Mummy fails to scare off Batman

The fantasy adventure stars Brendan Fraser and Maria Bello

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor has been thwarted in its bid to crown the UK box office by The Dark Knight.

The movie, starring Brendan Fraser, made its debut at two with takings of �2.9m, while Batman spent a third week at number one, taking more than �4m.

Teen dance movie Make It Happen and Bollywood film Singh Is Kinng were also new, entering at five and six.

The X Files film, which suffered a disappointing opening at four last week, slumped to number 10.

Catching up

Co-star Gillian Anderson recently blamed its poor performance on competition from The Dark Knight, and a lack of "CGI, action and sex".

Abba musical Mamma Mia!, which slipped to three this week, is the top 10's biggest earner overall with returns of �37.3m after five weeks of release.

UK BOX OFFICE TOP FIVE 1 The Dark Knight - �4m 2 The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - �2.9m 3 Mamma Mia! - �2.7m 4 Wall-E - �1.4m 5 Make It Happen - �505,820 Source: Screen International

But The Dark Knight is fast catching up with total takings to date of �34.6m.

Other films completing the chart this week are Disney-Pixar's Wall-E at number four, British teen flick Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging at seven, followed by Kung-Fu Panda and Space Chimps.

The latest Mummy film, the third instalment in the franchise, was also kept off the top spot in the North American box office chart by The Dark Knight.

It took $42.5m (�22.3m) in its opening weekend, while the Batman movie made $43.8m (�23m).

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