It was another stormy weekend for moviegoers -- figuratively and otherwise -- but a weak end to the storming summer boxoffice.
DreamWorks/Paramount's "Tropic Thunder" managed a remarkable three-peat performance atop the domestic boxoffice with an estimated $14.3 million haul through Labor Day, shaping an $86.8 million cume for the R-rated comedy. And in one of the weekend's few other bright spots, Warner Bros.' Batman blockbuster "The Dark Knight" -- third in the frame with $11 million -- pushed its cume to a mind-bending $504.7 million.
But grosses were limp elsewhere as the session's $122 million industrywide haul marked an 18% drop from last year's holiday weekend. That means the summer boxoffice which had been racing to the finish line in last-ditch effort to match summer 2007's record boxoffice -- will underperform the year-ago season just a bit when final figures are released today.
Sunday estimates put the industry tally at about $4.13 billion vs. $4.16 billion for last summer, a 1% dip in boxoffice and a slightly deeper decline in admissions because of ticket-price boosts. Year-to-date, 2008 boxoffice is also off 1%, at $6.68 billion.
Four wide openers marked lackluster bows over the boxoffice season's final frame, which was hampered in the Gulf Coast region by preoccupation with Hurricane Gustav.
Fox's Vin Diesel starrer "Babylon A.D." opened in second place, with the sci-fi actioner posting a softer-than-expected $12 million.
Sony's PG-13 comedy "House Bunny" finished fourth in its second weekend, as a three-day drop of 43% from week-earlier grosses produced $10.2 million on the frame and an 11-day cume of $29.8 million.
Overture's thriller "Traitor," starring Don Cheadle, opened in fifth place with $10 million on the four-day frame and an $11.5 million cume since unspooling Wednesday...
Via: www.thr.com
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