HollywoodIdiocy.com

Only Tropic Thunder managed to draw more than $10 million in box office in the weekend preceding Labor Day, the traditional end to the summer movie season. Totals through Sunday have the Robert Downey Jr.-headed comedy coming away with $11.5 million for its third straight week atop the box office draw. As the movie that dethroned The Dark Knight from the top spot, it’s been a great summer movie season for actor Robert Downey Jr., whose Marvel Studios superhero pic, Iron Man, kicked off the summer blockbuster season.

So far, Tropic Thunder has grossed $86 million in worldwide box office, while Iron Man topped out at $571 million in worldwide box office. Together, that gives Downey Jr. $657 million in box office this summer.

By comparison, The Dark Knight has accumulated an additional $8.75 million this weekend, bringing it’s domestic total to $502 million and its worldwide total to $919 million.

So, while summer may be packing its Rimowa bags, the future looked bright for Downey Jr., who has had as much impact on summer box office success as nearly anyone, aside from the cast of The Dark Knight.

If Downey Jr. can avoid another career-derailing misstep, he should expect to see several large paydays in the near future.

In other chart news, Babylon AD debuted in second place with $9.7 million, a worrisome note considering its $70 million budget; The House Bunny came in fourth, close behind The Dark Knight, with $8.4 million. And Traitor, the Guy Pearce-Don Cheadle vehicle, rounded out the Top 5 spots with $7.9 million.

Other disappointments: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emporer has fallen to the 13 spot, grossing only $97 million to date against a $145 million budget. Star Wars: The Clone Wars is already out of the Top 10, with only $27 million grossed to date. And Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 dropped from 12 to 19 this week, drawing only $1.45 million but has already grossed $41 million against a budget of $27 million, making it a value film despite a brief run.

There are some Orlando vacations in the futures of all the folks involved in making Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The three-day total for Indy 4’s first weekend of release has reached an impressive $101 million domestically. With a Thrusday debut and a Memorial Day Monday added in, the film is set to make big bucks by the end of tonight.

With Monday total not yet in, Spielberg-Lucas-Ford action flick has so far grosses $126 million domestically and $146 million overseas, for a grand total of over $272 million combined; not bad for a movie that had a production budget of $185 million.

Prince Caspian, the second film in the Narnia Chronicles, based on the series of children’s stories by C.S. Lewis, did well enough to retain second place, but at $23 million, saw a huge, 58-percent dropoff from its debut week. Boasting a production budget of $200 million, Prince Caspian’s two-week total is $96 million domestically, and $22 million overseas, for a disappointing two-week total of only $118 million. This could make it difficult for the sequel to make its money back prior to DVD release.

That’s not a problem for Iron Man, which held on to the third spot in the box office race with an additional $20 million domestically. In release not for over three weeks, Iron man has taken in $257 million domestically and $228 million oveseas, for a staggering total of just inter $486 million; considering the film’s relatively slim $140 million budget, Iron Man stands now shoulder-to-shoulder with Spider-Man as one of Marvel Studios’ most profitable franchises.

What Happens in Vegas made just over $9 million in fourth place and then there was a huge dropoff as Speed Racer couldn’t even draw $4 million to take fifth place. Speed Races has only barely topped $36 million, contrasted to its $120 million budget, guaranteeing its stink-bomb status in this summer movie season; even with foreign box office added in, the film has barely made half of its investment back, at $61 million, and with business dropping like a rock, the best hope for producers to make their money back on Speed Racer is DVD/Blu-Ray sales.

This coming weekend is likely to be the least competitive of May, as Sex and the City and the thriller The Strangers are the only two new entries; both flicks seem unlikely to unseat Indy 4, and depending on the dynamics of the weekend, could potentially have trouble unseating Prince Caspian and Iron Man from the Top 3 spots as well.

Anyone with decent bathroom lighting can see that The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian has the goods to burst to a powerful debut in the weekend box office, but some folks weren’t sure the film would best the ultra-powerful Iron Man, now in its third week of release.

The good news for Hollywood is that Prince Caspian did beat out Iron Man to get a rock-solid grip on first place, but Iron Man did quite well, too, for its third week of release. Estimates are that Prince Caspian debuted at $56.5 million for first place, while Iron Man showed good staying power by taknig in an additional $31.2 million, bringing its domestic take to $222.4 million, and a startling $378.5 million combined between domestic and foreign box office totals.

