Christoðher Nolan’s comic book adaðtation The Dark Knight (Caro Premier) retained its leading ðosition in CIS box office in the next-to-the-last weekend of the summer (August 21-24). The film, which stars Christian Bale as Batman and Heath Ledger as the Joker, grossed $1,731,532 from 598 screens in its second weekend (50% less than in its first), for an 11-day total of $5,539,016. Ben Stiller’s action comedy Tropic Thunder (UPI) stayed in second place, having grossed $1,379,099 from 499 screens in its second weekend (a 37% drop), for a total of $4,662,628 in 11 days.

New films took up the next three slots in the chart. The best-performing of these was the Belgian animated film Fly Me to the Moon (Cascade), which is being screened in three versions – in IMAX, in digital 3D and in conventional 2D. The film’s 329 screens brought it $1,257,183 in its four days. In the next line down in the chart was the Hollywood horror film Mirrors (20^th Century Fox CIS) with Kiefer Sutherland – a remake of the 2003 Korean film Geoul sokeuro / Into the Mirror. The new version, directed by French director Alexander Aja, put $1,173,341 into its piggybank from 240 screens, with a per-screen average of $4,889, which was the best of any film of that week. Fifth place went to the German animated film Impy’s Wonderland (Top Film), which racked up $502,350 from 263 screens.

Four more films started in the week under review. Two of them (both Russian films) made it into the top ten – seventh and eighth place were taken up by Tigran Keosayan’s Mirage (Central Partnership) with Alexei Chadov, Alexei Panin and Alyona Khmelnitskaya, and Oksana Bychkova’s romantic comedy Plus One (Paradise), starring British actor Jethro Skinner and Madlen Dzhabrailova. The $3-million-budgeted Mirage grossed $405 427 from 353 screens, while Bychkova’ $2.5 million film posted $336,029 to its account from 224 screens.

Cult director Takashi Miike’s Japanese egg-noodle western Sukiyaki Western Django (Cinema Without Frontiers) starring Quentin Tarantino stared in 12^th place with $64,164 from 60 screens. The prehistoric parody Homo Erectus (Lizard), directed and starring Adam Rifkin, debuted two lines down ($43,306, 44 screens). The CIS premiere of Miike’s film was also its European one, while it was a world premiere for Rifkin’s film.

 Apart from Fly Me to the Moon and Mirrors, which broke $1 million in its opening weekend, Til Schweiger’s romantic comedy Rabbit Without Ears (Cascade) passed this coveted milestone. Consequently, the number of films in the “millionaire’s club” is now up to 99.

The fantastic adventure blockbuster The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (UPI) now occupies the sixth place in the chart, having grossed $27,144,434 in 25 days. It has now ascended to third place of highest grossing films in CIS distribution in 2008. Ahead of it are two Russian films – Irony of Fate: The Sequel (20^th Century Fox CIS, $49.9 million) and The Very Best Film (Caroprokat $27.6 million). The third Mummy has also topped the chart of highest grossing foreign films.

Total CIS box office gross from August 21–24 was $7,967,056, which is 11.1% down compared to previous weekend.