"The Dark Knight Rises," the final film in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy starring Christian Bale, has set a Korean 2012 opening record, local box-office figures showed Friday.

The Hollywood movie drew 440,989 viewers to 1,059 theaters across the country on Thursday, the first day of its release, according to the Korean Film Commission that tracks box office revenue.

That opening day figure is the highest among movies shown so far this year and the fourth-highest ever, following U.S. blockbusters "Transformer 3" (2011-540,000), "Transformer 2" (2009-480,000) and director Bong Jun-ho's local film "The Host" (2006-450,000).

The record is more remarkable considering it opened on a workday while most of its contenders were released on holidays, according to the distributor, Warner Brothers Korea. (Yonhap)