The weekend following Labor Day has traditionally been a slumper at the box office. This year was no exception. The critically panned, largely igorned Bangkok Dangerous, which just barely kept Tropic Thunder from hitting four number one weekends in a row, couldn't even scrounge up enough cash to break the $10 million mark. And this on a generally depressing note as the record breaking box office summer winds up falling lower than the same time last year.
Bangkok Dangerous continues Nicholas Cage love/hate relationship with audiences. Following his smash box office success American Treasure 2, Bangkok only took in $7.8 million and looks to be a major loser for Cage and for Lionsgate who have $35 million tied up in the movie's budget. Meanwhile number two Tropic Thunder has proven itself something of a die hard, inching ever closer to the $100 million mark and taking in $7.5 million this weekend.
In a bizarre twist of events The House Bunny , now in its third weekend, actually managed to climb a notch on the ladder, taking over The Dark Knight on the chart and outperforming last week's newcomers Traitor and Babylon A.D., which wound up in fifth and sixth places respectively. I have no clue how an Anna Faris vehicle has managed to survive this long in the top five, but given the movie has already turned a decent profit and Faris' willingness to stick around for franchises well after they've turned sour, there's a good chance someone somewhere is already pitching House Bunny 2.
The best news of the weekend is Disaster Movie's continued poor performance. For the first time there's a good chance one of these unfunny, awful Friedberg/Seltzer crap films won't turn a profit. With any luck it will mean Lionsgate will stop giving them money to make them. Carmen Electra will just have to find some other venue to demonstrate her complete lack of talent.
