On the eve of Oscars night 2009 The Dark Knight’s total international earnings soared past the one billion mark, one of only four films to ever do so (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Titanic and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King being the others). The re-release in IMAX locations finally tipped The Dark Knight over the final elite boundary.

The figures break down as:

Domestic: $533,090,262 53.3%
Foreign: $467,991,898 46.7%

What a day to be comparing the $1bn making Dark Knight with films such as Titanic and Return of the King – movies that swept the Academy Awards up in stunning fashion – each grabbing 11 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director; making the Academy’s 2009 Best Picture and Best Director Dark Knight snubs even more galling. As it is, all our chips lie on the Best Supporting Actor where we are all crossing our fingers and hoping that Heath Ledger can pick up that much deserved posthumous Oscar award for his stunning portrayal as The Joker.

Other categories include: Art Direction, Cinematography, Film Editing, Makeup, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects. The Dark Knight could win a total of 8 awards, which would be a grand enough sweep minus the big two, although this is predicted as very unlikely.