Box office report
The star-studded Hollywood satire “Tropic Thunder” rumbled past a deluge of new offerings to top the box office for the second weekend in a row.
The Paramount-DreamWorks action-comedy, starring Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black, made $16.1 million over the weekend, the Associated Press reported, citing Sunday studio estimates.
The Sony comedy ”The House Bunny” hopped into second place in its opening weekend with $15.1 million. The movie is a star vehicle for mostly comic actress Anna Faris, who stars as a former Playboy bunny who becomes a den mother to a group of socially inept sorority girls.
Roaring into third place was Universal’s futuristic actioner”Death Race” with $12.3 million in its debut weekend. Starring Jason Statham, Ian McShane and Joan Allen (yes, Joan Allen, and no, I can’t get over it either), the movie is a mostly-in-name remake of the 1975 Roger Corman film ”Death Race 2000.”
The other two new wide releases – the underdog sports flick “The Longshots” and the second-chance-at-fame comedy ”The Rocker” – both opened outside the top five.
“The Longshots,” which stars Ice Cube and Keke Palmer in the story of the first girl to play Pop Warner football, made $4.3 million.
“The Rocker,” starring Rainn Wilson of “The Office” as an over-the-hill drummer who joins his high-school nephew’s garage band, took in $2.8 million for 12th place, accoring to the AP.
With summer winding down and school starting back, the studios repeated their yearly ritual of unloading a slew of mid-level, mediocre movies. With the dearth of blockbuster or award-worthy fare, “Tropic Thunder” was able to roll to a repeat.
“The Dark Knight,” the year’s biggest blockbuster, continued snatched up another $10.3 million for fourth place. The “Batman Begins” sequel has nabbed $489.2 million and seems destined to become the second film in box office history to top $500 million. The other is “Titanic,” the all-time box office leader with $600.8 million.
According to the AP, overall box office revenues total $3.9 billion, which is a bit ahead of last summer’s record pace. But higher admission prices mean the actual number of tickets sold is down about 3 percent compared to last summer, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers.
Regardless, Hollywood should cap off the summer with a box-office record and a second straight summer to surpass the $4 billion mark.
“Thank you, `Dark Knight.’ That’s added close to half a billion dollars,” Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers, told the AP. “One film like `The Dark Knight’ can make a huge difference.”
In limited release, including here in Oklahoma City, the Sundance hit comedy “Hamlet 2″ made $435,000 over the weekend. The Focus Features release starring Brit Steve Coogan as a desperate high school drama teacher making a sequel to Shakespeare’s tragedy expands Wednesday into nationwide release.
Here is the weekend’s top 10, from the AP
1. “Tropic Thunder,” $16.1 million.
2. “The House Bunny,” $15.1 million.
3. “Death Race,” $12.3 million.
4. “The Dark Knight,” $10.3 million.
5. “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” $5.7 million.
6. “Pineapple Express,” $5.6 million.
7. “Mirrors,” $4.9 million.
8. “The Longshots,” $4.304 million.
9. “Mamma Mia!”, $4.303 million.
10. “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor,” $4.1 million.
-BAM
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