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SATURDAY PM: So Tropic Thunder from DreamWorks / Paramount made $8.2M Friday and jumped 17% Saturday to $9.6M from 3,319 North American theaters. Ben Stiller's moviemaking spoof also starring Robert Downey Jr and Jack Black with Tom Cruise in a supporting role totalled $26 million for this weekend and $37 million for the 5 days since it opened Wednesday. But the R-rated comedy's high negative cost ($135+M, or $100M including the tax rebates for filming in Hawaii) is a definite damper on its dometic gross. The studio is counting on Stiller's big appeal overseas (unlike many American movie funnymen) to make the pic a hit in foreign territories despite all those inside Hollywood jokes. Nevertheless, Tropic Thunder seems to have broken the curse that movies about movies don't do well at the box office. Here in the U.S., on the down side there's been controversy over Downey appearing in blackface, and the un-PC use of the term "retard". On the up side, critics haved loved Stiller's direction and script and story (with Justin Theroux).
No. 2 was Warner Bros' mega-blockbuster The Dark Knight with $5 million Friday moving up to $6.7M Saturday from 3,519 dates for $16.7M for the weekend. The latest Batman installment was finally knocked out of No. 1 after 4 straight weeks. But today, on its 30th day of release, director Chris Nolan's comic book caper starring Christian Bale and Heath Ledger became the 2nd biggest domestic grosser of all time behind only Titanic. The actioner achieved this domestic milestone on its 30th day of release. As of Sunday, The Dark Knight's North American cumulative stood at $$471,493,000, ahead of Fox's Star Wars (including all re-releases) with $460,998,007. No. 1 is still Paramount's Titanic with $600,788,188. Of course, none of these totals are adjusted for inflation, or higher ticket prices, or number of tickets sold, and so on.
In 3rd place, LucasFilm/Warner Bros' animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars opened with $6.2M Friday but fell 20% to $5M Saturday from 3,452 venues for a $15.5M weekend. Coming in No. 4, Regency/Fox's horror pic Mirrors debuted to $4.2M Friday and $4M Saturday from 2,664 plays for an $11.1M weekend. Another newcomer was The Weinstein Co/MGM's latest Woody Allen pic Vicky Cristina Barcelona, starring Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem and Scarlett Johannsen, which did $3.7M from just 692 runs for #10.
The rest of the Top 10 were holdovers: No. 5 went to Sony's holdover Pineapple Express which dropped 39% from last week for a $10M weekend from 3,072 theaters and new $62.9M cume. Universal's The Mummy 3: Tomb Of The Dragon Emeror was #6 doing a $8.6M weekend from 3,363 venues for a new cume of $86.6M. Uni also had Mamma Mia! at No. 7 with a $6.4M weekend from 2,117 plays and a new cume of $116.4M. In the 8th spot, Warner Bros' Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants 2 earned $5.9M this weekend from 2,714 runs for a new $32.1M cume. And at No. 9, Sony's Step Brothers took in $5M from 2,648 venues for a new $90.8M cume.
As for other films opening this weekend, Summit Entertainment's Fly Me To The Moon toon playing in 3D at 452 theaters debuted to a $2M Friday-Saturday-Sunday.
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What about The Dark Knight?
What about TDK?
That’s a very good number for VCB. Will be interesting to see if it can top Match point’s worldwide gross of 85 million. Since Woody’s films cost 15 to make… there’s a nice profit there for someone.
Tropic Thunder is one of the best movies of the year, definitely the funniest in a long time. I think they made a mistake waiting until mid-August to release it. People are tired of movies at this point of the summer and the Olympics is on too. But anyone who won’t see it, is missing on a really terrific sharp comedy.
Ben #4 is right: TROPIC THUNDER should have stayed in it’s original July 11 slot. It lost some heat because of the Olympics telecast, August travel, general ennui, and coming out before the atrociously bad PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, which stole some of its thunder. The distribution or marketing “genius” who came up with that move should be reprimanded – maybe it was Gerry Rich.
So– looks like Michael Phelps & Co is TKO for TDK at #1 and making a dent in the overall BO
“some vocal African-American actors”
So who is that? I haven’t heard any complaining from the african american community, and Downey is getting raves for his performance.
