BEN Stiller’s action film parody Tropic Thunder remained at the top of the US box office for a third week, beating off the challenge of proper action movie Babylon AD, which landed at second despite terrible reviews.

Stiller’s comedy, starring himself, Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black, grossed an estimated $11.5 million from Friday, August 29 to Sunday, August 31 to bring its three-week tally to $83.8 million.

Babylon AD, meanwhile, took an estimated $9.7 to take second spot. The futuristic action flick, based on the novel Babylon Babies, finds Vin Diesel as a mercenary who must transport mankind’s last hope from New Russia to New York.

It’s been publicly criticised by its own director, who objected to the involvement of distributor Twentieth Century Fox during the production process.

Elsewhere at the US box office, Batman movie The Dark Knight actually climbed back up the chart, to take third spot, with estimated weekend receipts of nearly $8.8 million.

The success means that its cumulative domestic haul has just past the $500 million mark in its seventh week of release, making it the second-highest-grossing American film of all time, behind Titanic. It remains unlikely to surpass that film’s total.

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