Tropic Thunder ruled the North American box office for the third consecutive weekend with US$11.5 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Ben Stiller's R-rated action comedy easily protected its No. 1 spot from this week's four new releases, lifting its domestic total to $83.8 million. Distributed by DreamWorks, the film centers on a group of actors as they fight for survival in a dangerous jungle.
Debuting in second place with only $9.7 million was 20th Century Fox's science-fiction adventure Babylon A.D., which stars Vin Diesel as a mercenary escorting a young woman (Mélanie Thierry) from Mongolia to New York City.
Meanwhile, Christopher Nolan's summer blockbuster The Dark Knight climbed back up to No. 3, earning $8.7 million and reaching a total gross of an impressive $502.4 million after seven weeks. Two weeks ago, the Batman Begins sequel surpassed Star Wars, thus, as per Box Office Mojo, taking the second spot on the all-time box-office list (not adjusted for inflation) behind Titanic.
At No. 4, Fred Wolf's comedy The House Bunny collected $8.3 million. Starring Anna Faris as a former Playboy bunny who becomes the housemother of a geeky sorority, the film lifted its cumulative gross to $27.8 million after a two-week run.
New entry Traitor opened in fifth place, pulling in $7.9 million in ticket sales. Directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff, and starring Don Cheadle and Guy Pearce, the thriller has reached a domestic total of $9.4 million since its Wednesday release.
Following at No. 6 was Paul W.S. Anderson's action flick Death Race, which brought its total gross to $23 million thanks to this weekend's earnings of $6.2 million. Based on the 1975 release Death Race 2000, Death Race stars Jason Statham as a prisoner who's forced to take part in a deadly car race.
Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer's spoof comedy Disaster Movie, this week's third major release, debuted in seventh place with $6.1 million. That's about $12.4 million less than the opening-weekend gross of their previous escapade, Meet the Spartans.
Staying put at No. 8 was Universal's successful musical Mamma Mia!, which took home another $4.4 million to reach a domestic total of $131.5 million after a strong seven-week run. David Gordon Green's Pineapple Express followed closely in ninth place, earning $3.3 million and lifting its cumulative gross to $79.7 million after four weeks.
Rounding out the top 10 was Woody Allen's comedy Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which earned $3 million and a total haul of $12.7 million.
And just in case you were wondering, new release College only made it to No. 15 despite a release in more than 2,000 theaters. In the end, Deb Hagan's teen comedy pulled only $2.1 million.
Source: Box Office Mojo (www.boxofficemojo.com)