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TROPIC THUNDER RUMBLES OVER DARK KNIGHT Tuesday, August 19 2008 
The
box-office
began
to
settle
into
its
usual
end-of-summer
blahs
last
weekend,
with
Tropic
Thunder,
the
final
blockbuster
release
of
the
season,
leading
the
pack
with
just
$25.8
million.
Warner
Bros.'
previously
unstoppable
The
Dark
Knight
couldn't
even
crack
$20
million,
winding
up
with
$16.4
million
in
its
fifth
week
(and
also
winding
up
on
the
No.
2
spot
on
the
all-time
list,
behind
Titanic).
An
animated
Star
Wars
variation,
Star
Wars:
The
Clone
Wars
(more)STORMY WEATHER AT BOX OFFICE Monday, August 18 2008 
The
Dark
Knight's
reign
as
the
box-office
leader
ended
propitiously
over
the
weekend
as
it
raked
in
an
additional
$16.8
million
to
become
the
second-highest
grossing
film
of
all
time
domestically.
It
has
now
taken
in
$471.5
million.
Over
the
past
30
years,
the
previous
No.
2,
the
original
Star
Wars,
had
taken
in
$461
million.
The
all-time
champ
is
1997's
Titanic
with
$601
million.
Although
it
opened
with
a
much
smaller
gross
than
Knight,
(more) |
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Paramount/DreamWorks' Tropic Thunder was no big shakes at the box office over the weekend, but its estimated $16.1-million take was enough to land it in first place for a second week, as it held off Sony's debuting The House Bunny with $15.1 million and UA's Death Race, which opened with $12.9 million. Another new film, MGM/The Weinstein Co.'s The Longshots, fumbled with just $4.3 million. Warner Bros.' The Dark Knight drew closer to the $500-million mark, dropping just 37 percent to $10.3 million over the weekend. Its total now stands at about $489 million. But the force was definitely not with Star Wars: The Clone Wars as it plummeted 61 percent to $5.7 million in its second week. Meanwhile, Focus Features' Hamlet 2 had a respectable debut at just 103 theaters, where it took in $435,294. It is due to expand to about 1,500 theaters on Wednesday. And Woody Allen's latest movie, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, from MGM/The Weinstein Co., dropped just 20 percent in its second week to $3 million at 692 theaters. Overall, ticket sales for the top 12 movies came to $88.4 million -- almost identical with the comparable weekend a year ago, according to Media by Numbers. However, attendance continued to decline. It's now off 4.5 percent from a year ago. 