Name some names, otherwise this comes off as manufacturing controversy instead of reporting it.
on the contrary – i was disappointed in “tropic thunder”. some great sight gags, some very funny, satirical performances thread piecemeal together by the leads, yes, but it went too much to the well with cruise and mcconaughey, and the existential/identity crap seemed thrown in in a last ditch, hollow attempt at poignancy. weird. i don’t know, maybe that’s what happens when you try to be coppola, cimino, stone, altman, peckinpah and benny hill all rolled into one.
I thought “Pineapple” would break $150M easy. Months of promotion, the writers of Superbad, “Paper Planes”, the coolness factor, Apatow, Rogen…
So what happened? Could word of mouth have trickled out that quickly?
I went and saw Tropic at the AMC in Century City, the land of talent agents and industy drones… and I gotta say, the reaction the crowd had to Tom Cruise in his cameo was pretty amazing. He was actually funny, if you can believe that. The crowd literally cheered and clapped after a couple of his scenes. Cheered and clapped for Tom Cruise!! And when the flick ended, Cruise easily got the loudest reaction when they showed him doing his “routine”.
I’m going to go out on a limb here, but if industry people go out and see Tropic, and see Cruise in this new light, some insiders might actually start to think this has rejuvenated his career. That’s the first thing I thought when I saw it…
That is all.
I still don’t get it. How can TT cost 90M to produce. Sure the print & advertising is around 50M but 90M for a comedy just bamboozled me
Could it be that each of the main cast salary is 10M with Stiller and Cruise with 20M? Seriously, do they all worth that much moolah?
Paramount must be really kicking themselves in the head to have greenlight this exp comedy
I do hope it will be a slow burner at the B.O cause from the trailers, seems like worth the ticket price.
Why is others still funding Woody’s movies? Is it really worth it at all? He shd make home videos for his own entertainment.
I’m an african-american who’s a DGA member and i had no problem with Robert Downey’s performance, i thought it was hilarious. Also, the fact that he has a black counterpart in the film that basically clowns him the entire film, makes it even funnier. There were alot of African-americans in the audience where i went and they loved it. Kind of like the scene in “Airplane” with the jive talk, funny is funny!
Why does everybody keep referring to Tom Cruise’s role in Tropic Thunder as a cameo?
It’s a full-on supporting role. He’s in there for like 15 minutes and his character is integral to several plot elements.
Tobey Maguire and John Voigt make cameos. Tom Cruise is a co-star.
Also, Tropic Thunder isn’t simply ‘just a comedy.’ It’s part of a new, emerging action/comedy genre (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, Pineapple Express, Team America, etc.) – flicks that are expensive action flicks first, and comedies that spoof expensive action flicks second.
Darn. I was hoping TT would have pulled in higher numbers. RDJ was absolutely histarical in the movie.
TT should have being a lot better than it was. I think if you go in wanting to love the film, and I did, you will come out forgiving it for its excesses in profanity and vulgarities. But then again lots of people like this kind of comedy. From where I sat Downey Jr. was excellent, Cruise and McC were effective in their over the top performances and the others just OK.
“I still don’t get it. How can TT cost 90M to produce.”
Shooting on location probably took a big chunk of the budget as well as all of the gunfire/explosions/CGI/etc. There were all sorts of aircraft shots (very few of which seemed like file footage). Look at the first scene, it had a helicopter, gunfire, and a massive explosion. I mean, the film even had a water buffalo in it.
I also wouldn’t be surprised if those trailers didnt’ cost a decent chunk of change.
Pineapple Express was borderline guerilla filmmaking (Franco gets stitches in his head and the response is to give him a headband and keep shooting) whereas Tropic Thunder ironically seemed like your typical overblown Hollywood production. Then again, I’m apparently one of the few people here that loved Pineapple Express and thought it was a perfect send-up of Hollywood action films.
Tropic Thunder was a good movie and very funny. I hate that they used so much profanity in it though. It really wasn’t necessary and if it wasn’t for the language it would have had a PG-13 rating and would have appealed to a larger audience. It’s sad that they need to add such language for no reason at all!!
With Barack Obama on the verge of becoming the next American President it seems that the white establishment has declared an unofficial war on all things African. The latest attack arrives in theatres this week with the new American film, “Tropic Thunder” in which a white man puts on blackface and pretends to be a son of Africa.
A white man was recently caught plotting to assassinate Senator Obama, the African mayors of Detroit and Baltimore are being harassed by the white legal system and the American entertainment system creates films such as “Tropic Thunder”.
This film is also an insult since it makes light of the fact that the U.S. government forced thousands of African men to take part in its war of aggression against the people of Vietnam.
