The Dark Knight continued its box office onslaught this week, shattering new records and winding up solidly at number one for the second weekend in a row.
The previous record for fastest film to $300 million was owned by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. It hit the mark in just 16 days. It stole the record from Revenge of the Sith which managed the fest in 17 days. Before that was Shrek 2 at 18 days. Seeing the pattern? The Dark Knight did it in just 10 days, beating the record by nearly a week. Don’t look for that one to be broken anytime soon.
Of course, by default, that gives Batman the top all time 10-day total. Dead Man’s Chest had the previous spot with $258 million. The Dark Knight is sitting pretty at $314 million. Again, a total that likely won’t be touched for a long time to come.
At $314 million Batman has also now officially made Iron Man and Indiana Jones’ struggle for number one cash maker of the year a pointless battle. They’ll be left to bicker over number two as The Dark Knight takes a crack at topping Star Wars for the number two all-time domestic record (there’s no chance of becoming number one...Titanic holds that one solidly at $600 million).
Somewhere in the background behind all the Batman furor two new movies slipped onto the scene. Step Brothers came in a distant second with $30 million. X-Files: I Want To Believe hit fourth place with just $10 million. That may not be much cash, but when your movie features Billy Connolly as a psychic instead of a massive alien invasion, you can make the movie for a whole lot cheaper. With a $30 million budget it’s an easy hit to make a little cash while staving off the few remaining X-Files fans a little while longer.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE TOP TEN July 25 - 27, 2008 |
LW = Last Week WR = Weeks Released THTRS = Number of Screens * Denotes new release. Click on title to read CB Review |
| 1. | The Dark Knight | $75,630,000 - Total: $314,245,000 | LW: 1 WR: 185 THTRS: 4366 |
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| 2. | Step Brothers * | $30,000,000 - Total: $30,000,000 | LW: N WR: 65 THTRS: 3094 |
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| 3. | Mamma Mia! | $17,865,000 - Total: $62,714,000 | LW: 2 WR: 52 THTRS: 2990 |
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| 6. | Hancock | $8,200,000 - Total: $206,371,000 | LW: 3 WR: 150 THTRS: 3309 |
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| 7. | Wall-E | $6,349,000 - Total: $195,235,000 | LW: 6 WR: 180 THTRS: 3044 |
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| 9. | Space Chimps | $4,375,000 - Total: $16,006,000 | LW: 7 WR: 40 THTRS: 2538 |
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| 10. | Wanted | $2,727,000 - Total: $128,616,000 | LW: 8 WR: 75 THTRS: 1754 |
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