The Mummy 3 and The Dark Knight were neck and neck all weekend with Batman narrowly edging out Rick O’Connell by a little over a million. Batman only dropped a mere 42% in its third weekend, a number so good it is almost unprecedented for major blockbusters.
 
After earning an additional $43.8 million this weekend, The Dark Knight is now within spitting distance of the $400 million mark—it’s domestic total currently is almost $394.9 million.
 
Universal had $40-50 million hopes for The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, and won't be disappointed with $42.5 million, even though it was only good for second place. The film did much better overseas, raking in an estimated $59.5 million. It shouldn’t have any problem recouping its alleged $145 million budget over the coming week.

There was a much sharper drop for the third place finisher, Step Brothers, which grossed a paltry $16.3 million. It declined 47% in its second week out, but has made a respectable $63 million in its first ten days in theaters.

Mamma Mia! is still dancing on very long legs. It came in No. 4 this weekend, dropping only 26% in its third weekend out, with an estimated $13. 1 million.  It’s total so far is $88 million, which is especially impressive since it’s reported to have cost only $52 million to make, despite the major star wattage of Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan.

Interestingly enough, Brendan Fraser stars in both the No. 2 and the No. 5 films for the weekend. His Journey to the Center of the Earth came in fifth, with $6.9 million, its totals inflated by the fact that admission to the 3D versions of the film is pricier.

The negative surprise of the weekend was the sixth place finish of the Kevin Costner starrer Swing Vote. It made only $6.3 million in its debut weekend. However it cost only $21 million to make, much of which Costner put up himself, so its not really expected to do box office acrobatics.