The much talked about and heavily protested comedy “Tropic Thunder” held on to the top spot at the box office scoring $14.3 million in ticket sales this Labor Day weekend. Now in its third straight week as the top grossing movie, the Ben Stiller spoof has now brought in $86.6 million to date, according to studio estimates reported today.

Newcomer “Babylon A.D.” snagged the number two spot with a respectable $12 million, despite the film’s own director, Mathieu Kassovitz, calling the film “pure violence and stupidity” in an interview with Sci-Fi Scanner. The film starring Vin Diesel and Michelle Yeoh was the highest grossing of this weekend’s new releases that also saw “Traitor” and “Disaster Movie” land in the top ten.

Once again, it was another week and another milestone for the caped crusader. “The Dark Knight” surpassed the $500 million mark, scoring third place this week with $11 million in its seventh week out. It becomes only the second film to ever exceed the $500 million barrier, only trailing the mega-hit “Titanic” which grossed more than $600 million.

The “House Bunny” starring Anna Faris came in at $10.5 million in its second week, bringing its total to $30 million. “Death Race” ($8.19 million), “Mamma Mia!” ($5.79 million), “Pineapple Express” ($4.5 million) and “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” ($3.53 million) round out this week’s top ten grossing films.

TFL and ATBS for ticketing professionals

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Box Office Grosses
Week Ending September 1, 2008

Rank Title Weekend Total Gross
1 Tropic Thunder (2008) $14.3M $86.6M
2 Babylon A.D. (2008) $12M $12M
3 The Dark Knight (2008) $11M $505M
4 The House Bunny (2008) $10.5M $30M
5 Traitor (2008) $10M $11.5M
6 Death Race (2008) $8.19M $25M
7 Disaster Movie (2008) $7M $7M
8 Mamma Mia! (2008) $5.79M $133M
9 Pineapple Express (2008) $4.5M $80.9M
10 Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) $3.53M $13.3M