
WEEKEND
GROSS

1
The Dark Knight
WARNER BROS.
$42,664,219
$393.8

2
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
UNIVERSAL
$40,457,770
$40.5

3
Step Brothers
SONY PICTURES
$16,506,526
$63.2

4
Mamma …

Date
Athens2004.com
(Olympics.com redirects
to Athens2004.com)
NBCOlympics.com

Fri, 8/13/04
196,000*
332,000

Sat, 8/14/04
182,000*
513,000

Sun, 8/15/04
256,000*
537,000

Mon, 8/16/04
219,000*
399,000

Tue, 8/17/04
180,000*
498,000

Wed, 8/18/04
n/a**
613,000

Thu, 8/19/04
185,000*
572,000

Fri, 8/20/04
n/a**
397,000

Sat, 8/21/04
n/a**
454,000

Sun, 8/22/04
228,000*
418,000

Mon, 8/23/04
200,000*
472,000

Tue, 8/24/04
188,000*
424,000

Wed, 8/25/04
139,000*
187,000*

Thu, 8/26/04
154,000*
367,000

Fri, 8/27/04
n/a**
268,000*

Sat, 8/28/04
n/a**
285,000

Sun, 8/29/04
n/a**
301,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (August 13, 2004 – August 29, 2004)

Data includes U.S. home Web traffic only.

*Indicates website does not meet minimum sample size standards, and therefore projected and average measures for this site may exhibit large changes month-to-month as a result.

**Not reportable for daily data.

Date
Saltlake2002.com
(Olympics.com redirects
to Saltlake2002.com)
NBCOlympics.com

Fri, 2/8/02
143,000
267,000

Sat, 2/9/02
226,000
398,000

Sun, 2/10/02
311,000
241,000

Mon, 2/11/02
167,000
342,000

Tue, 2/12/02
280,000
438,000

Wed, 2/13/02
229,000
376,000

Thu, 2/14/02
173,000
254,000

Fri, 2/15/02
135,000
235,000

Sat, 2/16/02
135,000
354,000

Sun, 2/17/02
213,000
347,000

Mon, 2/18/02
175,000
298,000

Tue, 2/19/02
150,000
324,000

Wed, 2/20/02
168,000
291,000

Thu, 2/21/02
262,000
545,000

Fri, 2/22/02
235,000
314,000

Sat, 2/23/02
203,000
360,000

Sun, 2/24/02
333,000
317,000

Mon, 2/25/02
142,000
113,000*

Source: The Nielsen Company (February 8, 2002 – February 25, 2002)

Data includes U.S. home Web traffic only.

*Indicates website does not meet minimum sample size standards, and therefore projected and average measures for this site may exhibit large changes month-to-month as a result.

NBC’s primetime coverage of the 2004 Athens Summer Olympic Games drew an average audience of 24.6 million viewers over 17 individual telecasts.

DATE
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

Fri, 8/13/2004
NBC
25,384,000

Sat, 8/14/2004
NBC
19,818,000

Sun, 8/15/2004
NBC
25,798,000

Mon, 8/16/2004
NBC
27,109,000

Tues, 8/17/2004
NBC
30,146,000

Wed, 8/18/2004
NBC
28,396,000

Thurs, 8/19/2004
NBC
31,705,000

Fri, 8/20/2004
NBC
23,749,000

Sat, 8/21/2004
NBC
22,544,000

Sun, 8/22/2004
NBC
25,978,000

Mon, 8/23/2004
NBC
25,943,000

Tues, 8/24/2004
NBC
24,972,000

Wed, 8/25/2004
NBC
24,265,000

Thurs, 8/26/2004
NBC
21,491,000

Fri, 8/27/2004
NBC
20,141,000

Sat, 8/28/2004
NBC
18,029,000

Sun, 8/29/2004
NBC
19,563,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (August 13, 2004 – August 29, 2004)

NBC’s primetime coverage of the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympic Games drew an average audience of 21.5 million viewers over 17 individual telecasts.

