What can I say other than "Wow!" For the fourth straight weekend The Dark Knight held strong at the top spot. When the third Mummy film failed to take the top spot last week, there was little chance anything would be able to unseat it this weekend.
The monster of a movie slipped less than 40% from last week, something nearly unheard of from a summer blockbuster. Not only that, the movie has moved past Shrek 2 to become the third highest grossing domestic film. It now has its eyes set on Star Wars and ultimately a take north of $500 million, a number that has only been surpassed once before, by the undisputed champ, Titanic.
When you talk box office it is inevitable that the topics of actual ticket sales and adjusted gross will come up. All of these arguments, both for and against, are valid; however, they are not the whole story. I like to think of these numbers as being a little bit fluid. Yes, numbers are a pretty solid, but you have to factor in things like inflation and population growth; the numbers can be argued any number of ways. For example, The Dark Knight may be the third highest grossing domestic film, but when you adjust for inflation it barely cracks the top 50, and nothing is likely to touch the adjusted gross of Gone with the Wind. So, even with all of the arguments, what cannot be denied is the surprise that The Dark Knight has become. It is a phenomenon that no one saw coming.
In addition to Batman continuing to control the box office, two films did enter the fray this weekend. The first of them is Pineapple Express, the latest release from the Apatow comedy machine. This is a buddy/stoner/action/comedy written by the duo of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg as a follow-up to Superbad. This also marks the comedy debut for indie director David Gordon Green, who appears to be up to the task. The film is funny and has a surprising level of action. It is not the best from this group, but it is definitely worth seeing on the big screen.
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