Sep 8 2008 'Bangkok Dangerous' Must Be A Really Good Movie To Make So Much Money

1. Bangkok Dangerous - Only $7.8 million? There's no way this thing is even going to make back its hairpiece budget.

2. Tropic Thunder - Thunder rolls--around in piles of money! Yes, thats what I said. ($7.5 million)

3. The House Bunny - Still empowering women with the message that you can be beautiful and smart and make blowjob jokes, earning another $5.9 million. (I don't remember if that was actually the message.)

4. The Dark Knight - It's looking like there's a chance this could beat Titanic. But only in terms of domestic profits. Never in terms of two people loving each other harder than anyone else in history. ($5.7 million)

5. Traitor - Traitor!? What the hell is Traitor!? Oh, right, it's that Don Cheadle thing, like it was last week. ($4.7 million)

Weekend Box Office Results [Box Office Mojo]

Sep 2 2008 'Disaster Movie' Unsuccessful, 'Tropic Thunder' Still Successful

Here's your weekend box office report. Congratulations, society, for not seeing Disaster Movie that much.

1. Tropic Thunder - With Ben Stiller's comedy topping the box office for the third week in a row, I'm almost starting to think of the guy as more than just The Heartbreak Kid. Almost. ($11.5 million)

2. Babylon A.D. - $9.6 million--that's almost $2.5 million for each percentage point its earned on Rotten Tomatoes.

3. The Dark Knight - $8.6 million, bringing the domestic total to over $500 million. The Warner Brothers finally have enough money to invest in themed crime-fighting gadgets to avenge their murdered parents.

4. The House Bunny - Fine, keep seeing this movie, but please, don't buy an actual bunny for the home. They're horrible pets. ($8.3 million.)

5. Traitor - What the hell is Traitor? Oh, right, that Don Cheadle thing. That made $7.8 million.

Weekend Box Office [Box Office Mojo]

Aug 28 2008 'Rain of Madness' is Free on the iTunes

Rain of Madness, a documentary parody of Apocalypse Now documentary Hearts of Darkness chronicling the making of Tropic Thunder (the fake Tropic Thunder within real Tropic Thunder, obviously) is now available for free on iTunes. It sounds like a thick, mucusy wad of meta I can't yet bear to swallow, but you can check it out here. I'll probably just wait for the fake book within a book.

Aug 25 2008 'Tropic Thunder' is Still a Popular Film

Because you love it, the weekend box office results:

1. Tropic Thunder - Is there a Hi-C flavor based on this yet? Because Tropic Thunder Punch is at least as sound an idea as the Ghostbusters-based Ecto Cooler. ($16.1 million)

2. The House Bunny - Audiences made it clear which side they support in the battle between wretched comedy and cars with spikes and flames and shit. On the wretched comedy side. ($15.1 million)

3. Death Race - But there was a large, paying minority that said, "No, but seriously, cars with spikes and flames and shit." ($12.3 million)

4. The Dark Knight - Someone had to bring Batman down eventually, but Death Race and House Bunny? That's like letting a lame villain introduced in 1993 be the one to break Batman's back. ($10.3 million)

5. Star Wars: The Clone Wars - The Force is strong with this one. Because people have to be forced to see it! A'BOOSH! (Still, enough people saw it for it to make $5.7 million.)

Weekend Box Office [Box Office Mojo]

Aug 19 2008 'Tropic Thunder' Proves Itself the More Popular Movie Featuring a Guy in Heavy Makeup

Weekend box office results!

1. Tropic Thunder - $25.8 million, finally answering the question of if [the actor who played] Iron Man could beat [the movie] Batman in a fight [between their movies, one of which came out a month prior].

2. The Dark Knight - Oh, how the mighty have fallen... one spot... after five weeks... and after earning over $470 million. ($16.4 million)

3. Star Wars: The Clone Wars - $14.6 million, because it's terrible.

4. Mirrors - $11.1 million, a number that, when held to a mirror, remains the same. Spooky, huh? Except how the decimal point is in the wrong spot, and the dollar sign is reversed and at the end, and I rounded down the last 1 even though it was technically $11.16 million, so that's also not entirely accurate. Still, spooky.

