Los Angeles, July 23 (DPA) "The Dark Knight", the new Batman film based on a comic book hero invented 70 years ago, has powered the US box office to a new record and proved Hollywood's uncanny ability to continually repackage old stories into treats that audiences find irresistible.

So much for the advent of the Internet, the digital video recorder and YouTube making cinemas obsolete.

Over a single weekend "The Dark Knight" earned $158.3 million as US audiences flocked to the dark tale of a caped crusader who saves Gotham City from the evil machinations of his arch nemesis, the Joker.

"This is really a watershed event," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box-office tracking firm Media by Numbers.

"Not only is it the biggest opening weekend of all time, it helped make this the biggest overall movie weekend of all time.

"The only thing that remains to be seen is how many other records it's going to break."

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