'Tropic Thunder' #1


	"TROPIC THUNDER" #1

Release Date:

August 17, 2008

Press Release:

Reuters

Jennifer Love Hewitt has a cameo in this number one hit from DreamWorks and her 'Suburbans' co-star (Ben Stiller).....

Robert Downey Jr. scored his second No. 1 movie of the summer on Sunday as Hollywood spoof "Tropic Thunder," which also stars Ben Stiller and Jack Black, ended the monthlong reign of "The Dark Knight" atop the North American boxoffice.

"Tropic Thunder," a farcical combat movie within a comedy, grossed $26 million during its first weekend in U.S. and Canadian theaters, bringing its five-day estimated total from Wednesday's opening to $37 million, according to distributor Paramount Pictures.

Paramount, a unit of Viacom Inc, also released Downey's earlier No. 1 hit, the Marvel Studios production of superhero drama "Iron Man," which grossed nearly $99 million its first weekend in May.

In "Tropic Thunder," Downey, Stiller and Black star as a group of self-absorbed Hollywood actors caught up in a real-life battle with narco-terrorists while filming a war movie in Southeast Asia. The film was directed, co-written and co-produced by Stiller.

The blockbuster Batman sequel "The Dark Knight" slipped to No. 2 with $16.8 million in ticket sales in its fifth weekend of release but broke yet another commercial barrier along the way by becoming the second-highest-grossing film ever, according to boxoffice tracking service Media By Numbers.

"The Dark Knight," a Warner Bros. film starring Christian Bale as Batman and the late Heath Ledger as the villainous Joker in his last completed role, has now amassed more than $471 million in domestic ticket sales, second only to the $601 million grossed by all-time champion "Titanic."

Adjusted for inflation, though, the 1997 blockbuster ranks at No. 6 in the record books, far behind "Gone with the Wind" at $1.4 billion, according to tracking firm Box Office Mojo.

The new animated "Star Wars" movie, Warner Bros.' "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," opened at No. 3 this weekend with an estimated $15.5 million in North American ticket sales.