OK, so I may not have a crystal ball on my desk or anything. But I’m going to make a fearless prediction about the future! I predict that next Friday (July 18th) will be a day of mishaps and calamities. There will be an awful lot of employees calling in to work, with “emergencies” that will keep them out of work for a few hours or even the whole day. I suspect many employees will have tales of dead car batteries, flooded basements, sick animals or other similar disasters.

No, I am not a psychic. I just know that next Friday is the day that the new Batman film, “The Dark Knight” is released in theaters. The demand is already so strong that movie theaters across the country have added more than 1,500 late-night show times to their schedules.  

Fandango.com, the film ticketing Web site, has reported a huge spike in ticket sales for the opening day showings. “‘The Dark Knight’ may be responsible for a lot of bleary eyes at work next Friday morning,” says Rick Butler, Fandango’s chief operating officer. “We’re seeing a record number of late-night show times selling out in advance, while theaters are adding new performances every day.”

Fandango’s survey of 3,000 readers revealed some interesting data:

• 37 percent of those surveyed indicated they would be seeing one of the “red eye” late night showings.
• 38 percent indicated they would take time off (either a few hours, or the entire day) from work on Friday to see the film.
• The hype around this movie is, to a certain degree, a guy thing: 60 percent of the respondents who indicated they would see the movie were male; 71 percent were under the age of 35.

If you go to see the movie, enjoy the show. And, uh, sorry if I outed you as a fibber about your reasons for not coming in! Just be sure to go to a different showing than your supervisor or manager does.