By Franck Tabouring

Weekend of July 25 – 27, 2008

“The Dark Knight” slashed its competition at the top of the North American box office with a weekend gross of $75.6 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Christopher Nolan’s follow-up to “Batman Begins” crossed the $300 million mark in a record 10 days, bringing its domestic total to $314.2 million. The previous record holder was Gore Verbinski’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” which took 16 days to reach $300 million.

“The Dark Knight” also easily soared past the $205.3 million total domestic gross of its predecessor. Starring Christian Bale, the film follows Batman’s struggled to protect Gotham City from the madness of the Joker (Heath Ledger).

Debuting in second place with $30 million was Adam McKay’s latest comedy “Step Brothers,” which stars Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly as two spoiled men who are forced to live together as stepbrothers after their single parents decide to get married.

Although “Step Brothers” failed to beat the $47 million opening weekend of McKay’s previous comedy “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” it performed much better than Ferrell’s “Semi-Pro” and Reilly’s “Walk Hard” combined.

Meanwhile, Universal’s “Mamma Mia!” slipped to No. 3 this weekend, collecting $17.8 million. Directed by Phyllida Lloyd, the big-screen version of the famous Broadway musical lifted its total haul to $62.7 million after two weeks in release.

New entry “The X-Files: I Want to Believe” debuted in fourth place with only $10.2 million. Chris Carter’s second big-screen adventure based on the successful TV series clearly failed to beat the opening weekend of its predecessor, which took home $30.1 million back in 1998.

New Line Cinema’s 3-D adventure “Journey to the Center of the Earth” tumbled to fifth place this weekend with $9.4 million in ticket sales. Directed by Eric Brevig and starring Brendan Frasier, the family film brought its cumulative gross to $60.1 million after a solid three-week run.

At No. 6, Peter Berg’s action adventure “Hancock” earned $8.2 million, lifting its domestic total to $206.3 million after only four weeks in release. Starring Will Smith, the movie follows a drunken superhero who agrees to revamp his damaged image within the community.

Pixar’s computer-animated “WALL-E” pulled in $6.3 million at No. 7, reaching a total gross of $195.2 million. Guillermo del Toro’s “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” closely followed at No. 8 with $4.9 million, lifting its cumulative to $65.8 million.

Two films rounded out the top 10: “Space Chimps” at No.9 with $4.3 million ($16 million total), and Universal’s action hit “Wanted” with $2.7 million at No. 10. 

Source: Box Office Mojo (www.boxofficemojo.com)