Tropic Thunder is a 2008 American action comedy film directed and produced by Ben Stiller and written by Stiller, Justin Theroux, and Etan Cohen. The film stars Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. as a group of prima donna actors making a Vietnam War film when their fed-up writer and director decides to drop them in the middle of the Vietnamese jungle, forcing them to portray their roles without the comforts of a film set.

Stiller initially had the idea for the film while playing a small part in Empire of the Sun (1987) and later brought on Theroux and Cohen to help him complete the script. After the film was greenlit in 2006, filming took place in 2007 on the Hawaiian island of Kauai over 13 weeks and was later deemed the largest film production in the island's history. Tropic Thunder had a massive marketing promotion, including posting faux websites for the characters, fake films, and products shown within the film; showing numerous screenings; and selling the fictional energy drink advertised in the film.

Released in the United States on August 13, 2008, it received generally good reviews with 83% of reviews positive and an average normalized score of 71%, according to the review aggregator websites Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, respectively. It earned $26 million in its opening weekend and retained the number one position for its first three consecutive weekends of release. The film went on to gross more than $180 million in theaters worldwide before its release on home video on November 18, 2008.

Plot

During the filming of Vietnam veteran John "Four Leaf" Tayback's (Nick Nolte) memoir Tropic Thunder, the stars—fading action hero Tugg Speedman (Stiller), five-time Academy Award-winning method actor Kirk Lazarus (Downey), rapper Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson), and drug addicted comedian Jeff Portnoy (Black)—behave unreasonably (with the exception of newcomer character actor Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel)). Production is going poorly: rookie director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) is unable to control the actors while filming a large war scene and $4 million of explosions go off with no cameras rolling, and filming is reported to be a month behind schedule after only five days of shooting; consequently, the media dubs the production "the most expensive war movie never made." Cockburn is ordered by studio executive Les Grossman (Tom Cruise) to get the production back on track or risk having it shut down.

Acting on Tayback's advice, Cockburn drops the spoiled actors into the middle of the jungle, where he has installed many hidden cameras and special-effect explosions rigged so he can film "guerrilla-style". The actors have only a map and a scene listing to guide them to the helicopter waiting at the end of the jungle route. Shortly after the group is dropped off, Cockburn is blown up by a land mine left by the French during the First Indochina War. Speedman attempts to convince the other actors that Cockburn's death was faked, but Lazarus remains certain that Cockburn is dead.

Unbeknown to the actors, they have been dropped in the middle of the Golden Triangle, the home of the heroin-producing Flaming Dragon gang. The Dragons believe the actors to be Drug Enforcement Administration agents. When Tayback and pyrotechnics operator Cody Underwood (Danny R. McBride) attempt to locate the now-dead director, they are captured by the drug gang, at which point Tayback is exposed as a fraud when Underwood pulls of his prosthetic hooks to reveal fully functioning arms. Meanwhile, the actors continue to trek through the hostile jungle. After Lazarus and Sandusky discover that Speedman is leading them in the wrong direction, they split off from him, with Portnoy and Chino and leave Speedman continuing to follow the film's script.

Slowly going insane, Speedman is captured and taken to the Flaming Dragon's heroin factory, which he initially believes to be a prisoner-of-war camp from the script. The gang soon realizes that he is the star of the box office bomb Simple Jack (the only movie they have, on VHS) and force him to reenact it several times a day. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Speedman's agent, Rick Peck (Matthew McConaughey), is trying to negotiate with an uninterested Grossman a to-date unfulfilled term in Speedman's contract that entitles him to a TiVo on location. When they are contacted by the Flaming Dragon gang and are asked for a ransom, Grossman instead curses out the gang and then tells Rick and Slolom, who is also present, that they can benefit more by collecting the insurance claim on Speedman's death, even offering the agent a share of the profits along with his own personal airplane.

The other actors stumble upon the Flaming Dragon's heroin factory. After seeing Speedman being tortured, they plan an ambush based on the film's plot line. Lazarus impersonates a farmer who has caught Jeff in his farm, distracting the armed guards so Chino and Sandusky can sneak into the building where the captives are held. After the gang notices inconsistencies in Lazarus' story, the actors open fire on the gang, temporarily subduing them.

Portnoy, Sandusky, Chino, and Lazarus locate Speedman and attempt an escape in Underwood and Tayback's recaptured helicopter. The gang quickly rejoins, crossing a bridge that Underwood had rigged to detonate. Speedman asks to remain behind with his "family", but he quickly returns with the murderous Dragons in hot pursuit. Tayback detonates the bridge just in time for Speedman to reach safety, but as the actors and crew escape from the jungle, the gang fires an RPG at their helicopter. A disheveled Rick unexpectedly stumbles out of the jungle carrying a TiVo box and throws it in the path of the RPG, saving them all.