There is nothing amusing about blackface. It is a highly racist and offensive depiction of Africans. Its sole purpose is to demean us and to propagate the stereotype that Africans are on this Earth merely for the amusement and abuse of the white man.
http://truthfirstnow.blogspot.com
Hey Truthfirst, I think you need to chill out just a bit. What about when Eddie Murphy and Arsino Hall playing white guys in Coming to America? I bet you think that wasn’t funny either…yea I thought so.
I just came back from TT and if it was demeaning at all.
TruthFirst…get a life.
Tropic Thunder was awesome and was much funnier than Pineapple Express. The profanity was maybe a little excessive, but still an awesome movie.
At the risk of feeding a troll…
TruthFirst, first off, are you serious?
And second, did you even see the movie?
To be honest, it’s hard to tell if your blog is for real, if it’s intended as satire, or if it’s created by someone who opposes Obama and wants to make his supporters look like complete wackos.
Hey, Truthfist – you’re precisely what’s wrong with this country. Democrats and Republicans alike long to piss and moan like infants whenever anything they interpret as “politically incorrect” hovers around their radar and proceed to throw public tantrums to prove just how offended they are, all those poor, victimized interest groups. How sad. Maybe you should stop politicizing everything and realize no one is coming away from a major motion picture presuming it’s telling us a real story … unless they’re completely stupid. And in that case, campaign for public education funding, not … whatever it is … you’re posting comments about. Thanks.
How can people complain about vulgarity in an R-rated film? Do you people know what it means when a film is R-rated? Do you even bother to read why the MPAA renders a rating on a particular film? This is like hearing people complain about grisly murder scenes in a horror film. Get a clue, mouthbreathers.
TrueFirst, get a life. Get over yourself. Go back to collecting food stamps and feeling sorry for yourself. It’s everyone else’s and the governments fault that you feel oppressed still, right? Gimme a break. Do yourself a favor and stop promoting your crap website.
TT was funny. That’s all it was aiming for. Nothing racist, nothing against handicapped people, just comedy. If you got off your high horse once in a while, you’d probably appreciate such a free spirited comedy. If you can’t see that, you might as well go ahead and check yourself into a mental ward.. Enjoy your night.
TruthFirst, have you and I seen the same movie? By this posting, I get the impression that you haven’t. I recommend catching this movie, then coming back to see if you have the same point of view.
The entire film is a stereotype on itself. Where did it make light of ANYONE taking part in Vietnam? I didn’t see this.
If you had seen the film, you would have saw various scenes making fun of the fact that he was in blackface, demeaning him for doing so.
I went to the 7:30 p.m. showing at my local theater today (Sat Aug 16). (My second viewing). The theater was sold out. I didn’t see a single empty seat.
Eight friends went to see this with me.
So much for the Olympics putting a dent in the film.
I find this movie offensive and degrading to people in general. I believe that it is sorry that the level of humor that is acceptable has stooped so low and that hollywood thinks that they have to pick on people to be funny. Whatever happened to good dignified humor?
Tropic Thunder was a great movie. The fake movie trailers leading into the beginning was a hoot. Set up the movie real well. Great performances by all of the actors in the movie.
BEN STILL goes total retard. Robert Downey JR performance in BLACKFACE was an great performance. Even Jack Black and his addiction problem made fun of Hollywood. Matt M. great role as an agent.
Tom Cruise what can you say.
It will be hard to figure out who will get an STICK OSCAR comes award time.
Nick Nolte should get an stick OSCAR for Best Supporting Actor in a Movie.
Take Tropic Thunder for what it is.
A great movie.
I didn’t think it was funny. And the reaction in my screening was pretty much meh. I felt it was very uneven and the some of the gag felt forced.
I think the high expections partly killed the film. It wasn’t as “broad” as that stupid Will Farrell movie. That’s why its under-performing.
TruthFirst is just the first of what you can expect from an Obama presidency. Lunatic victimmongering masquerading as foreign policy. Holy cow.It’s gonna be a fun 4 years, sitting back and watching the self destruction of the Democratic Party. Can even the mighty power of the Main Stream Media save you all?
TT was awesome. And profanity? How about the violence then, its a war movie spoof after all. Not that I’m complaining. TT was puritanical next to Superbad, lol.
And the blackface was about making fun of his own character, not to portray a white man as a black man. Get over it. The “Retard” hysteria, too.
