The Dark Knight ruled for a second weekend at the US box office, taking a staggering $75.6 million, a drop of just 50% from its record breaking debut. That's the kind of sum that most films would be ecstatic with on their opening weekend and it now puts the Batman Begins sequel at $314 million in the US, easily surpassing Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Iron Man to become the biggest film of the year so far, and the 23rd biggest of all time. We say again, this is after ten days.
Another $65.6 million in international weekend box office, after $41.3 last weekend, brings the films global total to over $440 million. Since it hasn't yet opened in several major territories, including France, Germany and Japan, the question now isn't whether the film will be really big, but just how big it can get. It would be hard to imagine it hitting Titanic's record of $1.8 billion worldwide, but a number two slot is wholly possible. That would mean it having to beat Return of the King's $1.1 billion. There's very little left on the blockbuster schedule to challenge it for the next month or so, so repeat business could bring in more megabucks.
Speaking of summer blockbusters, the X-Files sequel The X-Files: I Want To Believe found that most people, well, didn't believe. The return of Mulder and Scully took a very disappointing $10.2 million. However, the film only cost $30 million to make, so it's guaranteed to make back its costs internationally and on DVD, at least.
Step Brothers, the latest team-up for Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, did good business, taking a nice round $30 million in its first three days. Far down the chart, Brideshead Revisited opened on 33 screens and managed a so-so screen average of $10,060. By comparison, Man on Wire, the documentary about a man tightrope walking between the Twin Towers, enjoyed a screen average of $24,000 on two screens.
For the rest of the weekend's box office chart go to Box Office Mojo.