Footage from the hidden cameras is compiled into a feature film, Tropic Blunder, which ends up becoming a major critical and box office hit and a multiple-Academy Award winner. The film breaks Speedman's streak of flops and he wins Best Actor, which is presented to him by the previous year's winner, Lazarus. The film concludes with Grossman dancing to "Get Back" as the credits appear beside him.

Cast

• Ben Stiller as Tugg Speedman: Compared to a young Sylvester Stallone, he is the highest-paid, highest-grossing action star ever with a current reputation of appearing in nothing but box office bombs. After a failed attempt at portraying a serious role in Simple Jack, he joins the cast of Tropic Thunder to save his career.
• Robert Downey Jr. as Kirk Lazarus: An Australian multiple Academy Award-winning method actor, who has had a controversial "pigment-changing" surgery to darken his skin for his portrayal of the African American character Sergeant Lincoln Osiris. Lazarus refuses to break character under any circumstances while filming and during the majority of the shoot, he only speaks in his character's Jive talk.
• Jack Black as Jeff "Fats" Portnoy: A drug-addicted comedian-actor well known for playing multiple parts and the frequent use of flatulence in films. Portnoy was described as portraying Chris Farley.
• Brandon T. Jackson as Alpa Chino: A rapper who is attempting to cross over into acting. His energy drink, "Booty Sweat", appears several times in the film. Late in the film, he reveals himself to be in love with a man named Lance, who is later revealed to be Lance Bass in the closing scene. His name is a play off of Al Pacino.
• Jay Baruchel as Kevin Sandusky: A young, unknown actor who is the only one of the cast who has read the script and book and attended a boot camp prior to the film. He serves as the straight man, being the only actor without an internal conflict or insecurity. A running joke in the film is that no one is able to remember Sandusky's name.
• Nick Nolte as John "Four Leaf" Tayback: The author of Tropic Thunder, the novel on which the film-within-a-film is based, who hatches the idea to drop the actors in the middle of the jungle. When they are captured by the Flaming Dragons, it is revealed that not only does he have hands (he was wearing prosthetics and claiming that he lost his hands in the war), but he was not even a war veteran.
• Tom Cruise as Les Grossman: The foul-mouthed executive behind Tropic Thunder.
• Danny McBride as Cody Underwood: The explosives expert behind the film. He assists Tayback and Cockburn in dropping the actors into the jungle. He idolizes Tayback and is heartbroken and enraged when he discovers Tayback lied about his military service.
• Matthew McConaughey as Rick "Pecker" Peck: Tugg Speedman's extremely devoted agent and best friend.
• Steve Coogan as Damien Cockburn: The inexperienced British film director who is unable to control the actors in the film. After dropping them in the jungle to finish the film, he is killed when he steps on a land mine.
• Bill Hader as Rob Slolom: Assistant and right-hand man to Les Grossman.
• Brandon Soo Hoo as Tran: The young leader of the Flaming Dragon gang.
• Reggie Lee as Byong: The second-in-command of the Flaming Dragon gang.

Cameos

There were numerous cameos throughout the film. Various actors, actresses, and other celebrities portrayed themselves including Tobey Maguire, Tyra Banks, Maria Menounos, Martin Lawrence, Jason Bateman, Lance Bass, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sean Penn, Tom Hanks, Alicia Silverstone, The Mooney Suzuki, and Jon Voight. Christine Taylor, Mini Anden, Anthony Ruivivar, and Yvette Nicole Brown had roles as minor characters in the film. Justin Theroux, the writer of the film, appeared in two brief roles as a helicopter gunner and a DJ (shown in a deleted scene).

Casting

Etan Cohen created the role of Kirk Lazarus as a way of lampooning the great lengths that some method actors will go to depict a role. Downey, Jr. was first approached by Stiller about the part while on vacation in Hawaii. Downey, Jr. said on CBS' The Early Show that his first reaction was, "This is the stupidest idea I've ever heard!" and that Stiller responded, "Yeah I know—isn't it great?" The script was initially written for Downey, Jr.'s character to be Irish, but was rewritten after Downey, Jr. stated he could improvise better as Australian (he had previously played a similar comedic Australian character in the film Natural Born Killers (1994)). In addition, Downey, Jr.'s practice of remaining in character off the film set was also written into the script for his character to perform as well. Downey, Jr. required between one and a half to two hours of make-up application to portray the African American character.