I just got back from the movie. I laughed out loud 6-7 times and teared up. The action was good like in a real action movie. Some of the stuff was so absurd, it was hilarious. There were a couple of slow points in the movie and a few gags that didn’t work.
Over all, it was a pretty funny movie. It will be much funnier for people that enjoy old Platoon type movies which they are parodying.
All the fake trailers were funny, especially the one with Toby Maguire in The Devil’s Alley.
Robert Downey Jr. totally funny as the dude playing the dude, disguised as another dude. Jack Black was under used a little.
Tom Cruise was in a good part of the movie and was also funny. The opening parody scene of Platoon was hilarious too.
“Why is others still funding Woody’s movies? Is it really worth it at all? He shd make home videos for his own entertainment.”
My answer will not presume of my personal opinion and I hope this will not be perceived as a cliché but Woody Allen is an icon in Europe, especially in France. Our cultural channel would finance his holidays home movies without hesitation.
It is misleading to say that Downey appeared in “blackface”. He appeared as an australian actor portraying an African American soldier. It was satire not meant as an insult to black people. He pulled it off magnificently and hilariously. It was the highlight of the film. Jack Black was portrayed as fat. Should we expect an outlash from fat people as a result. Grow up and get over the racial inference. It does not belong in the review.
Took the kids to see Clone Wars last night. To me, the movie looked like a 90 minute Saturday morning cartoon. It moved really fast too. Pretty ADD if you ask me. Now, I don’t know the reason for it…but all of the battle sequences were painfully loud. My family and I were literally covering our ears when they would happen. Is that inherent to the film or can the theaters control the volume?
>>Whatever happened to good dignified humor?
I agree. Like that “resuscitate the dead dog using lamp wiring” scene in There’s Something About Mary.
Good, dignified, humorous.
Stiller’s writing is getting much better. The storyline was interesting and entertaining although not very deep. With a bit more work, it could have been an exceptional comedy. Tom Cruise did a terrific job as film producer Les Grossman and it is refreshing to see him in a comedy. His make up is soo good that it took me a while to figure out that was him. Brandon Jackson performed very well and his work will be overlooked because of the star studded cast in front of him.
Tropic Thunder was a good movie, definately ‘blue’ but Im pretty sure noone walked in that theater expecting otherwise. I really think we have to lighten up.
Greetings all,
Got dragged out to this one. Laughed and laughed and kept on laughing. Off the wall humor, jabs at everyone, all institutions, go see it for a day off. Rare to see this kind of screwball stuff in an age of political correctness gone mad – which is part of what the film is about. Downey is a real movie star. Languagfe warning: not for kids. I mean a real language warning. For adults it’s more of the overdone fun, but not for kids. Not for kids. Great work, stiller, but I still yawn at the rest of your stuff. This one just runs away. Downey did it.
I have not seen TT but 2 of my daughters have and agree that it is a great, funny movie. Can’t wait to see it. It’s good to have the average Joe type people here commenting on a movie. Voices I can trust…..
Danny
Sacramento
I went to a screening and the audience was in stitches laughing, and yeh, we all “got” the movie. Silly and downright hilarious, not offensive, although I knew that sequence about the “retard” crossed the line and would catch flak. I’m sure Stiller knew it too. Robert Downey Jr. is a genious actor; forget Depp, Downey Jr. is the real thing and so glad to see him back in the game. Brandon Jackson was a real discovery and I predict he will work with Ben again. He was just the right match for Downey’s character. Thoroughly enjoyed it and will buy the DVD when it comes out. Hope it stays a long time in the theatres because we need a good laugh.
All the the responses to my post here are predicable. It just shows how much work President Obama will face in fixing America and setting it off on a new course.
The White House itself is perhaps the ultimate symbolic and physical manifestation of American racism. It was twice constructed by the white man using African slave labor (the first White House was burned down 1814) and was purposely designed to be a symbol of white man’s dominance.
The White House got its name from the white slave overseers who whipped and brutalized the Africans who were forced to build it. They tormented them and mocked them by telling them they would, “build such a fine home that no Negro would ever step forth into it”*.
Africans who died at the White House construction site were often left to rot where they lay and others were simply buried in what became the basement of the structure. 11 Africans were executed at the White House site in 1793 when they were deemed as being “non-compliant”.
