In a pattern that is getting depressing in its regularity, Rush Hour 3, another 'threequel,' topped the weekend box office with an estimated take of $50.2 million--a solid performance, but well under the $67.4 opening of Rush Hour 2 in 2001.  Part of the reason that Rush Hour 3 was not able to match its predecessor's performance was stiff competition for the action film audience from The Bourne Ultimatum, which dropped just 51.4% from its opening weekend total (a stellar second week performance these days) earning an estimated $33.7 million and raising its 10-day cumulative to $132.3 million.

The Simpsons Movie fell 55% in its third weekend, but still brought in $11.1 million, which was more than enough to secure third place.  The movie version of the long-running TV hit has now earned $152 million domestically (and even more overseas.  Given The Simpsons Movie's estimated $75 million cost, it appears that Maggie's first word, 'sequel,' is likely to become a reality.

The fate of Paramount's Stardust, which is based on the illustrated novel by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess, appears less kind, though it is still too early to make a definitive pronouncement.  Stardust, which cost an estimated $70 million to make, earned a mere $9 million during its opening weekend thanks to a very mediocre $3547 per theater average.  The fantasy category has been hot lately, but Stardust may have to make its money back in overseas markets and on DVD, a format in which fantasy movies have generally prospered.  

Meanwhile Underdog (-44.3%), Hairspray (-31%), I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (-44%), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (-43.4%), No Reservations (-40.4%), Transformers (-45.4%) and Ratatouille (-41.6%) all held up quite well, which only serves to intensify the battle for screen space.  In its sixth weekend of release Transformers finally dropped out of the top ten for the first time and has now earned $302.9 million, while Ratatouille does now look like it will end up breaking the $200 million barrier.

Lionsgate and After Dark Films had the 'bomb of the week' with the horror film Skinwalkers, which earned a mere $565,000 at 737 theaters with a pitiful $766 per theater average and became the latest in a long line of gross-out fright flicks to die a horrible wrenching death at the box office this summer.  The horror genre may have to hope for the Halloween season and the injection of some new narrative blood in the form of 30 Days of Night for a revival.