"Dark Knight" wins box office again with $64 million
(CBS/AP) "The Dark Knight Rises" continued its reign at the box office for the second straight weekend, earning just over $64 million. But the film's earnings have yet to top the numbers of its 2008 predecessor, "The Dark Knight."
Pictures: "The Dark Knight Rises"
Pictures: "The Dark Knight Rises" premieres in New York
Pictures: Christian Bale visits Aurora
Christopher Nolan's final "Batman" film has now grossed more than $289 million in its first 10 days in theaters. The film's earnings dropped 60 percent from its opening weekend of $160.9 million.
By comparison, "The Dark Knight" took a 53 percent drop in its second weekend with a gross of nearly $75.2 million and a 10-day cumulative gross of $313.8 million.
Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros., declined to comment on the Sunday estimates again out of respect for the victims of the Aurora, Colo., shooting that left 12 people dead and another 58 injured at a midnight showing of the film on opening night.
But people are still going to the movies, and they did so even last weekend, said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian. If anything hurt the numbers for all movies this weekend, he said, it was Friday night's opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, which drew a record-setting 40.7 million viewers in the United States.
In second place this weekend was the animated family film "Ice Age: Continental Drift," which is still going strong in its third week. The 20th Century Fox comedy "The Watch," starring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill, came in third place with $13 million. And "Step Up Revolution" - the fourth film in the dance franchise, which is set in Miami this time - opened at No. 4 with $11.8 million.