Downey acknowledged the potential controversy over his role: "at the end of the day, it's always about how well you commit to the character. If I didn't feel it was morally sound, or that it would be easily misinterpreted that I'm just C. Thomas Howell [[Soul Man (film)|Soul Man]], I would've stayed home." Brandon T. Jackson, who portrays Alpa Chino in the film, stated: "When I first read the script, I was like: What? Black face? But when I saw him [1] he, like, became a black man...It was just good acting. It was weird on the set because he would keep going with the character. He's a method actor." Stiller also commented on Downey, Jr.'s portrayal of a white actor playing a black man: "When people see the movie – in the context of the film, he’s playing a method actor who’s gone to great lengths to play an African American. The movie is skewering actors and how they take themselves so seriously." Stiller also previewed the film before several African American journalists and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, who reacted positively to the character.

Tom Cruise was initially going to cameo as Stiller's character's agent. Instead Cruise suggested creating a studio head position and it was reworked into the script. Stiller and Cruise worked together to create a middle-aged character that required a fatsuit, fake large hands, and a bald cap. Owen Wilson was then going to portray the agent, but after his suicide attempt in August 2007, he was replaced by Matthew McConaughey.

Tom Cruise's role

The role of Les Grossman, the producer behind Tropic Thunder, was played by Tom Cruise. Stiller had intended to keep Cruise's role in the film as a fat, balding movie mogul a secret until the film's release. In addition, Paramount refused to release promotional pictures to the media of Cruise's character as he appears in the film. However, in November 2007, images of Cruise wearing a bald headpiece and a fatsuit appeared on Inside Edition, as well as on the Internet. Cruise's attorneys threatened a lawsuit if photos showing Cruise in costume were published. A representative for Cruise stated: "Mr. Cruise's appearance was supposed to be a surprise for his fans worldwide. Paparazzi have ruined what should have been a fun discovery for moviegoers." The photography agency INF, who first debuted the image, responded with a statement: "While these pictures were taken without breaking any criminal or civil laws, we've decided to pull them from circulation effective immediately." MTV News reported that "...reps are reportedly having the image of a fat, balding Cruise pulled from the Internet as quickly as sites can put it up." The appearance and personality of the character is reportedly based in part on Stuart Cornfeld, Ben Stiller's producer partner of ten years.

Production

Script

{(({quote box2 |width=30em |bgcolor=#c6dbf7 |halign=left |quote="...I feel the tone of the movie is its own thing. I think there are elements of satire, but I don't think it should be categorized just as that. There are elements of parody in it, but obviously I don't think it's just that. I feel like hopefully it's its own thing, which has a lot of familiar stuff that we are playing off of."|source=—Ben Stiller, reacting to the film being called a spoof.
Ben Stiller came up with the premise for the film while shooting Empire of the Sun (1987), in which he played a small part. Stiller wanted to make a film based on the actors he knew who considered themselves "self-important" after they took part in fake boot camps to prepare for war film roles. Co-writer Theroux revealed that the intial concept for the film was to have actors go to a mock boot camp and return with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The film satirizes other Vietnam War films including Platoon, Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, Hamburger Hill, and The Deer Hunter, among others. Theroux claimed that the script was easier to write for viewers due to the increase of information that has been made available about Hollywood's inner workings from celebrity websites and Hollywood news sources.

Filming

The Hawaiian island of Kauai was first scouted as a possible location to film Tropic Thunder in 2004. Stiller spent more than 25 hours over six weeks exploring the island, using ATVs, boats, and helicopters. When the film was greenlit by DreamWorks in 2006, pre-production lasted for six months, with the majority of the time spent on scouting additional locations for filming. Although Southern California was initially suggested for filming, shooting for the film took place on Kauai, where Stiller has a home. Additional filming took place at Universal Studios in Hollywood. Kauai was selected over filming in Mexico based on a tax credit for in-state spending that was negotiated with the Kauai Film Commission.


The film was the first major studio production on the island in five years and after filming was completed, it was determined that Tropic Thunder was the largest production ever filmed on the island to date. Tim Ryan, the executive editor of Hawaii Film & Video Magazine, commented on the filming on the island: "I think Tropic Thunder will give Kaua‘i much needed and long idled publicity in the production arena...It should put Kaua‘i back on the production consideration radar." Preliminary production crews were on the island starting in December 2006 and principal photography began in July 2007, with filming lasting 13 weeks over seven separate locations on the island. Many of the sets and the bridge used for one of the final scenes were all built in three months. Due to the island's erratic weather, filming was constantly hindered by rain and lighting issues. Casting calls on the island sought 500 residents to portray the Vietnamese villagers in the film.

