For the second week in a row, The Dark Knight Rises is top dog at the box office. The final installment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy pulled in $64 million over the weekend, bringing its total gross revenue to around $287.8 million. Overall, box office sales were sluggish this weekend, thanks to current events.
"It's been a double dose of things," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Hollywood.com Box Office. "The Olympics has been dominating media coverage lately and probably kept a lot of people home Friday night, and then there's the Aurora shooting."
Ice Age: Continental Drift placed a distant second with earnings of $13.3 million while new releases The Watch and Step Up Revolution came in third and fourth. The Watch, a science fiction comedy starring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, and Richard Ayoade, opened at $13 million, while Step Up Revolution 3D, the fourth installment of the Step Up series, trailed with earnings of $11.8 million. The Step Up films are particularly popular overseas.
"They are probably enamored with our dance and our music," said Richie Fay, Lionsgate's president of domestic distribution. "The 3D is still a newer concept overseas as well, and this movie particularly plays up the dancers coming out of the screen in 3D."
Next up is Ted with earnings of $7.3 million and The Amazing Spider-Man with earnings of $6.8 million. Both films have been in theaters for several weeks, as have the seventh and eighth place movies – Brave and Magic Mike. Brave earned an additional $4.2 million over the weekend, while Magic Mike collected another $2.5 million.
Last, but not least, is Savages and Moonrise Kingdom with respective earnings of $1.7 and $1.3 million. Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection and To Rome with Love fell off the top ten this week.
This Friday brings the release of Total Recall and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, while 360 and Celeste and Jesse Forever will open in a limited number of theaters. Will any of the newcomers bring down Batman? Check back next week to find out.
Telegraph, LA Times, Box Office Mojo
Photo: The Dark Knight Rises