DATE
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

Fri, 9/15/2000
NBC
27,275,000

Sat, 9/16/2000
NBC
21,019,000

Sun, 9/17/2000
NBC
23,883,000

Mon, 9/18/2000
NBC
21,042,000

Tues, 9/19/2000
NBC
24,081,000

Wed, 9/20/2000
NBC
22,315,000

Thurs, 9/21/2000
NBC
22,955,000

Fri, 9/22/2000
NBC
23,153,000

Sat, 9/23/2000
NBC
21,452,000

Sun, 9/24/2000
NBC
25,741,000

Mon, 9/25/2000
NBC
24,420,000

Tues, 9/26/2000
NBC
18,633,000

Wed, 9/27/2000
NBC
20,423,000

Thurs, 9/28/2000
NBC
20,859,000

Fri, 9/29/2000
NBC
15,551,000

Sat, 9/30/2000
NBC
16,296,000

Sun, 10/1/2000
NBC
16,706,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (September 15, 2000 – October 1, 2000)

The opening ceremonies for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta drew the largest U.S. television audience (39.7 million viewers) of any recent Summer Games.
In comparison, the broadcast of the most recent Summer Olympics opening ceremonies — Athens, 2004 — drew 25.3 million U.S. viewers.

DATE / TIME
YEAR / LOCATION
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

25 July / 8pm – 12am
1992 / Barcelona
NBC
21,609,000

19 July / 8pm – 12:45am
1996 / Atlanta
NBC
39,767,000

15 Sept. / 8pm – 11:36pm
2000 / Sydney
NBC
27,275,000

13 Aug. / 8pm – 11:49pm
2004 / Athens
NBC
25,384,000

Source: The Nielsen Company

The U.S. audiences for three key Olympics related websites, NBColympics.com, Olympic.org, and USolympicteam.com, grew by significant percentages from the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games to the 2006 winter Games in Italy, according to Nielsen Online.
Olympic.org experienced the largest growth of the three sites; its unique audience (both home and work) in the U.S. grew from 330,000 in 2002 to 1.39 million  in 2006 — a 323% increase.
USolympicteam.com’s unique home and work audience in the U.S. grew from 508,000 during the 2002 Games to 716,000 in 2006 — a 41% increase.
Although NBColympics.com easily …

Olympics advertising featuring Chinese athletes like basketball player Yao Ming and hurdler Liu Xiang appear to be paying off for advertisers.
In a Nielsen survey of Chinese consumers conducted in May 2008, Olympics ads featuring celebrity endorsements by Chinese athletes were among the most recalled. 
Liu Xiang’s Coca-Cola ads were most frequently recalled by consumers — 62% remembered them, according to Nielsen.  Yao Ming’s China Unicom and Coca-Cola ads also proved memorable — 48% recalled them.  Meanwhile, diver Guo Jing Jing’s Coca-Cola ads were recalled by 36% of those surveyed.
But despite their …

For perhaps the first time in Olympics history, a significant number of viewers will track the Games’ results via their mobile phones. 
American consumers are particularly likely to view Olympics content on their phones, a recent survey by Nielsen Mobile found. 
Consumers in the UK and Spain also showed strong interest in watching the Beijing Games and receiving Olympics results from their mobile phones, according to Nielsen Mobile.  Those in the UK said they plan to read Olympics-related Web articles and monitor the medal count via their phones, while Spanish consumers reported they will most likely …

Nielsen has tracked television ratings for all summer and winter Olympic Games broadcasts since 1968.
Ratings data for Olympic Games telecasts from 1968 to 2006 – including ratings for opening and closing ceremonies and average ratings for each Olympics – are available below:
-Average Ratings: all Summer and Winter Olympics telecasts, broken out by daypart (3.36MB)
-Ratings for Opening and Closing Ceremonies: Summer Olympics
-Ratings for Opening and Closing Ceremonies: Winter Olympics