'Thunder' rules US boxoffice, 'Dark Knight' breaks 500 million

The Ben Stiller comedy "Tropic Thunder" was the most-watched movie across North American over the long US Labor Day weekend, but it was "The Dark Knight" that made news by breaking the 500-million-dollar mark, industry figures showed Sunday.

• Stiller's movie-within-a-movie, about a group of actors shooting a war film in the middle of a real-life conflict zone, scooped 14.3 million dollars from Friday to Monday in the United States and Canada, totaling 86.6 million since its opening, according to preliminary figures by box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
• But the week's highlight was reigning summer blockbuster "The Dark Knight," which earned a third place take of 11.02 million dollars, pushing its total domestic haul to 504.7 million. The the Batman sequel is only the second film in history -- after James Cameron's "Titanic" -- to top the half-billion-dollar mark.
• Debuting at second place was Babylon A.D., a sci-fi action thriller starring Vin Diesel and Michelle Yeoh which earned 12 million dollars.
• Slipping two places to fourth with 10.5 million was the comedy "The House Bunny," about an ousted Playboy bunny who becomes the house mother at a dysfunctional college sorority.
• Fifth with 10 million dollars was another debut, "Traitor," a war-on-terror epic featuring Don Cheadle as a former US Special Ops officer and potential international conspirator.
• "Death Race," a futuristic action-adventure flick starring Jason Statham as an ex-convict forced to compete against prison inmates in a brutal, freedom-or-death car race, raked in 8.2 million dollars for sixth place.
• Debuting at seventh with 7 million was the natural disaster spoof "Disaster Movie," about a band of bunglers struggling to survive as the world comes to an end. The ill-timed film opened as the US Gulf Coast faces the imminent wrath of Hurricane Gustav.
• Holding on to eight place was the Abba musical remake "Mamma Mia!" with 5.8 million dollars, for a total seven-week take of 132.9 million, followed by marijuana comedy "Pineapple Express," starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, which earned 4.5 million.
• Rounding out the top 10 was Woody Allen's latest film, the romantic comedy "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," with 3.5 million.