Bouyed by good word of mouth, What Happens In Vegas took third place with a $13.8 million weekend, and the stink-bomb that is Speed Racer sank to a depressing fourth-place in its second week of release, luring in only $7.6 million. Speed Racer has a huge $120 million budget and thus far hasn’t even topped $30 million. As Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog might say, Speed Racer is a very warm, exciting movie… for me to poop on! (Apologies to Triumph creator Robert Smigel and Conan O’Brien.)

Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man proved an immovable object at the top of the box office books this weekend, grossing an estimated $50.5 million in US box office and bringing its domestic total to over $177 million. Worldwide, the superhero actioner has surpassed $276 million.

Iron Man’s total take was still two and a half times that of box office rookie, Speed Racer, which banked a mere $20.2 million; for a flick that cost over $170 million to make and was expected to gross $40 million in it’s opening weekend, Speed Racer has become the first box office bomb of the summer … and it’s not even technically summer yet.

Although “What Happens In Vegas” was only a hair behind Speed Racer at $20 million, that flick only cost $35 million to make, putting it on track to make its money back. Made of Honor and Baby Mama rounded out the top five. Iron Man is the only film in the Top 12 to go over $100 million at the box office so far, although Dr. Suess’ Horton Hears a Who boasts $150 million to date, down at number 14.

In fact, aside from Iron Man, the only movies in the top 12 to go over $50 million in box office is the gambling drama, 21, at the 12 spot with $80 million over seven weeks in release, and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” with just over $50 million.

The next movie to challenge Iron Man’s box office dominance is the family-friendly “Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” next weekend, though some industry analysts don’t expect Iron Man to day until the weekend of May 23, when Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull makes its debut.

The Paramount-Marvel Iron Man movie surpassed the weekend’s $85 million box office expectations to take in a gigantic $100 million over its first three days, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com. The superheroic romp, starring long-troubled box office star Robert Downey Jr. as a superhero with a substance abuse problem, proved to be the perfect fit between actor and character, and it’s aggressive over-expectations box office performance almost guarantees a sequel.

The move cost over $140 million to make, but with all US and foreign box office calculated to date, the studio has already raked in $200 million since its Friday global debut, with about $104 million from all US receipts (the movie debuted a day early in select markets) and over $96 million overseas.

With 96 percent of reviewers giving the film either an A or a B, it is the best-reviewed and highest-grossing superhero flick since Spider-Man, and easily places the film as the second-best Marvel superhero franchise to date, surpassing X-Men and Fantastic Four, as well as many others.

You can bet Downey, who has revived his career with this roll and these box office results, will be asking for and receiving travel trailers full of money for the inevitable sequels this film seems sure to inspire. While true to the spirit of the comic book, Iron Man’s origin was updated from its Cold War roots to a contemporary War on Terror setting, which may have also played a part in the film’s wide appeal.

Behind Iron Man, Made of Honor came in a distant second with $15 million in its first week, well below even half of its modest $40 million budget. Baby Mama came in third with over $10 million and Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay round out the top five with around $6 million each.

Box office receipts are sure to show more vitality in the top five next week, when Speed Racer joins the May race of the early summer blockbusters.

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s pregnancy-buddy pic, Baby Mama, grabbed the golden binky, topping the weekend box office competition with an $18.2 million haul. Modern “Cheech and Chong” flick, “Harold and Kumar Escape Guantanamo Bay,” took second with a still-respectable $14.5 million.

Last week’s champs, The Forbidden Kingdom and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, slipped to third and fourth place, respectively, but still took in around $11 million each. Nim’s Island marked the big drop-off, however, taking in just over $4 million and taking the fifth spot.

Overall, box office was depressed for the weekend and may be reflective of the style of pictures typically released in April. The summer blockbuster season starts next weekend with the release of Paramount/Marvel’s Iron Man, which is expected to do huge numbers.

In fact, every weekend in May has a huge anticipated blockbuster releasing; following Iron Man will be the live-action Speed Racer, followed by the Chronicles of Narnia follow-up, Prince Caspian, rounds out with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which marks four top blockbusters in the first four weeks of May, although the final weekend of May could be flat in terms of new films, since the biggest scheduled release is the Sex and the City movie, for which expectations are much lower, and is seen as counter-scheduling to the action-heavy, male demographic films like Iron Man, Speed Racer and Indiana Jones.

Expect this to be the last quiet weekend for at least the next four weeks; the box office blitz is about to begin in a big way, and you’ll want to keep your Alli close and your enemies closer.