'DARK KNIGHT' = AMAZING DOLLARS: 'Step Brothers' Big; 'X-Files 2' Bombs

FRIDAY PM: Very early numbers show Warner Bros' The Dark Knight continues to drive the North American box office and grossed a whopping $23 million Friday from 4,366 theaters. That's down only 67% from its record-smashing debut a week ago. With an expected $73 million weekend, the actioner is also well on its way to making $300M in just 10 days, the fastest ever (beating Pirates Of The Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest which did it is 16 days). All anybody can do at the studios is keep repeaing the word, "Amazing". And it is. There are even starting to be whispers whether Dark Knight can beat the incredible worldwide numbers posted by the all-time $1.8 billion benchmark of Titanic. "It can be the first movie that has a real shot," one rival studio bigwig told me cautiously. Because not only do people like the movie, but it's getting incredible repeat business. Even occasional moviegoers are curious to see what all the fuss is about.

Once again Sony Pictures is able to open a low-brow Will Farrell comedy big at the box office -- this time the Judd Apatow-produced Step Brothers which made $11 million Friday in 3,094 venues for 2nd place and should bring in a serious $30+M this weekend. No. 3 was Universal's Mamma Mia! which only fell 61% from its debut a week ago to earn $5.2M from 2,989 runs for what's probably a $16M weekend and new cume of $61M.

Meanwhile, no one in Hollywood, least of all Fox, really expected The X-Files 2: I Want To Believe to do much at the box office after a decade since the first installment came out. The gangs all there: Chris Carter, David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson. But it wasn't enough for the sci-fi pic to find an audience and it's underperforming by a wide margin after opening to only $4 million Friday in 4th place from 3,185 plays and probably only an $11 million weekend at most. No. 5 was close behind: Warner Bros' Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3D which made $2.5M Friday and should finish the weekend with $8M and a new cume of $56.7M. Meanwhile, Sony's Will Smith starrer Hancock passed $200M tonight.