By Katey Rich
In a weekend battle between a bubbly musical and the darkest superhero movie ever, pretty much everyone figured The Dark Knight would win in a rout. But, kind of like the ending of Mamma Mia!, everyone was a winner this weekend. Hollywood notched the biggest three-day period in history, a stunning $250 million, with about two-thirds of that going to the Caped Crusader. The Dark Knight topped Spider-Man 3 as the best three-day opener ever, bringing in a gigantic $155 million. Slightly less than my prediction of "a bascrillion dollars," but still, no disappointment.
But hey, there was another movie coming out this weekend too, and you didn't have to stand in a line wrapped around the block to see it! Mamma Mia!, the bounciest musical since last summer's Hairspray, bested that previous summer hit with the best-ever opening for a musical, $27.6 million. Yes, those are puny human numbers compared to what Batman managed, but pretty stellar for a movie that features Colin Firth in a studded leather collar. Unfortunately, the third wide release of the weekend couldn't manage quite the same numbers. Despite kind reviews, Space Chimps premiered at #7, with a puny $7.3 million.
Among the holdovers, the most curious performance comes from Hellboy II: The Golden Army, which declined a ridiculous 70% in its second weekend, despite being pretty good. It landed at #5 with $10 million, and may be in danger of being overshadowed by The Dark Knight, which is a better movie, but not nearly as fun. Hellboy was bested by the other cracked superhero Hancock, who stayed strong at #3 with $14 million. Between them was Journey to the Center of the Earth, which is playing so well in 3D that it landed at #4 with $11 million, just a 43% drop from last weekend's opening. Presumably it will have kids reaching out to grab things on the screen for the rest of the summer.
Also staying strong on the strength of kid audiences is Wall-E, which made $9 million in sixth place this week and is well on its way to crossing $200 million. Wanted, at #8, brought in another $5 million to add to its $120 million-plus total. And wrapping things up were June hits Get Smart and Kung Fu Panda, both of which are dropping theatres to make room for the late summer contenders; Get Smart made $4 million at #9, and Kung Fu Panda brought up the rear with $1.7 million.
In the truncated top 20 (actually the top 17) courtesy of Box Office Mojo, there's a bunch of May hits still playing to anyone who hasn't managed to see them yet, but there's also Tell No One, the French thriller that is expanding into more theatres and continuing to find an audience. Amid the bustle of movies big (Dark Knight) and moderately big (Mamma Mia!), there's still a little room for something small. Take a look after the jump.
| TW | LW | Title (click to view) | Studio | Weekend Gross | % Change | Theater Count / Change | Average | Total Gross | Budget* | Week # | |
| 1 | N | The Dark Knight | WB | $155,340,000 | - | 4,366 | - | $35,579 | $155,340,000 | $180 | 1 |
| 2 | N | Mamma Mia! | Uni. | $27,605,000 | - | 2,976 | - | $9,275 | $27,605,000 | $52 | 1 |
| 3 | 2 | Hancock | Sony | $14,000,000 | -56.4% | 3,776 | -189 | $3,707 | $191,504,000 | $150 | 3 |
| 4 | 3 | Journey to the Center of the Earth | NL | $11,910,000 | -43.3% | 2,830 | +19 | $4,208 | $43,074,000 | $60 | 2 |
| 5 | 1 | Hellboy II: The Golden Army | Uni. | $10,038,000 | -70.9% | 3,212 | +8 | $3,125 | $56,447,000 | $85 | 2 |
| 6 | 4 | Wall-E | BV | $9,813,000 | -47.8% | 3,310 | -539 | $2,964 | $182,476,000 | $180 | 4 |
| 7 | N | Space Chimps | Fox | $7,350,000 | - | 2,511 | - | $2,927 | $7,350,000 | - | 1 |
| 8 | 5 | Wanted | Uni. | $5,097,000 | -57.5% | 2,433 | -724 | $2,094 | $123,347,000 | $75 | 4 |
| 9 | 6 | Get Smart | WB | $4,085,000 | -43.3% | 2,135 | -951 | $1,913 | $119,569,000 | $80 | 5 |
| 10 | 8 | Kung Fu Panda | P/DW | $1,750,000 | -60.3% | 1,505 | -1,199 | $1,162 | $206,506,000 | $130 | 7 |
| 11 | 7 | Meet Dave | Fox | $1,635,000 | -68.9% | 3,011 | - | $543 | $9,374,000 | $60 | 2 |
| 12 | 11 | Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull | Par. | $970,000 | -57.1% | 757 | -907 | $1,281 | $312,584,000 | $185 | 9 |
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| 13 | 10 | Kit Kittredge: An American Girl | PicH | $914,000 | -60.3% | 769 | -1,080 | $1,188 | $13,732,000 | - | 5 |
| 14 | 12 | Sex and the City | NL | $715,000 | -55.4% | 515 | -510 | $1,388 | $149,864,000 | $65 | 8 |
| 15 | 9 | The Incredible Hulk | Uni. | $623,000 | -73.2% | 656 | -1,289 | $949 | $131,764,000 | $150 | 6 |
| 16 | 14 | Iron Man | Par. | $435,000 | -53.7% | 375 | -335 | $1,160 | $314,360,000 | $140 | 12 |
| 17 | 21 | Tell No One | MBox | $409,000 | +64.5% | 55 | +36 | $7,436 | $1,065,000 | - | 3 |
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