5. Pineapple Express - Dropping three spots with only $9.8 million after many people planning to see it decided instead to finish this South Park then laugh at that channel where they sell all those knives.

Weekend Box Office Results [Box Office Mojo]

Jul 8 2008 'Tropic Thunder' International Trailer, for the Fart-Loving Foreigners

It still feels like watching an extended MTV Awards sketch to me--largely because the last MTV Awards sketches were just extended commercials for this movie--but there is a new international trailer for Tropic Thunder. If there was any question whether Ben Stiller's latest would be a biting satire or just a collection of fart jokes, let me point out that this trailer literally contains a fart delivered as a joke. I'm not saying the film will necessarily consist entirely of fart jokes, but I'm the kind of guy who finds some mold on his bread and throws away the whole loaf. By which I mean I'll wait until this sweeps the MTV Movie Awards before I'll bother with it.

Continue Reading " 'Tropic Thunder' International Trailer, for the Fart-Loving Foreigners "

May 23 2008 'Tropic Thunder' Poster is Triumvirate of Laughs

This is the version of Cerberus that guards the gates of Comedy Heaven. To get through you have to resist laughing, which is clearly impossible after seeing those wacky expressions, so it's likely no one will ever reach Comedy Heaven.

Tropic Thunder Poster [IMPA]

Apr 22 2008 Can RDJ Out-Ham Jack Black in 'Tropic Thunder'? Visual Proof!

Yes. Yes he can. It was a hard-fought war, with bright hair and teeth clashing like bleached swords, but in the end the victory went to the faux-Aryan on the left. And don't forget, you can see all the intense hamminess in action in the trailer.

New Tropic Thunder Photos [/Film]

Mar 10 2008 'Tropic Thunder' Humorless Teaser Trailer

Many traditionalists will argue that a teaser trailer to a comedy should, in some way, hint at the presence of humor--that there should be some indication that comedy may occur. Not so, says this trailer to Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder, noting that Robert Downey Jr. in blackface and a man saying "motherf***er" could almost be considered humor if you've never smiled before.

But seriously, were there jokes in this? Where? More importantly, why does it look like a fan-made trailer, cobbled together from available production stills and an Entertainment Weekly feature?

Continue Reading " 'Tropic Thunder' Humorless Teaser Trailer "

Mar 5 2008 First Look at 'Tropic Thunder', RDJ as C. Thomas Howell

In the seven years since directing Zoolander, Ben Stiller has had a lot of time to decide the next ego-driven profession to lance with the blunt skewer of broad comedy. With Tropic Thunder, Stiller transitions from male models to the realm of self-important actors, and has replaced the intense model-stare he so frequently employed with a new face: blackface. Yes, if the black man in above image looks familiar, it's because that's RDJ:

Robert Downey Jr. plays Kirk Lazarus, a very serious Oscar-winning actor cast in the most expensive Vietnam war epic ever filmed. Problem is, Lazarus's character, Sgt. Osiris, was originally written as black. So Lazarus decides to dye his skin and play Osiris, um, authentically.

It's obviously dangerous territory, but Stiller assured Entertainment Weekly that he "recently screened a rough cut for African-Americans, and was relieved at the reaction." Stiller also informed the magazine that he's now allowed to use "the N-word" because he's got this black friend, and he's totally cool with it.

Does Jack Black look like a fat version of the villain from Who Framed Roger Rabbit? to anyone else?

Stiller's new comedy [EW]

Sep 19 2007 McConaughey Steals Wilson's Thunder (Role)

Variety reports a muscley, shirtless Matt McConaughey has been added to the cast of Ben Stiller's upcoming comedy Tropic Thunder, taking a role formerly filled by Owen Wilson prior to his attempted suicide. Though the part is only a small, uncredited cameo, the loss must surely be making Wilson wonder if it's all worth it. I mean, if you're so easily replaced, will anyone care if you're gone, forever? With close friends Stiller and Jack Black shooting the film in Hawaii, you'll just be sitting around alone. Desperate, abandoned, and alone. Even though you can't shoot with them, and while Kate Hudson has surely moved on to a man as well-built and good-looking as McConaughey (your replacement, don't forget), perhaps there's still some way you can get all their attention while teaching them a lesson...

Too soon?

McConaughey storms into 'Thunder' [Variety]