Moviegoers once again drove The Dark Knight to the top spot as Warner Bros. grossed an estimated $26M in its fourth weekend to boost the 24-day total to an unbelievable $441.5M. The Caped Crusader continued to reach new milestones. Down only 39%, the superhero sequel shot up to number three on the list of all-time domestic blockbusters and sits behind only Titanic which grossed $600.8M during one theatrical run across 1997 and 1998, and Star Wars which took in $461M from multiple releases over different decades.
Of course, ticket prices were much lower during those years and Knight is not likely to match those films in admissions. The new Joker film has sold roughly 62 million stubs which puts it on the same level as 2003's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King which grossed $377M and sits at number ten on the all-time list. Coincidentally, the final Frodo pic was the last movie to spend four straight weekends at number one. Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ hit the top spot over four non-consecutive frames in 2004 including its first three sessions as well as its seventh outing which was the Easter holiday weekend. In today's crowded marketplace, especially in the summer when even megahits like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Transformers, and The Bourne Ultimatum only spend one week at the top, The Dark Knight's feat is truly incredible.
The new Batman movie also smashed the $700M barrier in worldwide grosses this weekend. Overseas audiences in 56 markets spent an estimated $35.1M allowing the international total to soar to $263.1M while the global tally climbed to a jaw-dropping $704.6M. Opening against the start of the Beijing Olympics, Knight saw stunning first-place numbers in Korea with $6.9M in five days which already puts it ahead of the lifetime gross of Batman Begins. The turnout was not as bright in Japan where it bowed in second place to $3M beating the opening of Begins by only 11%. The Dark Knight now looks set to reach the neighborhood of $520M from North America and more than $900M worldwide.
The stoner comedy Pineapple Express claimed second place with an opening of $22.4M over the Friday-to-Sunday period and a gross of $40.5M since its Wednesday launch. Rated R, the Rogen-Franco buddy pic played in 3,072 theaters and averaged $7,292 per joint for the best average in the top ten. The Judd Apatow production got off to a red hot start with a blistering $12.1M bow on Wednesday driven by older teens and young adults rushing out on the first day to see the much-buzzed-about comedy. Pineapple lost some steam as the weekend came with $7.9M on Friday, a 3% dip to $7.6M on Saturday, and a slim studio-estimated 9% drop on Sunday to $6.9M. Friday-to-Saturday declines are not uncommon during the summer, but when a midweek launch takes some fuel out of the Friday gross, usually some kind of increase will occur on Saturday.
The action-comedy basically played out like a highly-anticipated sequel over the five-day period. A whopping 45% of the cume was collected on Wednesday and Thursday matching the ratio of last summer's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix which grossed $62.6M of its five-day $139.7M tally on those two first days. Non-sequels opening on a Wednesday in July or August generally take in 30-35% in the first two days of play. Produced for $27M, Pineapple looks to be a profitable venture regardless of what kind of legs it displays. Studio research showed that 58% of the audience was male while the CinemaScore grade was a solid A-. Reviews were generally good. Competition will heat up fast with this Wednesday's launch of rival R-rated action-comedy Tropic Thunder starring Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey, and Tom Cruise.
| # | Title | Aug 8 -10 | Weeks | Cumulative | Distributor | ||||
| 1 | The Dark Knight | $ 26,030,000 | 4 | $ 441,541,000 | Warner Bros. | ||||
| 2 | Pineapple Express | 22,400,000 | 1 | 40,474,000 | Sony | ||||
| 3 | The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor | 16,113,000 | 2 | 70,671,000 | Universal | ||||
| 4 | The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 | 10,770,000 | 1 | 19,712,000 | Warner Bros. | ||||
| 5 | Step Brothers | 8,900,000 | 3 | 80,903,000 | Sony | ||||
| 6 | Mamma Mia! | 8,081,000 | 4 | 104,017,000 | Universal | ||||
| 7 | Journey to the Center of the Earth | 4,860,000 | 5 | 81,764,000 | New Line | ||||
| 8 | Hancock | 3,300,000 | 6 | 221,709,000 | Sony | ||||
| 9 | Swing Vote | 3,106,000 | 2 | 12,002,000 | Buena Vista | ||||
| 10 | WALL•E | 3,045,000 | 7 | 210,112,000 | Buena Vista |
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