‘Tropic Thunder’ shoots to the top

By Patrick Luce Aug 18, 2008, 0:41 GMT

Comedy where five actors who go on location and find themselves relying on their boot camp experiences when they get stuck in a real war-like situation. ...more

DreamWorks and Paramount’s "Tropic Thunder" shot its way to the top of the weekend box office with an estimated $26 million from 3,319 runs. The Ben Stiller comedy earned an estimated $37 million in its first five days.

"Tropic Thunder" features Ben Stiller (who also directed), Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black and a cameo by Tom Cruise. While the film was able to reach the top spot, it didn’t have the success of the stoner comedy “Pineapple Express” last week – which earned $41.2 million in five days.

The new comedy (along with the horror film “Mirrors”) helped chill the “Pineapple” draw at the box office. The film dropped 57% in its second weekend and earned an estimated $10 million from 3,072 runs. It has taken in $63 million since its release 10 days ago.

In Variety, DreamWorks spokesman Chip Sullivan credited "Tropic Thunder" success to its cast (and the cameo from Cruise) and predicted the film would have long legs at the box office thanks to word of mouth.

Sullivan stated: "Each cast member is getting terrific notices. Because we purposefully didn’t include Tom Cruise in any of the marketing materials, his performance is definitely getting attention."

“The Dark Knight” dropped to No. 2 with an estimated $16.8 million, but Warner Bros. celebrated the film becoming the second highest grossing movie of all time. The Batman flick is now behind “Titanic” for the top spot and has made an estimated $471.5 million since its release. “The Dark Knight” took the No. 2 spot from the original “Star Wars” – which earned $461 million.

The new animated "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (which was released as an introduction to the upcoming Cartoon Network series) claimed the No. 3 spot with an estimated $15.5 million from 3,452. The animated feature had a good opening, but was nothing compared to past films in the Star Wars franchise.

Warner Bros. (who distributed the film for George Lucas’ Lucasfilms) was reportedly happy with "Clone Wars" opening and felt the film served its purpose – to introduce old and new fans to a new kind of Star Wars.

In Variety, Warner Bros. prexy of domestic distribution Dan Fellman stated: "What can I tell you. We’re having a great summer. ‘Dark Knight’ just keeps going, and ‘Clone Wars’ was a terrific beginning to an overall plan between Warners and Lucas to capture new audiences that weren’t previously exposed to the ‘Star Wars’ brand."

New Regency’s "Mirrors" took advantage of being the only new horror film and took in an estimated $11.1 million from 2,664 runs. The 20th Century Fox film was directed by Alexandre Aja and managed to take the No. 4 spot.

Woody Allen’s "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" (which was brought to the screen by the Weinstein Co. and distributed by MGM) had a No. 10 placing and took in an estimated $3.7 million.

Summit’s "Fly Me to the Moon" didn’t manage to bring in the crowds and earned a $2 million from 452 screens. The 3-D animated film came in behind the other 3-D offering “Journey to the Center of the Earth" – which earned an estimated $3.5 million from 1,405 screens. “Journey” has brought in $88.1 million since its release.

The less than thrilling debut for "Fly Me to the Moon" brought up more doubt about the digital 3-D format and highlighted the fact there are still not enough 3-D screens to help bring in the audience for more than one title in the format.

The animated feature film was released exclusively on 3-D digital screens and on Imax 3-D screens.