It has not been the smoothest of opening weekends for “The Dark Knight Rises.”  The first unpleasantness involving Rotten Tomatoes fan threats was quickly

overshadowed by the terrible tragedy that struck the town of Aurora, Colorado.The entire world was shocked when the 24-year-old James Holmes killed 12 and injured dozens of theater-goers at the midnight screening of “Dark Knight Rises.” 

Out of respect for the victims and their families, studios did not release box office numbers until Monday. Not surprisingly, “The Dark Knight Rises” led the figures this weekend, followed far behind by the latest “Ice Age” sequel and “The Amazing Spider-Man.” More exciting is the news that “Rises” has taken the place of its predecessor, “The Dark Knight,” as the third biggest opening weekend of all time, behind this May’s “Avengers” and last summer’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two.” With $160.9 million, “Rises” is also the biggest 2-D opening of all time. 

We can only speculate as to how much these numbers were affected by the horrible events of Friday morning. The film’s revenue did fall slightly below the original predictions, which ranged between $170-200 million.

Reach reporter Sara here.