LOS ANGELES - "Tropic Thunder" hauled in $14.3 million to stay on top of the loge office as Hollywood's substantial summer injury down sleepily, with hurricane Gustav tributary to a slow Labour Day weekend at theatres.
The DreamWorks-Paramount comedy was the No. 1 flick for the third-straight weekend, raising its total to $86.6 meg, according to studio estimates Monday.
Debuting at No. 2 with $12 million over the four-day weekend was 20th Century Fox's sci-fi thriller "Babylon A.D.", star Vin Diesel as a mercenary smuggling a adult female into New York City in a post-apocalyptic future.
With coastal Louisiana nearly deserted because of Gustav, Hollywood business was virtually nonexistent in that region.
"The theatres are closed. There is just no business at all down there," aforementioned Dan Fellman, head of distribution at Warner Bros., whose "The Dark Knight" was No. 3 with $11 million.
Gustav made a slow weekend even quieter. The tiptop 12 movies pulled in $93.4 million, depressed 23 per cent from the same weekend a year agone, when "Halloween" opened with $30.6 million.
Still, Hollywood finished a fraction ahead of 2007's record summer revenue. From the low gear weekend in May through Labour Day, business totalled $4.2 billion, up from $4.18 trillion during summer 2007, according to box office tracker Media By Numbers.
But accounting for higher ticket prices, attendance was depressed 3.5 per cent.
"It's record receipts, but barely. Kind of an underwhelming end to a great summer," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers.
Amid a rush of weak newcomers, "The Dark Knight" held up well, rising a notch from its fourth-place rank the previous weekend. The Batman sequel became the moment movie in Hollywood history to big top half a billion dollars domestically, mounting to $504.7 trillion, trailing only "Titanic" at $600.8 million.
Though "The Dark Knight" crossed the $500 one thousand thousand mark in record time of six-spot weeks and three days - half the time it took "Titanic" to reach that level - the studio expects it to upside out at about $530 million.
"Titanic" had a a great deal slower climb up the charts but it maintained momentum, belongings on to the No. 1 box office slot for months.
Factoring in inflation, "The Dark Knight" lags far behind "Titanic" in terms of existent admissions. "The Dark Knight" would need to make in about $900 zillion to match the number of tickets sold by "Titanic."
Among early new movies, Overture Films' espionage thriller "Traitor," prima Don Cheadle, premiered at No. 5 with $10 million, patch Lionsgate's spoof "Disaster Movie" debuted in seventh topographic point with $6.9 million.
"Disaster Movie" was simply the latest in a rush of mockery flicks, simply coming trey years after hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and with Gustav arriving the same weekend, "it was just an unfortunate selection of title," Dergarabedian said.
"I don't think it really changed the box office for the movie," he said. "What 'Disaster Movie' is is a put-on of big summer movies. I don't think it was bound to be a brobdingnagian movie."
MGM's campus comedy "College" opened well outside the top 10 with $2.6 million.
Estimated ticket gross sales for Friday through Monday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures testament be released Tuesday.
1. "Tropic Thunder," $14.3 1000000.
2. "Babylon A.D.," $12 million.
3. "The Dark Knight," $11 million.
4. "The House Bunny," $10.2 meg.
5. "Traitor," $10 1000000.
6. "Death Race," $8.2 million.
7. "Disaster Movie," $6.9 meg.
8. "Mamma Mia!", $5.8 million.
9. "Pineapple Express," $4.5 one thousand thousand.
10. "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," $3.5 million.
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Universal Pictures, Focus Features and Rogue Pictures ar owned by NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co.; Sony Pictures, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; DreamWorks, Paramount and Paramount Vantage are divisions of Viacom Inc.; Disney's parent is The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is a division of The Walt Disney Co.; 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Fox Atomic ar owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros., New Line, Warner Independent and Picturehouse are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a syndicate of Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Sony Corp., Comcast Corp., DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group; Lionsgate is owned by Lionsgate Entertainment Corp.; IFC Films is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.
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