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Australian box office results postponed due to Colorado shootings

Australia’s film distributors have postponed the release of the weekend box office results until tomorrow morning following the Colorado shootings during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises on Friday.

The announcement came from the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia, the body which administers the box office results, at the request of Roadshow Films, the Australian distributors of the film.

The MPDAA statement read: “Following on from the weekend’s tragic events in Colorado, we have been asked by the distributors of The Dark Knight Rises to delay the publication of the box office until after the weekend is over in the United States. Figures will be available at 10.00am tomorrow, Tuesday.”

Warner Bros, the American studio behind the film has held back releasing results until Monday US time on how the film had been tracking in the US, while Rentrak, the media measurement company would not report estimates either.

On Friday, initial box office data revealed that the film took $3.5m on its first day in Australia – one of the strongest openings of the year.

A statement from Christopher Nolan, director of A Dark Knight Rises on the tragedy read: “Speaking on behalf of the cast and crew of The Dark Knight Rises, I would like to express our profound sorrow at the senseless tragedy that has befallen the entire Aurora community. I would not presume to  know anything about the victims of the shooting but that they were there last night to watch a movie.”

“I believe movies are one of the great American art forms and the shared experience of watching a story unfold on screen is an important and joyful pastime. The movie theatre is my home, and the idea that someone would violate that innocent and hopeful place in such an unbearably savage way is devastating to me. Nothing any of us can say could ever adequately express our feelings for the innocent victims of this appalling crime, but our thoughts are with them and their families.”

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