Warner Bros' latest Batman movie is expected to become the second-highest grossing movie of all time in North America Saturday, a box office tracking firm predicts.

"The Dark Knight," the sixth installment of the comic book adaptation franchise released one month ago in U.S. and Canadian theaters, will zip past "Star Wars" at some point in the day, according to the Los Angeles-based firm Media By Number.

The film will eclipse the 461 million U.S. dollars earned by the George Lucas film at box offices since it was released in 1977, and re-released several times since then.

"The Dark Knight" moved into third place when it overtook " Shrek" and its 436.5 million dollars in receipts, and "E.T. The Extra Terrestrial" with its 434.9 million dollars, earlier this month.

The highest-grossing movie of all time in North America, "Titanic," had a take of nearly 601 million dollars in the years after its release in 1997. It is also No.1 globally with a worldwide gross of 1.84 billion dollars.

(Xinhua News Agency August 17, 2008)