Sandler gets serious

Adam Sandler's serious side has caught on with audiences.

Universal Pictures' Funny People, with Sandler (pictured) trading adolescent humor for an adult story about a terminally ill comedy star, debuted as the top weekend movie with $23.4 million, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

It was a modest weekend for Hollywood, with the shadow of last summer's juggernaut The Dark Knight hanging over the current blockbuster season.

Overall summer revenues, which had been running ahead of last year's since early May, dipped below those of 2008, when The Dark Knight was packing theaters for weeks on end.

"It's staggering how strong The Dark Knight was last year. At this point last year, The Dark Knight had added nearly $400 million to the summer box office. How can you compete with that?" said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com.

Revenues this weekend came in at $122 million, down 20 percent from a year ago, when The Dark Knight led with $42.7 million, followed by The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor with $40.5 million.

The Dark Knight went on to a $533 million domestic haul, the biggest hit since Titanic.

Since the summer season opened the first week of May, Hollywood's domestic receipts total $3.34 billion, off 0.8 percent through the same weekend last summer, according to figures compiled by Hollywood.com.

Factoring in this year's higher ticket prices, movie attendance this season is down 4.4 percent compared with summer 2008.