Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder held on to the box office crown for the second week in a row as it earned $16.3 million to bring its total to $65.7 million. Most analysts expect it to remain on top over the upcoming Labor Day weekend, which is generally the only major holiday of the year that does not attract big business for exhibitors. Tropic Thunder beat out The House Bunny, which placed second with $14.5 million, but beat Thunder on a per theater basis. Universal's Death Race opened in third place with $12.6 million. Slipping to fourth place was Warner Bros.' The Dark Night , which added another $10.5 million to its total -- which has now reached $489.4 million and will likely to cross the $500-million mark over next weekend. Rounding out the top five was Star Wars the Clone Wars with just $5.7 million in its second week, making it the first bona fide Star Wars flop. The top-12 films of the weekend grossed $88.5 million, off less than half a percent from the $88.8 million that the box office counted during the comparable week a year ago.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Media by Numbers (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date) 1. Tropic Thunder, Paramount, $16,272,195, 2 Wks. ($65,839,915); 2. The House Bunny , Sony, $14,533,702, (New); 3. Death Race , Universal, $12,621,090, (New); 4. The Dark Knight, Warner Bros., $10,542,424, 6 Wks. ($489,416,885); 5. Star Wars The Clone Wars, Warner Bros., $5,661,456, 2 Wks. ($24,999,054); 6. Pineapple Express, Sony, $5,452,163, 3 Wks. ($73,780,191); 7. Mirror s, Fox, $5,010,663, 2 Wks. ($20,211,066); 8. Mamma Mia!, Universal, $4,314,840, 6 Wks. ($124,469,900); 9. The Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emperor , Universal, $4,177,950, 4 Wks. ($93,921,245); 10. The Longshots, MGM, $4,080,687, (New).

26/08/2008