Dark Knight Outperforms All Newcomers at Box Office

More box office records fell to The Dark Knight over the weekend, including the tab for biggest 10-day opening and quickest film to $300 million. In taking in $75.1 million over the past three days, The Dark Knight has now grossed just under $314 domestically, easily besting the comparable-period hauls of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest ($258 million) and Spider-Man 3 ($240 million). That tally was also, obviously, more than enough to hold on to the top box office spot. Adam McKay, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly’s R-rated Step Brothers slotted second, with $30.9 million. A decade since its last big screen outing, and five years since the end of its small screen run, The X-Files: I Want to Believe opened in fourth place, to just over $10 million — a mere third of the debut-weekend take of its 1998 predecessor.

Meanwhile, ABBA-inflected stage musical adaptation Mamma Mia! placed third for the weekend, singing its way to $17.7 million; it’s now grossed $62.6 million overall. Rounding out the top 10, Brendan
Fraser’s Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D placed fifth ($9.7 million, $60.5 million overall); Will Smith’s Hancock placed sixth ($8.3 million, $206.5 million overall); Wallâ–ªE slotted seventh ($6.4 million, $195.3 million overall); writer-director Guillermo del Toro‘s eye-popping, idiosyncratically flavored Hellboy II: The Golden Army finished eighth ($5.1 million, $66.1 million overall); animated flick Space Chimps dropped to ninth ($4.5 million, $16.2 million overall) in its sophomore frame; and hyper-kinetic shoot-’em-up Wanted ($2.7 million, $128.6 million overall) held off Get Smart for the final spot.