Shared Darkness

I’ve wondered if it actually exists, but Nicolas Cage’s Bangkok Dangerous proved its state of being — or at least extended a good ruse — by pulling in an estimated $7.8 million over the weekend, good enough to take the top spot at the box office during the weakest weekly frame of overall moviegoing in five years. No other new releases cracked the top 10.

Ben Stiller’s R-rated ensemble comedy Tropic Thunder held onto the second spot, adding an estimated $7.5 million to its coffers, which now stand at $96.8 million overall. Anna Faris’ The House Bunny placed third, with $5.9 million, and $37 million overall. Director Christopher Nolan‘s The Dark Knight
finished fourth for the weekend, with $5.7 million, and its $512.2 million overall domestic gross pushed closer to Titanic‘s $600 million record. Rounding out the top 10 were Don Cheadle’s Traitor with $4.6 million ($17.7 million overall); Vin Diesel’s City of Men Babylon A.D., with $4 million ($17.2 million overall); Death Race, with $3.6 million ($29.8 million overall); the aptly named Disaster Movie, with $3.3 million ($10.9 million overall); the ABBA-inflected stage musical adaptation Mamma Mia!, with $2.7 million ($136.3 million overall); and, lastly, Pineapple Express, with $2.4 million ($84.2 million overall).

In limited release, Hamlet 2 grossed $819, bringing its haul to $4.4 million; Randall Miller’s ensemble wine dramedy Bottle Shock took in around $579,000, moving its total to $3.3 million; Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz’s Elegy added $482,000 to its five-week total, which now stands at $2.4 million; Kingsley’s wintry strangers-on-a-train mystery Transsiberian, meanwhile, grossed $385,000, and has taken in $1.4 million in just under two months; and the solid arthouse hit Brideshead Revisted added
$186,000 to its cumulative gross of
$6.2 million.