Johnny Depp as the Riddler ?????????

With The Dark Knight bringing in over $400 million for Warner Brothers, it's no surprise that everyone is trying to figure out the casting of the sequel. The latest casting rumors, courtesy of WENN have Johnny Depp and Philip Seymour Hoffman being eyed for the roles of the Riddler and the Penguin, respectively.

The role of the Riddler has previously been tackled by Frank Gorshin in the television version of Batman, with Jim Carrey wearing the question-mark covered tights in Batman Forever. Meanwhile, the Penguin was handled on television by the incomparable Burgess Meredith, and a distinctively disgusting Penguin was played by Danny DeVito in Batman Returns.

A source told the Enquirer that "(Producers) are convinced that the role of the Riddler is perfect for Depp. Johnny's a pro. He'll be able to take direction from director Chris Nolan and still make the character his own. And what better Penguin is there than Philip Seymour Hoffman."

While it's hard to argue against either Depp as the Riddler or Hoffman as the Penguin, when one considers the original source, it's probably best to consider this one firmly in the 'rumor' category for now.

BATMAN KICKS SPIDER MAN'S RECORD

Holy Cash Cow, Batman! Christmas came early for Warner Brothers this year, and it looks like it won't matter if they have another hit until at least 2012. Chris Nolan's sequel to Batman Begins has smashed every record in sight, hitting with a $155 million debut and taking that top spot on the weekend charts for what could be weeks to come. After just three days in release, The Dark Knight is already shaping up to be the biggest movie event of the year.

Opening in second place was the musical Mamma Mia!, which nabbed a nice little take of $27.6 million. That's no where near the behemoth earnings of The Dark Knight, but it is the biggest opening in history for a musical, besting last year's Hairspray by a little more than a million dollars.

This week's other new wide release was the CGI animated adventure Space Chimps. It floundered into seventh place with a weak take of $7.3 million. That measly sum wasn't even enough to beat WALL-E, which took the sixth place spot with $9.8 million after four weeks in release.

As for smaller films this week, Transsiberian took in $35,200 on just two screens, which adds up to a $17,600 per screen average. That puts it in second place behind The Dark Knight in per screen averages, "with Batman hauling away $35,579 for every single screen it played on. Lou Reed's Berlin didn't fair quite as well. It only managed to earn $7,650 on its two screens.

Next week will most likely see The Dark Knight back into that top position for a second week in a row. Opening against it will be The X-Files: I Want to Believe, the comedy Step Brothers, the documentary American Teen, and the Oscar worthy drama Brideshead Revisited.

Here is this week Top 10 Film :

1) The Dark Knight $155 million
2) Mamma Mia! $27.6 million
3) Hancock $14 million
4) Journey to the Center of the Earth $11.9 million
5) Hellboy II: The Golden Army $10 million
6) WALL-E $9.8 million
7) Space Chimps $7.3 million
8) Wanted $5 million
9) Get Smart $4 million
10) Kung Fu Panda $1.7 million

THE DARK KNIGHT SMASHED MIDNIGHT RECORD

Let the box-office record-breaking begin. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the highly-anticipated sequel The Dark Knight broke the midnight screening box office record, tallying an estimated $18.5 million from those sessions. The midnight shows bowed in 3,040 theaters.

The film broke the previous record held by 2005's Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, which took in $16.9 million from 2,915 theaters.

That $18.5 million record-breaking tally also does not include grosses from 3 AM and 6 AM screenings that were added in many venues to meet the whopping demand.