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The Dark Knight

It may be off 66% from last Friday, but that's still a $23.1 million Friday for The Dark Knight, adding to its already impressive run, with $261.7 million in eight days. The rest of the weekend will easily put it over $300 million in ten days. Keep in mind that the decline isn't all that bad here, as last Friday was hyper-inflated thanks to the midnight showings.

Looking again at how the previous Biggest Weekend Ever record holder fared in weekend two, Spider-Man 3 dropped 61.5% for the weekend, with a Friday-to-Friday decline of 71.3% (again, midnight showings were the culprit) and a weekend multiplier of 3.38. Given this information, look for The Dark Knight's second Saturday to be a solid number today, likely well over $30 million. I'm going with a weekend of $78.5 million, as it will take the Biggest Second Weekend Ever record as well.

Step Brothers

Apparently a lot of people wanted a reunion of Talladega Nights co-stars Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, as Step Brothers opens strongly with $11.8 million on Friday. This is a badly needed win for Ferrell who bombed badly earlier this year with Semi-Pro. It's not the $18 million Ricky Bobby saw on its opening night, but it's still darned good considering that it didn't look exceptionally funny. Much like Mamma Mia! last weekend, it's a distant number two, but $33 million for Step Brothers for the weekend is a big win.

The X-Files: I Want To Believe

On the other hand, ten years was way too long to take to revist the adventures of Mulder and Scully as The X-Files: I Want To Believe came in with about $4 million on Friday. Clearly, all but the most devoted of the fans who made Fight the Future open to $30.1 million back in 1998 have moved on. The only consolation is that I'm pretty sure I Want To Believe won't have a 2.38 multiplier like Fight the Future, but that's not really saying all that much. About $10.3 million should be the best I Want To Believe can hope for.

Notable Holdovers

Elsewhere, Mamma Mia! falls 44% from last Friday to $5.5 million. That it was able to stay under 50% is a solid second Friday. A second weekend of $17.3 million is in the cards, and it's a certified hit.

The only other thing that qualifies as notable is that Journey to the Center of the Earth is off only 25% from last Friday. There's a dearth of family releases as of late (sorry, Space Chimps), and the 3-D Brendan Fraser film is the biggest beneficiary of this. In its third weekend, it should earn $9.2 million.

Projected Estimates for the Top Ten (Three-Day)
Projected Rank	Film	Estimated Gross
1	The Dark Knight	78.5
2	Step Brothers	33.0
3	Mamma Mia!	17.3
4	The X-Files: I Want To Believe	10.3
5	Journey to the Center of the Earth	9.2
6	Hancock	7.9
7	WALL-E	6.1
8	Hellboy II: The Golden Army	4.6
9	Space Chimps	4.5
10	Wanted	2.6