Weekend Roundup: The Long Knight

By Katey Rich

The first real challenger to Batman's box-office throne has come and gone, and The Dark Knight reigns as the #1 movie in America for the third weekend in a row-- the first movie of 2008 to accomplish that feat. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor came pretty close to unseating the champion, though, bringing in $42.5 million to Dark Knight's $43.8 million.

The other new release of the weekend, Swing Vote, didn't manage nearly such an auspicious debut; it landed in sixth place, with a $6.3 million take.

Among the holdovers, Step Brothers declined a mere 47% in its second weekend to take third place, with $16 million. Mamma Mia! is faring even better, declining just 26% in its third frame to bring in $13 million. And even with another Brendan Fraser action-adventure movie in the market, Journey to the Center of the Earth continues doing well, coming in at #5 for the weekend with $6.8 million.

Hancock and Wall-E, both well over the $200 million mark at this point, are dropping theatres as they make their way out of the top 10. The Will Smith superhero adventure made $5.2 million in 7th place, and the universe's most adorable robot brought in $4.7 million at #8.

Finally, two would-be hits that never quite made it wrap up the top 10. The X-Files: I Want to Believe dropped to #9 in its second weekend, making just $3.4 million, and Space Chimps closed things out at #10, with $2.8 million.

In the top 20, limited-release standout Brideshead Revisited expanded to nearly 200 screens, and was rewarded with a nearly $6,000 per-theatre average. And Tell No One continues tearing it up in limited release, even though it hasn't even reached 100 screens. Weirdly, Iron Man expanded to an extra 166 screens over the weekend, and boosted its box office 80% in the process. And finally, believe it or not, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull wraps up the top 10, poised to end its stellar run with $315 million. Check out the full top 20 after the jump, courtesy of Box Office Mojo.

TW	LW	Title (click to view)	Studio	Weekend Gross	% Change	Theater Count / Change		Average	Total Gross	Budget*	Week #
1	1	The Dark Knight	WB	$43,800,000	-41.7%	4,266	-100	$10,267	$394,887,000	$185	3
2	N	The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor	Uni.	$42,450,000	-	3,760	-	$11,289	$42,450,000	$145	1
3	2	Step Brothers	Sony	$16,300,000	-47.3%	3,094	-	$5,268	$62,966,000	$65	2
4	3	Mamma Mia!	Uni.	$13,121,000	-26.1%	3,062	+72	$4,285	$87,975,000	$52	3
5	5	Journey to the Center of the Earth	WB	$6,875,000	-29.2%	2,285	-403	$3,008	$73,140,000	$60	4
6	N	Swing Vote	BV	$6,300,000	-	2,213	-	$2,846	$6,300,000	$21	1
7	6	Hancock	Sony	$5,200,000	-37.4%	2,782	-527	$1,869	$215,995,000	$150	5
8	7	Wall-E	BV	$4,747,000	-26.1%	2,555	-489	$1,857	$204,222,000	$180	6
9	4	The X-Files: I Want to Believe	Fox	$3,425,000	-65.8%	3,185	-	$1,075	$17,060,000	$30	2
10	9	Space Chimps	Fox	$2,840,000	-37.4%	2,134	-404	$1,330	$22,091,000	$37	3
11	8	Hellboy II: The Golden Army	Uni.	$2,527,000	-50.5%	1,956	-1,062	$1,291	$71,273,000	$85	4
12	10	Wanted	Uni.	$1,257,000	-54.1%	895	-855	$1,404	$131,338,000	$75	6
13	21	Brideshead Revisited	Mira.	$1,183,000	+248.3%	189	+156	$6,259	$1,718,000	-	2
14	11	Get Smart	WB	$1,000,000	-56.0%	728	-692	$1,373	$126,507,000	$80	7
15	12	Kung Fu Panda	P/DW	$642,000	-39.2%	520	-397	$1,234	$210,495,000	$130	9
16	22	Iron Man	Par.	$561,000	+80.6%	407	+133	$1,378	$315,668,000	$140	14
17	17	Tell No One	MBox	$497,000	+17.8%	94	+17	$5,287	$2,342,000	-	5
18	16	The Incredible Hulk	Uni.	$484,000	+14.4%	364	-39	$1,329	$133,289,000	$150	8
19	13	Kit Kittredge: An American Girl	PicH	$421,000	-30.1%	450	-85	$935	$16,245,000	-	7
20	14	Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull	Par.	$359,000	-37.1%	332	-145	$1,081	$314,331,000	$185	11