Batman clings firmly to UK box office lead

Actor heath Ledger as The Joker is shown in a scene from director Christopher Nolan's ''The Dark Knight'' in this undated publicity photo released to Reuters July 18, 2008.

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Batman remained unchallenged at the top of the UK box office for a second week, with the "X-files" only managing fourth place on its debut, according to Screen International on Tuesday.

"The Dark Knight" took a strong 6.7 million pounds ($13.11 million) in its second weekend for a 25.2 million fortnightly UK total.

Starring Christian Bale and the late Heath Ledger as the Joker, and directed by Englishman Christopher Nolan, the film has broken box office records in North America.

Abba-themed musical "Mamma Mia!" was unchanged in second place, with robot love story "Wall-E" staying at three.

"The X-Files: I Want to Believe," the second feature film spin-off from the long-running series starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, failed to break the million-pound mark, taking only 887,209 pounds.

At five, down one place was teen movie "Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging," with Georgia Groome determined to find a sex-god lover and throw the best 15th birthday party ever.

"Kung Fu Panda" was unchanged at six with the animated tale of a galactic rescue mission, "Space Chimps," new at seven.

Mike Myers' "The Love Guru," a comedy of spiritualism and double-entendres, was new at eight while "Hancock," Will Smith's portrayal of a conflicted hero in need of an image makeover, was the week's biggest faller, slipping four places to ninth.

"Journey to the Center of the Earth", a loose adaptation of the Jules Verne classic, was down three at 10.

($1=.5111 Pound)