THE DARK KNIGHT BREAKS $1 BILLION MARK!

Warner Bros. Pictures made the announcement Friday afternoon, saying that the combined domestic and international gross had totaled $1,001,082,160 to date -- about $533 million domestically and $567 million overseas.

The Dark Knight had been about $4 million short of the 10-figure mark when Warner Bros. re-released it into IMAX screens on Jan. 23, the day after its eight Oscar nominations were announced. Grosses from Ecuador also helped nudge the film over the mark, a spokeswoman said.

Only Titanic ($1.842 billion), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($1.119 billion) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ($1.066 billion) have topped the billion-dollar worldwide mark previously.

TDK also is the second-highest domestic grosser of all time, trailing only Titanic.