The end of the summer blockbuster season went out with a whimper, as the top-grossing film of the week, Tropic Thunder, earned just $11.5 million. This marked the third consecutive week that the Ben Stiller/Robert Downey, Jr./Jack Black comedy was the No.1 movie in America, and upped the film’s total revenues to $83.8 million in that time.
Second place went to Babylon A.D., the new Vin Diesel sci-fi thriller. With an estimated budget of $60 million, the movie managed to generate a meager $9.7 million in its opening weekend, which likely qualifies it as a bomb.
The Dark Knight continues to show incredible staying power, actually moving up a notch from last weekend’s standings to finish in third place this weekend. The second highest-grossing film of all time added another $8.75 million to its coffers.
Two other new releases managed to crack the Top 10, though neither of them made much of an impact on moviegoers. Traitor starring Don Cheadle and Guy Pearce earned $7.9 million, while the widely panned comedy Disaster Movie sold $6.17 million in tickets.
Here’s the complete Top 10 at the box office for the weekend ending 8/31/08:
- Tropic Thunder, $11.5 million
- Babylon A.D., $9.7 million
- The Dark Knight, $8.75 million
- The House Bunny, $8.3 million
- Traitor, $7.9 million
- Death Race, $6.23 million
- Disaster Movie, $6.17 million
- Mama Mia!, $4.42 million
- Pineapple Express, $3.5 million
- Vicky Cristina Barcelona, $3 million