WILL SMITH - DARK KNIGHT DIRECTOR PUZZLED BY SUCCESS

The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan has told reporters in Tokyo that he has no idea why his Batman movie is breaking box-office records. "I would not be able to point to exactly what it is," he said. "If I knew that all my films would have been successful." Final weekend figures confirmed Monday that the movie has broken yet another record -- best second-week performance of any film. The movie earned $75.2 million, which brought its 10-day total to more than $300 million, according to box-office trackers Media by Numbers. (The results somewhat diminished the achievement of Sony's Hancock , starring Will Smith, which crossed the $200-million mark after four weeks.) The film is now taking aim at Titanic 's record of $600.8 million in ticket sales -- by far the top money maker of all time.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Media by Numbers (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date): 1. The Dark Knight, Warner Bros., $75,166,466, 2 Wks. ($313,781,677); 2. Step Brothers , Sony, $30,940,732, (New); 3. Mamma Mia! , Universal, $17,746,725, 2 Wks. ($62,595,465); 4. The X-Files: I Want to Believe , 20th Century Fox, $10,021,753, (New); 5. Journey to the Center of the Earth, Warner Bros., $9,717,217, 3 Wks. ($60,487,455); 6. Hancock ,Sony, $8,311,123, 3 Wks. ($206,482,007); 7. WALL-E, Disney, $6,422,186, 5 Wks. ($195,308,076); 8. Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, Universal, $5,100,305, 3 Wks. ($66,059,925); 9. Space Chimps, 20th Century Fox, $4,536,838, 2 Wks. ($16,167,380); 10. Wanted, Universal, $2,738,550, 5 Wks. ($128,627,405).

29/07/2008