Pamela McClintock of Variety
The summer box office may have ended on a whimper — with none of the Labor Day releases doing big business — but the season still ends tied with last year’s record-breaking haul in a victory for Hollywood and theater owners.
Through the Monday holiday, summer B.O. revs are estimated at roughly $4.12 billion, compared to $4.16 billion for summer 2007. Year to date, the domestic box office is down roughly 1.3% behind the same time period. Final tallies will be released Tuesday.
The Labor Day frame saw five new releases, but it was holdover DreamWork/Paramount comedy “Tropic Thunder” that won the frame for the third weekend in a row, grossing an estimated $14.3 million from 3,473 theaters for a cume of $86.6 million.
Biggest headline of the holiday—and summer, for that matter—was Warner Bros. “The Dark Knight,” which crossed the $500 million mark on Sunday, becoming only the second pic in history to make north of $500 million after “Titanic,” which ultimately cumed $600.8 million domestically. “Dark Knight’s” four-day estimated gross was $11 million for a new cume of $504.7 million, reached in only 45 days.
“Dark Knight” placed No. 3 for the weekend, while the No. 2 spot went to opener “Babylon A.D.,” from 20th Century Fox. The Van Diesel sci-fi actioner grossed an estimated $12 million fom 3,390 theaters. Pic came in on the lower end of expectations.
Among the other new offerings, Overture’s Don Cheadle-Guy Pearce political thriller “Traitor” made the best showing on the strength of adults, grossing an estimated $10 million from 2,054 runs to come in No. 5 for the long holiday weekend. Pic posted a per location average of 4,869, more than any other film in wide release. Film’s cume is $11.5 million after opening last Wednesday...
Meantime-'Dark Knight' also continues global streak...
Joshua Rich of EW:
The Hollywood satire won again, as ''Babylon A.D.'' failed to generate much Labor Day box office heat
It's hard to believe that the season is over...Went by pretty fast. How depressing.
the previews for Babylon AD made me expect something a lot more original... it totally felt like a cross between Minority Report and the Fifth Element
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