Last week’s No. 1, The Dark Knight, fell to the third spot with just under $3 million in ticket sales in its 10th week in release.

Genre films set to debut next week: Blindness, a dystopian thriller starring Mark Ruffalo, Julianne More, Gael Garcia Bernal, Danny Glover and Sandra Oh opens in limited release – with a wider release expected over the next few weeks. 

Following are the Top 10 speculative fiction movies in release in North America for the weekend of September 19-21, 2008.

RANK #. (Overall Rank) Title – Weekend Gross | Total Gross [Budget]

1. (4) Igor – $8.0 million | $8.0 million [$30 million]
2. (8) Ghost Town – $5.2 million | $5.2 million [$20 million]
3. (9) The Dark Knight – $3.0 million | $522million [$185 million]
4. (13) Death Race – $1.0 million | $35.0 million [$45 million]
5. (17) Journey to the Center of the Earth – $0.8 million | $99.1 million [$60 million]
6. (18) Babylon A.D. – $0.74 million | $21.7 million [$70 million]
7. (19) Fly Me to the Moon – $0.73 million | $11.0 million [$25 million]
8. (22) Mirrors – $0.47 million | $29.9 million [budget unreported]
9. (23) The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor – $0.40 million | $102.2 million [$145 million]
10. (24) Star Wars: The Clone Wars – $0.36 million | $34.4 million [budget unreported]

Source: Box Office Mojo – list only includes science fiction, spy fi, fantasy and dark fantasy/horror titles.

No new science fiction, fantasy, horror or spy-fi films have opened over the past two weekends as mainstream comedies dominated at North American movie theatres.

To date, Dark Knight  has brought in more than $517 million in ticket sales in in the U.S. and Canada, with a total of its second weekend – more than $966 million worldwide. According to Warner Brothers – expect the film to be pulled from theatres in the next week wees, only to be re-released in January 2009 during the Oscar season. The studio is hoping for both Academy Awards and to break the billion-dollar mark in ticket sales.

Genre films set to debut next week: Ghost Town starring Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear and Tea Leoni and the animated family fantasy, Igor starring the voices of John Cusack, John Cleese, Steve Buscemi, Eddie Izzard, Jennifer Coolidge, Jay Leno, Molly Shannon and Christian Slater.

Following are the Top 10 speculative fiction movies in release in North America for the weekend of September 12-14, 2008.

RANK #. (Overall Rank) Title – Weekend Gross | Total Gross [Budget]

1. (7) The Dark Knight – $4.0 million | $517.7 million [$185 million]
2. (10) Death Race – $2.0 million | $33.2 million [$45 million]
3. (11) Babylon A.D. – $1.8 million | $20.3 million [$70 million]
4. (14) Fly Me to the Moon – $1.3 million | $9.9 million [$25 million]
5. (16) Journey to the Center of the Earth – $1.1 million | $98.0 million [$60 million]
6. (18) Mirrors – $0.90 million | $29.1 million [budget unknown]
7. (19) Star Wars: The Clone Wars – $0.82 million | $33.9 million [$budget unknown]
8. (20) The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon King – $0.60 million | $101.5 million [$145 million]
9. (22) WALL-E – $0.5 million | $220.1 million [$180 million]
10. (33) Hellboy II: The Golden Army – $0.10 million | $75.8 million [$85 million]

Source: Box Office Mojo – list only includes science fiction, spy fi, fantasy and dark fantasy/horror titles.

Lat week’s No. 1 – Death Race – fell to the No. 3 spot among genre films (No. 6 overall) with about $6.3 million in ticket sales.

The No. 2 genre spot was held by Batman flick, The Dark Knight, which passed the half-billion mark in North American sales this past weekend. Racking up $8.6 million in ticket sales for a grand total of $502.3 million in domestic sales, added to the $417 million foreign takem the film reached a total gross of $921.7 million worldwide.

Needless to say, there will be more Batman films in future years.

No genre films are set to debut over the next two weeks.

Following are the Top 10 speculative fiction movies in release in North America for the 2008 Labor Day weekend.

RANK #. (Overall Rank) Title – Weekend Gross | Total Gross [Budget]

1. (2) Babylon A.D. – $9.6 million | $9.6 million [$70 million]
2. (3) The Dark Knight – $8.6 million | $502.3 million [$185 million]
3. (6) Death Race – $6.3 million | $23.1 million [$45 million]
4. (11) Mirrors – $2.74 million | $24.8 million [unreported budget]
5. (12) Star Wars: The Clone Wars – $2.70 million | $29.6 million [unreported budget]
6. (13) The Mummy: Dragon Emperor – $2.6 million | $97.9 million [$145 million]
7. (15) Journey to the Center of the Earth – $1.8 million | $94.6 million [$60 million]
8. (18) Fly Me to the Moon – $1.5 million | $6.3 million [$25 million]
9. (21) Wall-E – $1.1 million } $217.9 million [$180 million]
10. (29) Hellboy 2 – $0.2 million | $75.4 million [$85 million]

Source: Box Office Mojo – list only includes science fiction, spy fi, fantasy and dark fantasy/horror titles.

With a total take of just over $12.6 million in 2,532 theatres, the film was No. 3 overall, bested by comedies, Tropic Thunder and The House Bunny. 

Race also  knocked mega-blockbuster Dark Knight to second place among genre films.

The only other sci fi flick to debut this weekend was Cthulhu, a gay-themed independent horror film from Regent Releasing starring Tori Spelling. In limited release, the film brought in $1,438 in one theatre. (That may seem rather dismal, but compare it to the No. 5 film of the week, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which made $1,640 per theatre.

Debuting next week in genre is the Vin Diesel science fiction thriller, Babylon A.D. which will be in wide release in 3,200 theatres in North America.

Following are the Top 10 speculative fiction movies in release in North America for the weekend of August 22-24, 2008.

RANK #. (Overall Rank) Title – Weekend Gross | Total Gross [Budget]

1. (3) Death Race – $12.6 million | $12.6 million [$45 million]
2. (4) The Dark Knight – $10.5 million | $489.4 million [$185 million]
3. (5) Star Wars: The Clone Wars – $5.7 million | $25.0 million [budget unreported]
4. (7) Mirrors – $5.0 million | $20.2 million [budget unreported]
5. (9) The Mummy: Dragon Emperor -$4.2 million | $93.9 million [$145 million]
6. (15) Journey to the Center of the Earth – $2.2 million | $91.9 million [$60 million]
7. (16) Fly Me to the Moon – $1.4 million | $4.2 million [$25 million]
8. (17) WALL-E – $0.97 million | $216.3 million [$180 million]
9. (19) Hancock – $0.64 million | $226.4 million [$150 million]
10. (20) Kung Fu Panda – $0.58 million | $212.7 million [$130 million]

Source: Box Office Mojo – list only includes science fiction, spy fi, fantasy and dark fantasy/horror titles.