You’ve heard whispered stories about them — your nephew’s babysitter’s older sister, who works in corporate publicity at Exxon Mobil — but you’re increasingly not sure of anyone who hasn’t seen The Dark Knight, which topped the domestic box office for the fourth consecutive frame this past weekend, grossing $26 million, and pushing its cumulative haul to $441.5 million. (Next up, competition-wise: Michael Phelps.) The latest Apatow-branded comedy, Pineapple Express, grossed $22.4 million over the weekend to place second, and has made $40.5 million since its bow last Wednesday. Brendan Fraser’s third Mummy flick held on to the third spot, pulling in $16.1 million (up to $70.7 million total), while fellow Wednesday, August 6 opener The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 earned $10.7 million over the weekend, and $19.7 million from its debut.
Rounding out the top 10, Adam McKay, Will Ferrell and John
C. Reilly’s R-rated Step Brothers
slotted fifth, with $8.9 million ($80.9 million overall); the ABBA-inflected stage musical adaptation Mamma Mia!
placed sixth, with $8.1 million ($104 million overall); Fraser’s Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D finished seventh ($4.9 million, $81.8 million overall); Will Smith’s Hancock placed eighth ($3.3 million, $221.8 million overall); Kevin Costner’s Swing Vote slotted ninth ($3.1 million, $12 million overall); and Wall▪E placed tenth ($3 million, $210.1 million overall). Falling way out of the top 10 in just its third week, The X-Files: I Want to Believe scraped up another $1.18 million, pushing its total to $19.6 million and leading one to believe that perhaps 20th Century Fox should have been more aggressive in its marketing.
In limited release, writer-director Randall Miller’s ensemble wine dramedy Bottle Shock grossed $295,000 on 48 screens; Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz’s Elegy made $102,000 on six screens; and writer-director Larry Bishop’s Hell Ride pulled in $83,500 on 82 screens.