'Dark Knight' A Golden Guano Machine
Welcome to August, where besides you and that weird dude in the mailroom who collects signed photos of the Howard Stern Wack Pack, the office is eerily devoid of life. Comfort yourselves with some box office numbers: 1. The Dark Knight - $43.8 million It would seem that nothing—not untimely deaths, not huffy kin brushings, prurient pirating, not even a hero who sounds like an obscene caller with emphysema—seems capable of toppling The Dark Knight from its gargoyle perch. A third-week drop of a modest 42% gave it a close-but-comfortable win over the widely favored The Mummy: General Tso's Revenge. All hail the Knight!2. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - $42.45 million 5. Journey to the Center of the Earth - $6.875 million It may not have beaten The Dark Knight domestically, but Rob Cohen's return to incinerating vast sums of money making popcorn entertainment—his first since 2005's sociopathic-fighter-jet classic Stealth—did manage to accomplish one amazing thing: it gave Brendan Fraser two titles in the top five. That's quite a feat, only previously accomplished by the likes of The Beatles, Mariah Carey, Jenna Jameson, and Jesus, on completely different charts. 3. Step Brothers - $16.3 million We pass things along now to YouTube cultural commentator Devann Sheuerman for her insightful review. We promise she's better than Ben Lyons. 4. Mamma Mia! - $13.121 million Oh, quit resisting it already: You love Mamma Mia!, and you don't care who knows it! C'mon, everyone: Let's have a Mamma Mia! karaoke party! 6. Swing Vote - $6.3 million Kevin Costner's self-produced comeback bid, a political comedy in which One Man Really Can Make a Difference™, failed to connect with audiences, who couldn't help but notice from its marketing campaign that it appeared to be a political comedy starring Kevin Costner in which One Man Really Can Make a Difference™. Honorable Mention: Midnight Meat Train - $32,000 Lionsgate dumped this oozing-bag-of-movie-parts on 102 screens accessible only by unicorn cavalry, resulting in an unmeaty $313-per-screen average.