For over two hundred years the White House has been the place where terrible crimes against humanity have been discussed, planned and carried out: The orders to destroy African culture and to enslave African peoples. The creation of the Ku Klux Klan. The creation of the AIDS virus. The poisoning of African communities with crack cocaine. The 9/11 hoax. The Katrina Hurricane attack and so on.
http://truthfirstnow.blogspot.com
I just saw Tropic Thunder with my 17 year old son. We laughed non stop from start to finish;. It was pure, escapist fun.
Robert Downey Jr. should get an Academy Award for his role as an actor playing a black man. He did it to perfection. Anybody who has a beef about that performance is off his rocker.
Ben Stiller is a comic genius. I can go to just about any movie that has Ben in it and have a good time. The man is box office gold.
kudos to milo for figuring out that this TruthFirst character is probably another distasteful tactic to smear and create fear, uncertainty and doubt.
Not that any reveal on the guy will ever prevent his story and angle to appear on Fox News, New York Post, Drudge Report and thereby still fulfilling his purpose to spread fear uncertainty and doubt about Obama.
I say whatever you vote, vote no to Karl Rove tactics.
Hey, Truthfirst: I can imagine how you’ll react when Obama loses — look how wound up you are already!
Man, I thought Hillary felt entitled. LOL.
Clearly, truthfirst is a full of shit Obama hater. And please, the 9-11 hoax. My ass!
What does un-PC stand for.
1) Thank you for the history lesson TruthFirst, no one can deny that blacks went through some bad times until fairly recently in American history, but why don’t you explain to us how they got to be slaves for the WHITE MAN in first place? You know, how African tribes would fight with each other, and the survivors on the losing side (men, women, and children) would become slaves for the winners, and would then be sold to Europeans? Get a grip you creep.
2) Obama is going to lose in november.
3) I want to see TT but haven’t gotten around to it yet, Ben Stiller is hit or miss for me but I love RDJ.
TruthFirst,
First of all, congratulations for being born (I assume) in the U.S.A.– a country where you have every right to speak your mind. In many other countries, as I assume you are not aware, you would be imprisoned or worse for doing so.
On the other hand, most of the rest of us also have the right to ignore your sorry ass.
Your attitude leads me to believe that, sadly, perhaps America really isn’t ready for a black president. It appears people who are not “of color” would have to spend their lives walking on eggshells around people like you. I won’t and thank God there are still more than just a few politically incorrect Budweiser drinking “NORMAL” Americans out here.
Yes, I said “NORMAL” Americans.
TROPIC THUNDER: Three self-indulgent actors create a grossly over-budgeted flop that overwhelmingly fails to entertain…oh, and the movie follows a similar plot.
Flyover is obviously a brilliant thinker, suggesting based on one person’s obviously baiting posts that America “isn’t ready for a black president”. As a white male from flyover country who doesn’t drink swill like Budweiser, would vote for a black man in a heartbeat, but still might go the McCain route this year, allow me to disagree diplomatically with TruthFirst and tell “Here in Flyover” to stop making the rest of us look like low-class xenophobic hicks.
The more truthfirst posts, the more it looks like he’s either trying to make a joke, or he hates Obama and is trying to make his supporters look like extremists.
And it seems to be working, look at the responses on here from rubes saying “See why we shouldn’t support Obama!”
Nikki, why do you even leave this off topic spam up instead of just deleting it? This guy is posting stuff that has zero to do with any of the movies discussed here, by leaving his posts up you’re just giving him a soapbox.
First of all let me state, emphatically, that I am actually black, and not some idiot (TruthFirst) pretending to be black with this ridiculous caricature of a persona. For all dim minds on this site: TruthFirst is not, I repeat not black, nor is he an Obama supporter!! He is obviously a right-wing, Limbaugh loving, Hannity humping idiot who has waaaay too much time on his idle hands to build his ridiculous website and troll other sites, trying to get suckers to respond to his schtick. I am in no way offended by Tropic Thunder, nor my sister, my mother or any of the tens of black people I happen to know. There is no controversy surrounding this film, except the ones created in the minds of mischeif makers and fickle fools. I haven’t seen it yet, but am a huge Downey Jr. fan ( so glad to see him doing well) and will as soon as I get some time off work! But I must say, even if TruthFirst were some ridiculous black person, protesting this movie, what would his silliness have to do with anyone’s decision to vote for or against Obama, after all, we’re not all in a club, where we all speak to each other and have to approve before-hand on each other’s actions! It’s not like Obama should be responsible for every black fools words or deeds, anymore than Bush is responsible for every white fools words or deeds, or should I say every white person shouldn’t be held responsible for Bush’s words and deeds?