The biggest movie of the year set it sights this weekend on becoming the biggest movie of the decade. The Dark Knight narrowly defeated The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor for the number one spot this weekend, but that's no small feat since Dark Knight is on its third week out.
Mummy 3 banked $42 million this weekend, a less than stellar opening for a film in the hole for nearly $150 million. When you roll in international cash the movie opened to the tune of almost $100 million, but that still leaves a pretty narrow window for profit once marketing costs are added in.
Meanwhile Batman neared the $400 million mark for domestic sales and $600 million international. The only thing standing in his way of being the most lucrative movie in the last ten years is Shrek 2, which earned $441 million in 2004. If he can break $460 million he'll top the number two all time moneymaker, Star Wars.
Swing Vote, which was banking on a chance to get at audiences in the light of the up coming elections, floundered under the shadow of the Joker and a mummy. With $6 million it slunk into sixth place. With a $21 million budget and nearly no hope of any international attention (what with it being about American's voting), it's going to struggle to break even on its shoe string $21 million budget. A shame, too, since it's one of the few intelligent movies to make it into theaters this year.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE TOP TEN August 1 - 3, 2008
LW = Last Week WR = Weeks Released THTRS = Number of Screens * Denotes new release. Click on title to read CB Review
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