Winning the weekend for a fourth time, THE DARK KNIGHT continues to dominate against anything thrown against it, beating openers PINEAPPLE EXPRESS and THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS 2 with $26.12 million (weekend ending August 10; actuals). The Warner Bros. film (vfx by Double Negative, BUF, Gentle Giant Studios and New Deal Studios) has a cume of $441.63M.
VARIETY reports that $31M of that total comes from IMAX screens alone.
Sony's PINEAPPLE EXPRESS came in second with $23.24M over the weekend and $41.32M in the entire Wednesday-Sunday opening.
THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR (Universal, vfx by Digital Domain, Gentle Giant Studios, Giant Studios, CIS Hollywood, CIS London, Rhythm and Hues and Special Effects Atlantic) dropped to third with $16.49M and $71.05M in two weeks in release. Overseas, THE MUMMY has done $141M so far.
Warner Bros.' THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS 2 (vfx by Rocket Science VFX) opened in fourth with $10.68M and a total of $19.62 since its Wednesday opening.
STEP BROTHERS (Sony) placed fifth with $9.13M, earning $81.13M in three weeks in release.
Sixth place went to ABBA musical MAMMA MIA! (Universal, vfx by Framestore) with $8.21M, crossing the $100 million mark with a total gross of $104.14M in four weeks.
JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (Warner Bros., vfx by Meteor Studios, Frantic Films, Gentle Giant Studios, Hybride Technologies, Mokko Studio, Persistence of Vision Ent., Realities Studio and Rodeo FX) did another $4.87M for seventh place and a five-week cume of $81.78M.
Number eight went to HANCOCK (Sony, vfx by Furious FX, Lidar Services, Sony Pictures Imageworks and X1fx) with $3.32M and $221.73M in six weeks out.
Ninth place went to WALL-E (Disney-Pixar) with $3.14M and a seven-week cume of $210.21M.
SWING VOTE (Buena Vista, vfx by Custom Film Effects and Great FX) came in tenth place with $3.125M and $12.02M in two weeks.
And on the animated front, Fox's SPACE CHIMPS earned another $1.77M for a four-week gross of $25.56M and 11th place. DreamWorks' KUNG FU PANDA earned $473,427 and has a 10-week gross of $211.36M.
Box office information from BoxOfficeMojo.com.
