LABOR DAY LEADERS: 'Babylon A.D.' #1 Friday But 'Tropic Thunder' Should Win Weekend; 'Dark Knight' To Pass $500 Mil

August 30, 2008

LOS ANGELES,(RUSHPRNEWS)08/30/2008--The summer box office may have run up near-record numbers, but it crawls to a close this Labor Day weekend with some very uneven films. Twentieth Century Fox's Vin Diesel sci-fi starrer Babylon A.D. (3,390 theaters) was No. 1 Friday with a narrow margin of victory, but DreamWorks/Paramount's moviemaking spoof Tropic Thunder (3,473) from Ben Stiller should finish the 3-day weekend and 4-day holiday on top for the third straight week.

Coming in 3rd place should be Warner Bros' The Dark Knight (2,750) which on Sunday or Monday will pass the $500 million mark domestically in record time. It's already the second-highest grossing pic of all time behind only Titanic's $600.8 million domestically.

Don Cheadle's star turn in Overture's political thriller Traitor (2,054) stirred some interest when it debuted Wednesday to $792K from 2,054 venues, but managed to come in only 5th on Friday. Lionsgate's ill-timed and badly done spoof Disaster Movie (2,642), savaged by New Orleans film critics for opening on the 3rd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, managed only 7th place.

MGM's imbecilic R-rated laffer College (2,123) was roundly rejected for only a 15th place opening Friday. And Focus Features' well-cast laugher Hamlet 2 (1,597) opened Wednesday with a disappointing $245K in 1,530 theaters and managed just No. 17th Friday.

Top 10 Movies -- Friday Totals, 3-Day Weekend Rankings, 4-Day Holiday Estimates:
1. Tropic Thunder (DWorks/Paramount), $3M Friday, $11.5M weekend, $14 holiday
2. Babylon A.D. (20th Century Fox), $3.1M Friday, $9.4M weekend, $11.6M holiday
3. The Dark Knight (Warner Bros), $2.1M Friday, $9M weekend, $11.5M holiday
4. The House Bunny (Sony), $2.5M Friday, $8M weekend, $10.5M holiday
5. Traitor (Overture), $2.2M Friday, $8M weekend, $10M holiday
6. Death Race (Universal), $1.7M Friday, $6.4M weekend, $8.3M holiday
7. Disaster Movie (Lionsgate), $2M Friday, $6M weekend, $6.5M holiday
8. Mamma Mia! (Universal), $1.1M Friday, $4.4M weekend, $5.8M holiday
9. Pineapple Express (Sony) $972K Friday, $3.5M weekend, $4.4M holiday
10. Clone Wars (LucasFilm/Warner Bros), $684K Friday, $2.9M weekend, $4M holiday
15. College (MGM), $700K Friday, $2M weekend, $2.4M holiday
17. Hamlet 2 (Focus), $500K Friday, $1.7M weekend, $2M holiday

Source: Nikki Finke DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD DAILY

Click here to see all news from this author/company

About the author:

RushPR News is a social media newswire service created to help you with content creation and distribution to news outlets and social media networks. RushPRnews can also assist you with your web strategies with experts advices and strategies at an affordable cost. Write us at news@rushprnews.com

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT

RUSH PR NEWS newswire and press release services at rushprnews.com / Anne Howard annehowardpublicist.com

Content- Legal Responsibility - All material is copyrighted - You may repost but you MUST link back to the original post on your page and acknowledge Rush PR News as the news source. Rush PR News is not legally and/or morally responsible for content of press releases, opinions expressed or fact-checking.

Rush PR News cannot be held legally responsible for material published and distributed through its newswire service or published in its press-room and therefore cannot be sued for published material. Third-party must be contacted directly to dispute content.

Rush PR News is not the contact for material published.

Please leave your comments here

PRESS & SOCIAL MEDIA RELEASES

BOB BARKER TO STAMPEDE SPONSORS: NO PRICE IS RIGHT FOR ANIMAL CRUELTY

NORFOLK, VA 02/09/12 · TV Icon Joins PETA in Urging Companies to...