Sun Aug 10, 2008 — by Robert Greenberger

Dark Knight Rules Fourth!

Full BO report for the week

The Dark Knight continues to rule the box office as it takes the number one position for the fourth weekend in a row, the first time any 2008 release has achieved this.  Its estimated haul of $26,030,000 pushes its domestic take to $441,541,000, faster than any movie in history.

Next week, the movie should surpass Star Wars’ $461,000,000 and become the second highest grossing film in American box office history.  Titanic remains on top of the world with its $600 million record and Warner Bros. suspects Batman will not beat the fabled steamliner.  Instead, they now estimate the film will earn $520 million.

Now, adjust everything for inflation and The Dark Knight will wind up not second but 49^th while Gone With the Wind remains the biggest film of all with $1.4 billion in 2008 dollars.

The stoner comedy Pineapple Express opened in second place with a healthy $22,400,000. Counting ticket sales from Wednesday’s opening, the film already has taken in $40.5 million.

In its second weekend Universal’s The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor dropped 60.2%, taking in just $16,113,000.  With a total of $70,671,000, it chugs along although there has to be some concern that bad word of mouth, poor reviews and steep drop off may mean the franchise is running out of steam despite director Rob Cohen already talking a fourth film.

Brendan Fraser’s other film, Journey to the Center of the Earth, has continued to steadily add to its totals, taking in $4,855,000, totaling $81,759,000.  It’s 27.1% drop off is modest especially given its five weeks in the theaters. Doing even better is Will Smith’s Hancockwhich added $3.3 million for a total of $221,709,000.  This just demonstrates Will Smith’s staying power considering the impressive total despite zero buzz in the wake of its release. It has even outperformed Disney’s Wall*E, the family-friendly Pixar production.  It opened a week earlier but has just $210,112,000 to show for it but we suspect it will easily outperform Hancock on home video.

Fox’s disappointing summer continues as The X-Files: I Want to Believe slips to 13^th place after two weeks in release.  Even the disappointing Space Chimps outperformed it, taking eleventh place.  X-Files found just $1,175,000 among believers while the animated chimp film grabbed $1,650,000.

In between those films sits Universal’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army, which has clearly outperformed its predecessor; its total now $73,538,000 after adding 1,254,000 this weekend. The studio’s Wanted is just about finished, bringing home just $748,000, nearly finishing its run with a nice but unremarkable $132,616,000.

Get Smart’s $127,471,000 would have been a great number a few seasons back, but now it pales with the blockbusters expected to perform in excess of $200 million.  On the other hand, it is clearly the best of the June comedies, leaving You Don't Mess with the Zohanand The Love Guru in the dust. Still, the spy spoof was trounced handily by DreamWorks’ Kung Fu Panda, which is completing its run with an impressive $211,315,000.

As for the super-heroes, Iron Man is nearly out of gas as it completes its second run in advance of its DVD debut September 30. Its $316,448,000 will likely make it one of the year’s top 10 films and the surprise hit of the season. The Incredible Hulk’s haul of just $133,823,000 puts it ahead of the Ang Lee film but clearly not what Universal had hoped for. Iron Man’s total now exceeds Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull which is just about done at $314,746,000.  Not bad for the fourth chapter of Indy’s adventures. 

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