U.S Box Office Report - 25th - 27th July 2008

1. The Dark Knight - $75.6M - $314.2M
2. Step Brothers - $30M - $30M
3. Mamma Mia! - $17.8M - $52.7M
4. The X-Files: I Want To Believe - $10.2M - $10.2M
5. Journey to the Center of the Earth - $9.4M - $60.1M
6. Hancock - $8.2M - $206.3M
7. WALL-E - $6.3M - $195.2M
8. Hellboy II: The Golden Army - $4.9M - $65.8M
9. Space Chimps - $4.3M - $16M
10. Wanted - $2.7M - $128.6M

With a staggering first weekend, followed by record breaking weekdays, what had The Dark Knight got left to achieve in its second frame? How about the fastest film to $300M? Biggest second frame of any film? The Dark Knight got them both this weekend as it continues its fantastic run. Being down around 66% from Friday to Friday is perfectly fine given how huge its opening weekend was - Spiderman 3 dropped 71% in the same time period. Higher Friday drops are expected with films like these simply because of the large amount of Thursday midnight showings that are factored into Friday's takings, and given The Dark Knight had a record breaking midnight total, a big drop was inevitable. It's weekend take is nothing short of amazing - many major films don't open to that much money! In a total weekend to weekend drop, the film is off only 52%.

The film has broken record after record and even more amazing, it's now the biggest film of 2008, having jumped over both Indiana Jones and Iron Man this weekend to take the top spot. In regards to its $300M+ haul, It took Dead Man's Chest 16 days to do what The Dark Knight has achieved in just 10. Once final numbers are issued there's every chance that The Dark Knight will be within the top 20 biggest films of all time. It's still got some way to go before it could topple Titanic ($600M) but a top five place (between $430-460M) is well within its grasp. After some controversy last weekend thanks to Nicki Finke claiming that Warners has overestimated The Dark Knights take, it turned out that they themselves had sold the film short when its official weekend total was revealed to be $158M and not the estimated $155M. The third Mummy film might give The Dark Knight a bit of a dent next weekend, but it'll be nothing to write home about. Next up for The Dark Knight? The $400M record, held by Shrek 2 at 43 Days.

After the disastrous Semi-Pro failed to make $35M in its entire domestic run ($60M+ was expected to be its opening weekend!) Will Ferrell once again teams up with John C Reilly in a hope of seeing some of that Talledega Nights style box office ($47M opening). Step Brothers is the tail of two grown men who suddenly find themselves as, you've guessed it, Step Brothers. Being at odds with each other to start, they soon become fast friends. That really is pretty much the plot, so a lot was hanging on the comic skills of Ferrell and Reilly. Given how much The Dark Knight took this weekend, Step Brothers has had a pretty decent opening - perhaps people wanting a laugh and a joke instead of the darkness offered by Batman & co. The film cost $65M, a figure it should be able to recoup with a couple of decent weekends. It won't face direct competition next weekend but will the weekend after in the guise of Seth Rogen's Pineapple Express.

Mamma Mia! also has a decent second frame and has crossed the $60M mark this weekend. Though not emulating the amazing success of Sex and the City, Mamma Mia! is still doing well, especially in the international market where its total so far easily exceeds that of its domestic counterpart. It's the only film in the top ten to appeal directly to women so it should continue to do well until it's pushed out by the glut of releases we're about to see as we enter August. Made for $52M, Mamma Mia is already starting to reap in those profits.

The last X-Files movie was released just at the right time - the show was still a major TV success and a movie was the perfect way to attract new viewers and satisfy fans who wanted to see something a little bigger than a 40 minutes episode. Though heavily frontloaded the film managed a pretty decent $83M by the end of its box office run. The X-Files: I Want To Believe will be lucky to see half that amount. With the show finishing in 2002, it was a risky move to bring the characters back six years later. Put into production very quickly once Chris Carter had sorted out some long-running legal problems with Fox, the sequel's production was shrouded in secrecy. Even with a super low budget of just $30M, Mulder & Scully's return failed to make much of an impact with the public (the lacklustre trailer didn't help matters) and probably won't recoup its budget until it hits DVD. Even the hardcore fans (who have probably long since moved on) didn't show up in any kind of large numbers. Chalk this one down as one of the few casusalties of summer 2008.

Journey to the Centre of the Earth is relying on its 3D perfomances to help keep it afloat and it seems to be working as the film has now crossed the $60M mark. The Brendan Fraser action comedy appears to be the family choice alongside Wall-E and should finish up around $85M. Friday saw Hancock cross $200M, the fourth Will Smith to do so. The film's international gross isn't that far behind either and we could be seeing the second half a billion dollar Will Smith film in a row.

Wall-E inches closer to $200M, which it should see by next weekend, marking it as the 7th Pixar movie to reach & surpass the figure. This weekend should see a number of international grosses factored into its overall gross so far. The film is still amongst the best reviewed of the year. Hellboy 2 is still taking something of a kicking from all sides but still has the international market waiting in the wings. The film should just about recoup its budget from its domestic run but the idea of a third and final movie is still in the air (and a long way off given Del Toro's commitment to The Hobbit).

Space Chimps will be gone by next weekend and straight on to DVD by the end of August. Wanted has a massive global tally of over $220M and a sequel is already in the scripting stages.