Despite the, ahem, buzz surrounding Pineapple Express (and the promise of hearing a new Huey Lewis And The News song!), the stoner-comedy/meta-action flick failed to oust The Dark Knight from the top spot this weekend. Despite its 39 percent drop from last week, The Dark Knight's $26 million take comfortably outpaced new-release Pineapple Express' $22.4 million, putting it on top for the fourth weekend in a row, the first film to accomplish that feat since 2003's The Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King. Knight also bumped up to No. 3 on the all-time domestic blockbusters (behind Titanic and Star Wars' multiple releases), grossing $441.5 million in its 24 days of release. However, taking inflated ticket prices into account, it doesn't match either of those films in terms of admissions numbers–its estimated 62 million tickets sold puts it roughly equal with, again, The Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King.
Two unnecessary sequels took the third and fourth spots: Last week's not-Batman winner The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor dropped one spot to No. 3 with $16.1 million, ahead of The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants 2, which opened at No. 4 with a modest $10.8 million. Step Brothers dropped to No. 5 in its third week of release with $8.9 million, while Mamma Mia! crossed the $100 million mark in its fourth week with a $8 million take that lands it at No. 6. Journey To The Center Of The Earth continues to prove itself resilient, once again marking the smallest decline, percentage-wise, from week to week, this time landing at No. 7 with $4.9 million. The same can't be said of non-starter Swing Vote, which nearly dropped out of the top 10 this weekend, landing at No. 9 in its second week with $3.1 million, behind Hancock at No. 8 with $3.3 million and just ahead of Wall-E, with $3 million in its seventh week of release.
More detailed box-office numbers can be found at boxofficemojo.com.