The Hollywood parody Tropical Thunder took top box office honors with weekend movie goers providing an estimated $25.6 million for its debut. The session also saw a softish $15.3 million bow for the animated Star Wars: The Clone Warsthat ranked third and a more predictable $11.1 million fourth place finish for the thriller Mirrors.

The session also a number of limited wide openers with Woody Allen’s Vicky Christina Barcelona grossing a respectable $3.7 million from 692 adobes and fair returns of $2 million for the 3D import Fly Me to the Moon. However, the comedy Henry Poole is Here had a moribund $770,000 from 527 sites.

Additionally the freshman crowd in niche and alternative arenas included two new Bollywood entries with the highly anticipated Bachna Ae Haseeno generating a strong $320,000 opening while God Tussi Great Ho fizzled with a $71,000 box office. There was also poor response of $26,100 for Le Cas Roberte on 22 Quebec screens but initial potency of $17,400 from two exclusives for French import A Girl Cut in Two.

With Labor Day looming and summer fast fading, distributors have ramped up release schedules in hopes of generating some coin and quickly burying films they see as commercially fungible. Don’t expect many new openers to stick around long into the fall season.

The late season bow of Tropic Thunder came up short of industry expectations that it would have comparable box office opening strength to last weekend’s Pineapple Express. Critical reviews were upbeat to the anarchic spoof but with production and marketing costs reported at about $150 million the film can ill afford sharp drops in its domestic gross. And the slim edge of profitability will weigh heavy on international response.

Weekend revenues inched toward $127 million for a modest 4% bump from seven days earlier. However, continuing the recent trend, it experienced a slight 3% ebb from 2007 when the debut of Superbad led with its $33.1 million debut. Further erosion could see summer 2008 box office a virtual carbon copy result with last year and eradicate any hope for a boost in admissions.

The Dark Knight advanced to second position among all-time box office grossers this weekend but studio estimates that it will final at about $525 million leave it significantly short of the Titanic record. Coincidently while the non-Jedi Knight passedStar Wars, the latter film’s animated episode sputtered following strong Friday matinees. Exit polls indicated a strong family audience but scant interest from series’ fans.

Following strategic festival screenings, the advance word for Vicky Christina Barcelona was upbeat with predictions of a more commercial run than the typical Woody Allen movie. Opening numbers certainly hold out the promise of a gross rivaling the $23 million domestic tally of Match Point.

Industry eyes were also paying keen attention to the opening of the 3D digital Fly Me to the Moon (it also played in about 20 Imax locations). The Belgium-produced animated film did respectably but with so many in the industry pounding the drums for stereoscopic movies as the answer to the commercial doldrums, this particular entry came up short.

– Leonard Klady

Domestic Market Share – To August 7, 2008

Top Domestic Releases – To July 31, 2008

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