Weekend box office

“The Dark Knight” held on to the No. 1 ranking for the third straight weekend, fending off “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.” The Batman sequel could be headed for close to $500 million domestically, which would make it No. 2 all-time behind “Titanic.” Sales in the U.S. and Canada, Aug. 1-3:

*--* -- Movie 3-day gross Total Venues Average Weeks -- (studio) (millions) (millions) -- per venue 1 The Dark Knight $42.7 $393.8 4,266 $10,001 3 (Warner -- Bros.) 2 The Mummy: Tomb of 40.5 40.5 3,760 10,760 1 the -- Dragon Emperor -- (Universal) 3 Step Brothers (Sony) 16.5 63.2 3,094 5,335 2 4 Mamma Mia! 12.6 87.5 3,062 4,120 3 (Universal) 5 Journey to the 6.7 72.9 2,285 2,916 4 Center of -- the Earth -- (Warner Bros.) 6 Swing Vote (Disney) 6.2 6.2 2,213 2,815 1 7 Hancock (Sony) 5.1 215.9 2,782 1,829 5 8 Wall-E (Disney) 4.6 204.1 2,555 1,802 6 9 The X-Files: I Want 3.4 17.0 3,185 1,063 2 to -- Believe (20th Century -- Fox) 10 Space Chimps (20th 2.7 22.0 2,134 1,275 3 -- Century Fox) *--*

*--* Industry totals *--*

*--* 3-day gross Change Year-to-date gross Change (in millions) from 2007 (in billions) from 2007 $152.7 -13.8% $5.93 +0.0% *--*

*--* Note: A movie may be shown on more than one screen at each venue. Source: Media by Numbers Los Angeles Times *--*