'Thunder' on top

September 1, 2008

Action-film parody "Tropic Thunder" clung to first place at the North American box office for a third straight week as the summer moviegoing season sputtered to a lackluster close, Hollywood studios reported yesterday. Paramount Pictures' farcical combat movie within a comedy, starring Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., and Jack Black, sold an estimated $11.5 million in US and Canadian tickets Friday through yesterday to bring its three-week tally to $83.8 million. While the final weekend heading into the Labor Day holiday is typically one of the slowest of the summer, the box office was especially lethargic despite five new films competing for attention. None of those even managed to even crack the $10 million mark. "It was an underwhelming end to a phenomenal summer," said Paul Dergarabedian, head of box office tracking service Media By Numbers. The biggest competition for "Tropic Thunder" came from a real action flick, the sci-fi thriller "Babylon A.D." from 20th Century Fox starring Vin Diesel, which grossed an estimated $9.7 million in its first weekend to land at No. 2. Batman sequel "The Dark Knight" climbed up a notch on the box office chart to No. 3 with weekend receipts of nearly $8.8 million, pushing its cumulative domestic haul to an estimated $502 million after 45 days in release. (Reuters)

Bruce Springsteen ended his world tour over the weekend, toned down but revved up. Springsteen played more than 30 songs over 3 1/2 hours Saturday night on Milwaukee's lakefront for Harley-Davidson's 105th anniversary celebration. He made few comments between songs. Only for a few moments before "Livin' in the Future" did the rocker - who often brings his liberal-leaning views to the stage - stray into politics, complaining about "things that basically at the heart are un-American." Springsteen performed to a crowd not unlike the one that gave Republican presidential candidate John McCain a warm welcome Aug. 4 at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota. The crowd in Milwaukee gave scattered groans but mostly stayed silent. He did not play "Born in the U.S.A," his anthem about the difficulties Vietnam war veterans faced, or the anti-war ballad "Devils and Dust" about Iraq. (AP)

"Sopranos" star James Gandolfini married his girlfriend in Hawaii, People magazine reported. The 46-year-old actor tied the knot with Deborah Lin, 40, during a 20-minute church ceremony Saturday in her hometown of Honolulu, People said, attributing its report to an unidentified guest. It marks the second marriage for Gandolfini, who won three Emmy Awards for his portrayal of mobster Tony Soprano in HBO's drama. (Reuters)

A dust storm chased away some participants from the counterculture Burning Man festival before its traditional climax Saturday night on the northern Nevada desert, authorities said. The annual celebration of radical self-expression was scheduled to climax with the torching of its 40-foot signature effigy. The crowd reached a record 49,599, up from 47,097 last year, authorities reported. (AP)