Express denied box office crown

Pineapple Express stars Seth Rogan and James Franco

Comedy Pineapple Express has missed out on beating The Dark Knight to number one in the North American weekend film chart because it opened two days early.

The drug-fuelled movie, named after a strong brand of cannabis, opened at number two with $22.4m (�11.7m).

But it would have been number one had it not opened two days earlier than usual to maximise school holiday sales. Its five day total was $40.5m (�21.1m).

The chart is measured on three-day sales from Friday to Sunday.

Batman success

Columbia Pictures said the opening for the film starring Seth Rogan and James Franco was "beyond expectations" given that the budget was a modest $27m (�14m).

The Dark Knight topped the box office chart for a fourth straight week.

The film, starring Christian Bale and Heath Ledger, took $26m (�13.6m) to bring its US total haul to $441.5m (�231m).

NORTH AMERICAN BOX OFFICE 1. The Dark Knight ($26m) 2. Pineapple Express ($22.4m) 3. The Mummy: Curse of the Dragon Emperor ($16.1m) 4. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2 ($10.8m) 5. Step Brothers ($8.9m) 6. Mamma Mia! ($8.1m) 7. Journey to the Centre of the Earth ($4.9m) 8. Hancock ($3.3m) 9. Swing Vote ($3.1m) 10. Wall-E ($3m) Source: Media By Numbers

The last movie to remain number one for four consecutive weekends was The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in late 2003 and 2004.

Elsewhere on the chart, The Mummy: Curse of the Dragon Emperor slipped one place to number three.

Teen drama The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2 made its debut at number four and Will Ferrell comedy Step Brothers fell two places to five.

The Dark Knight should surpass Star Wars at $461m (�240m) to become number two on the overall chart by the weekend.

However, the figures reflect today's higher admission prices, and The Dark Knight will not approach Star Wars or Titanic in terms of actual number of tickets sold.

Taking inflation into account, The Dark Knight would need to pull in around $900m (�469m) to match the number of tickets sold for Titanic and approximately $1.2bn (�626m) to equal Star Wars.

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