'The Dark Knight Rises' Tops Sluggish Weekend At The Us Box Office

'The Dark Knight Rises' reigned supreme again atop the box office over the weekend, although its success was rather more stunted in its second week with a variety of reasons including the beginning of the Olympic Games television coverage and the fall-out from the tragic events of the Aurora Theatre shootings the previous week taking their toll on a sluggish market.

Nevertheless, it was still a sturdy enough return for the Christopher Nolan directed film, with the Batman flick taking a respectable $64.1 million in US and Canadian cinemas. Added to that over the weekend was $122 million from the international markets which, added to previous takings at home and abroad means that the film now sits at a more than decent $537 million, although its rise has perhaps not been as stratospheric as some might've predicted a few weeks ago. Indeed, sales dropped off 60% in North America from the previous weekend, a bigger drop than its predecessor 'The Dark Knight' which fell 53% in its second week back in 2008.

However, although Warner Bros. have refused to discuss the impact of the shootings from earlier in the month to Reuters, many experts reckon that it has affected ticket sales. Additionally the Olympic Games began last Friday; always a massive occasion in the US in particular, it's likely that many simply opted to stay at home and watch the sport rather than venture out to the cinema.