“The Dark Knight” climbed back to the top of the weekend box office after losing to “Pineapple Express” on Friday.
Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures’ Batman flick was barely beat by the stoner comedy “Pineapple Express” on Friday with a $7.9 million to $7.6 million margin.
On Saturday, “The Dark Knight” soared back to the top of the charts with $10.5 million to Sony comedy’s $7.6 million take. Adding in Sunday’s take, “The Dark Knight” ended up making an estimated $26 million for the weekend.
The Christian Bale/Heath Ledger sequel to “Batman Begins” has taken in $441.5 million in its four weeks of release and has past “Shrek 2” as the third highest domestic grosser of all time. The film is on track to beat “Star Wars” ($461 million) and come in right behind “Titanic.”
“Pineapple Express” had a solid opening weekend with $22.4 million. Since its Wednesday debut, the film has earned $40.4 million.
In Variety, Sony Pictures distribution topper Rory Bruer stated: “This film was very reasonable to make and is going to be a huge success for us.”
WB and Alcon’s “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2” had a $10.8 million weekend debut and has earned $19.7 million since it was released on Wednesday. The weekend figures and Wednesday premiere were both higher than the first film’s $9.8 million placing in 2005.
In its second weekend, “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” dropped 60%, but managed to hold onto the third place on the weekend box office chart. The film earned an estimated $16.1 million during the weekend, and has earned Universal $70.7 million since its release.
The film has had stronger legs overseas where it has earned $141 million since its release.
“Mamma Mia!” and “Journey to the Center of the Earth” are also showing legs at the weekend box office.
The Universal musical dropped 36% in its fourth week, but has crossed the $100 million mark. It has found more success than last summer’s “Hairspray” - which didn’t hit $100 million until its fifth week of release.
New Line’s adventure film with Brendan Fraser dropped 27% in its fifth weekend, and has taken in $81.8 million since its release. Its continued draw is credited with the digital 3-D format.
Samuel Goldwyn’s limited release of Lakeshore’s “Elegy” had a $102,441 debut with six locations. The film is an adaptation of Philip Roth’s short novel “The Dying Animal,” and will expand to the top 25 markets in two weeks.
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