‘Thunder’ reigns again at box office

“Tropic Thunder” retained the weekend B.O. crown, slipping just 38% to collect $16.1 million.
Before “Tropic Thunder,” only “The Dark Knight” and “Iron Man” had managed to stay in the top spot for more than a week this summer. And only two previous studio summer titles, “Mamma Mia!” and “What Happens in Vegas,” had seen second-week drops of less than 40%.

The $90 million Ben Stiller sendup of Hollywood had a stellar Saturday, jumping 25% over its Friday level to gross $6.5 million. That propelled it past Sony’s female-skewing “The House Bunny,” which finished second at $15.1 million.

Universal’s “Death Race,” the remake of 1975 cult classic “Death Race 2000,” was initially considered a possible weekend champ but hit some speed bumps to take third at $12.3 million. The two top newcomers grabbed the expected auds, with “Death Race” skewing 63% male and “House Bunny” 68% female.

The weekend’s other wide openers fared worse. MGM/Dimension’s “The Longshots,” a family sports drama starring Ice Cube, finished eighth with $4.3 million. Fox continued its run of disappointments with “The Rocker,” a Rainn Wilson-starring bid at another “School of Rock”; it came in 12th with $2.8 million.

Fox wasn’t the only distrib with comedy agita. Focus launched Sundance darling “Hamlet 2” in 53 U.S. markets but came away with just $435,294 for a middling average of $4,226. A wide break of some 1,500 runs is set for Wednesday.

“Tropic Thunder,” a headline-grabber for months over content some have deemed offensive, an unbilled cameo by Tom Cruise and its risky economics, has now grossed $65.7 million.

“We definitely felt internally we were going to be No. 1, but Saturday was a pleasant surprise,” said DreamWorks/Paramount rep Chip Sullivan.

Warner Bros. claimed the Nos. 4 and 5 spots on the chart. “The Dark Knight” inched closer to the $500 million domestic mark, adding $10.3 million to reach a $489.2 million cume. The animated “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” grabbed $5.6 million for a $25 million total.

Overall, it was a soft weekend. The penultimate frame of a surprisingly healthy summer saw receipts off a few percentage points from the year-ago period. The summer tally fell a fraction off the pace of last year’s record $4.16 billion, though a diverse product mix and earlier-than-usual Labor Day makes equaling the record a possibility. (Read more at Variety.com)

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