So, Bangkok Dangerous finally knocked Tropic Thunder out of its spot at the top of the weekend box office, but it was nothing to be proud of. Bangkok led all movies with $7.8 million at the box office on the slowest box office weekend in seven years.

One of few criticisms people have about the war in Vietnam is that the war was unwinnable, a quagmire from which there was no escape. Well, Ben Stiller has proven that the war was indeed winnable... or, at least, that a movie about people making a movie about Vietnam can be a winner at the box office. For the third weekend in a row, Tropic Thunder has taken the #1 spot, pulling in another $14.3 million over the long holiday weekend for a total gross (so far) of $86.6 million. While the movie's controversy seemed to have helped it at first, the repeat business can only be from positive word-of-mouth -- or possibly the fact that the rest of the movies coming out this weekend and last looked so devastatingly boring.

Although in many parts of the country it's still sweatier than a sumo wrestler in a sauna, the U.S. summer box office will be wrapping up the season as we head into Labor Day weekend. How did things go over the last few months? Better than expected, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Going into this weekend, "Nielsen EDI data showed domestic tallies of $3.96 billion that are sure to rise to beyond $4 billion by the Monday holiday." The box office was surprisingly strong "thanks to unsurprisingly robust sequels and a shockingly lucrative performance by the latest installment in a 19-year-old superhero franchise." The latter refers, of course, to The Dark Knight, although I have to wonder why its success is considered so shocking. Was anyone expecting, say, Meet Dave to siphon off some of the Bat's profits?

In a week of low-wattage premieres, the thrown-into-the-spotlight Tropic Thunder has topped the box office once again. Between Ben Stiller going "full retard," Robert Downey Jr. going "full blackface" and Tom Cruise going "full fat, Jewish guy," the buzz and controversy translated into another $16.1 million this weekend, racking up a total of $65.6 million since its debut on August 13th. Which left new films The House Bunny and Transporter Thr-- er, Death Race in second and third place with $15.1 million and $12.3 million, respectively (if not respectfully).

Pineapple Express underachieved on its opening weekend, causing the Watchmen-addicted Zach to incorrectly predict it would unseat The Dark Knight. I challenged him, stating that Tropic Thunder would be Batman's nemesis. He said I was crazy, and I was -- like a fox! Let's look at this logically: On one hand, you have a stoner movie. They're having a resurgence thanks to Judd Apatow and company. On the other hand, you have a movie that, in the name of satire, makes fun of Blacks, Asians, and the mentally challenged. It also has a Scientologist using more Jewish stereotypes in his performance than a Mel Brooks movie on crack. And let's not forget the gory war violence and farts! How could anybody predict that Middle America would resist this movie?! You don't need to be Miss Cleo to get this one. While I wrestle Zach for the one measly dollar I've won, which he refuses to pony up, here are this weekend's box office numbers.

It seems that I owe MWoP blogger Odie Henderson a dollar. Odie swore to me that Pineapple Express would not beat The Dark Knight at the box office this weekend, that in fact Batman would stay perched on his high gargoyle until Tropic Thunder came along. While that latter part remains to be seen, it does seem like my estimation of Seth Rogen and James Franco as Bat-breakers on a par with any of Arkham Asylum's inmates was incorrect.

Riddle me this, riddle me that -- who can possibly defeat the big, bad Bat? Not Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, three yetis and an army of zombies, that's for sure. The Dark Knight topped the box office for the third week in a row, bringing in an additional $43.8 million, for a grand total so far of 394.9 million in the U.S. alone -- plus $200 million overseas. And the film has yet to open in Germany and Russia. That's Bruce Wayne folding money, son! Sadly, Batman will be defeated next weekend by the combined forces of the Green Hornet (Seth Rogen) and the Green Goblin (James Franco) in the stoner action flick Pineapple Express. C'est la vie!

With news of comedies suffering at the box office, Disney must be sweating over releasing Kevin Costner's Swing Vote on Friday. The film stars Il Costino as a good ol' boy whose single vote will determine the Presidential election. That alone should file this under "Suspension of Disbelief the Size of Jupiter Needed," but when the trailer reveals that Costner has to choose between Dennis Hopper and Kelsey Grammer, we're talking universe-sized pretending here. Whom would you vote for? I can't decide, and the only pull for me to see the film is to discover who actually wins.

The Dark Knight didn't just win its second weekend at the box office, it made another $75.6 million. That's more than twice what the No. 2 movie, Step Brothers, could muster, with its $30 million opening weekend.

So, we only have one day left (unless you're going to the midnight showing tonight, which I am not because I am old and can't stay up that late anymore) before we all get to find out whether or not the X-Files movie is going to suck. For those of us who are hardcore fans, it's a bit of a sticky wicket. On the one hand, I've heard from an X-Phile friend "if it sucks or does badly in theaters, it serves them right for beating the show into the ground its last two years." On the other, I think, are the rest of us who really just want to see the franchise do well against everything else that's currently in theaters. (And I don't know if you've heard, but that Batman movie's doing pretty okay.)