Rush Hour 3 speeds to the top of the US box office

And so the summer of threequels ends not with a bang or a whimper, but with both: a whimper of a movie that managed a small bang at the US box office.

The surely unnecessary – except to New Line’s accountants – Rush Hour 3 stomped over some bad reviews to win the US public’s cinema-going trust and arrived with an estimated $50.2 million, rather less than the second instalment.

That meant The Bourne Ultimatum snuck down one place in its second week, nabbing $33.7 million and pushing its total to $132.3 million, not bad when you consider it cost $110 million to make. That in turn shoved The Simpsons Movie down to third, with Homer and co taking in $11.1 million for a $152.2 million total in the US alone.

Despite some decent – if mixed – reviews, Matthew Vaughn’s fantasy epic Stardust could only manage to launch in fourth place, making $9 million. It’ll need a little more magic than that to earn back its $70 million budget. The top five was rounded out by live-action ‘toon adaptation Underdog, which grabbed $6.5 million, with $24.7 million in its financial kennel thus far.

Heading into the middle of the charts, we find Hairspray sitting pretty in sixth place, with a running total of $92.1 million so far. Seventh place went to I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry, with Adam Sandler’s latest making $5.95 million this week for a $103.8 million total. Eighth was Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix, which has now made a healthy $272 million in the US alone.

And so to the bottom, where cooking romantic drama No Reservations sits at ninth after showing some weaker-than-expected legs. The Catherine Zeta-Jones film has made $32 million so far. But that’s still better than this week’s third new arrival in 10th – Daddy Day Camp. With America suddenly finding its sense of taste, audiences stayed away from the misfiring comedy sequel, which couldn’t even tempt Eddie Murphy back. Thankfully, there is still a Cuba Gooding Jr in the world and he gamely agreed to lead this one. It made just $3.6 million and that sound Cuba is hearing is the Academy demanding the return of his Oscar right now…