The Box-Office Top Five
#1 "Tropic Thunder" ($14.3 million)
#2 "Babylon A.D." ($12 million)
#3 "The Dark Knight" ($11 million)
#4 "The House Bunny" ($10.5 million)
#5 "Traitor" ($10 million)
There's an old rule of fashion that says you're not supposed to wear white after Labor Day. Rival studios might want to seriously think about convincing Robert Downey Jr. that the adage is supposed to say black.
Downey and Ben Stiller's "Tropic Thunder" continued its late-summer dominance over the holiday weekend, scoring $14.3 million to lead the American box office for the third consecutive week. In doing so, the action parody bested four new wide releases and boosted its overall total to $86.6 million -- or about one dollar for every time I've heard someone use the phrase "full retard" within the last month. (Note to pop-culture savants: It's not funny anymore.)
Also not laughing this weekend: Vin Diesel (and anyone who saw "Disaster Movie"). Already extensively ragged on by its director, Mathieu Kassovitz, Diesel's sci-fi epic "Babylon A.D." failed to catch on with audiences either, managing less than $10 million for the three-day weekend and just $12 million including the holiday. Oh well, there's always "The Chronicles of Riddick II," Mr. Diesel. Or another "Pacifier" movie, for that matter. Frankly, I want to see both about the same amount. Which is to say, not at all.
"Disaster Movie," meanwhile, was -- thank whichever deity of your choosing -- a complete and utter disaster, scoring just $6.8 million over the four-day weekend. The "spoof" "movie" from "writers" Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer came in seventh place. Significantly funnier movie "The House Bunny" prevailed in its second week, however, coming in at #4 with $10.5 million.
Among other new releases, Don Cheadle's "Traitor" managed a respectable $10 million to land in fifth place, while "College," the Kevin Covais/Drake Bell comedy landed at 15th place, scrounging up just $2.6 million. That's barely enough for a good beer run.
Stop us if you've heard this one: The big story at the weekend box office was a little movie about a man who dresses up as a bat to fight crime (which we believe is called "Man-Bat"). The Caped Crusader once again proved dominant, moving up a spot from last week to wind up in third place with $11 million, pushing its overall domestic total to a mind-blowing, earth-shattering, paradigm-shifting $504.6 million. Only one other film as topped the $500 million mark, making "The Dark Knight" the second-highest-grossing film of all time, behind "Titanic."
‘Tropic Thunder’ Takes Box Office, But ‘Dark Knight’ Becomes Second-Highest-Grossing Film Of All Time
Sonic & The Black Knight Wii exclusive