The film advising company Warriors Inc. was enlisted to ensure authenticity of the war scenes throughout the film, including the attire worn by the actors. Former U.S. military members taught the actors how to handle, fire, and reload the weapons as well as various tactical movements. The opening war scene was filmed over three weeks and required fifty stuntmen. Moving storyboards were used to map out the necessary camera angles for filming.

Effects

Filming the large napalm explosion in the opening scene of the film required a 450-foot (137-meter) long row of explosive pots containing 1,100 gallons (4,165 liters) of gasoline and diesel fuel. All of the palm trees that were used in the explosion were moved to the specific location after the crew determined the impact of the lighting and necessary camera angles. Due to the size and cost of the 1.25-second explosion, it was only performed once and was captured by twelve cameras. For the safety of the crew members and cast, the detonators were added one hour prior to the explosion and nobody was allowed to be within of the explosion. The explosion was made up of 12 individual explosions and resulted in a mushroom cloud that reached in the air. For the scene in the film, Danny McBride's character, Cody Underwood, was the only actor shown in the shot of the explosion. All of the other characters were added digitally. The explosion of the bridge near the end of the film used nine cameras to capture the shot, and for the safety of the crew, they were required to be away.

The visual effects throughout the film were created by six companies working on different scenes and elements of the film. The companies ended up with around 500 shots of visual effects throughout the film and were at times altered weekly due to the reactions of test audiences in screenings.
CIS Visual Effects Group, one of the visual effects companies, assisted with the Scorcher VI faux trailer and twenty additional shots for the DVD release. In order to add comedy to the film, some of the explosions and crashes were embellished to look more extreme than what would have actually occurred. The visual effects supervisor Michael Fink reflected on the exaggerated explosions: "We worked really hard to make the CG crashing helicopter in the hot landing sequence look real. Ben was adamant about that, but at the same time he wanted the explosion to be huge. When you see it hit the ground, it was like it was filled with gasoline! It was the same thing with Ben's sergeant character, who almost intercepts a hand grenade...Now, I was in the Army for three years and no hand grenade would make an explosion like that...But it was a big dramatic moment and it looks really cool...and feels kind of real."

Faux trailers

Prior to the film a faux commercial and several faux trailers are shown, in a similar matter to those shown prior to the 2007 film Grindhouse. The commercial depicts Jackson's character promoting his two brands: the "Booty Sweat" energy drink and "Bust-A-Nut" candy bar. The first trailer shows Tugg Speedman's latest film, Scorcher VI: Global Meltdown, a violent action-adventure film. Another trailer is for Jeff Portnoy's film, The Fatties: Fart 2, which spoofs Eddie Murphy's portrayal of multiple characters such as in Nutty Professor II: The Klumps. The final trailer, entitled Satan's Alley, features Kirk Lazarus and Tobey Maguire (cameoing as himself) as two gay priests at an 18th century monastery, parodies films like Brokeback Mountain and Wonder Boys.
Of the three trailers, Satan's Alley was deemed by Stiller to be the easiest to film. Serving as a last-minute replacement, Maguire was only available to be on set for two hours to film his scenes. In a later nod back to the faux trailers, at the end of the film Maguire is revealed to be one of the actors in the running for Best Actor, which he loses to Speedman.

Promotion

A trailer for the film was released in April 2008. The Calgary Herald gave it a rating of 3/5, commenting: "This could either be good or very, very bad." The trailer received the "Best Comedy Trailer" award at the 9th annual Golden Trailer Awards. DreamWorks also released a red band trailer, the first of its kind used by the studio to promote one of its films.

Appearances

[] on August 3, 2008]]
Stiller, Black, and Downey, Jr. appeared on the seventh season finale of American Idol in a sketch (funded by themselves to charity) as The Pips performing with Gladys Knight by using archival footage of her. The three actors also later performed a sketch at the 2008 MTV Movie Awards which featured the actors attempting to create a successful viral video to promote the film, with awkward results.

Between April 2008 and the film's commercial release in August 2008, the film had more had more than 250 promotional screenings. On August 3, 2008 Stiller, Black, and Downey, Jr. visited Camp Pendleton, a California Marine Corps base, to present a screening to over a thousand military members and their families. The screening was on behalf of the United Service Organizations and included the actors heading to the screening by helicopter and Humvees.
On August 8, 2008, a special 30-minute E! True Hollywood Story aired about the making of Tropic Thunder. In video games, a themed scavenger hunt was incorporated into Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 and Stiller gave the approval for allowing his likeness to be used in the online Facebook application game based on the film.

In September 2008, Stiller and Downey, Jr. attended the San Sebastián International Film Festival to promote the film. A screening was shown, but was not chosen to compete against the other films at the festival. Stiller stated "Our movie's poster doesn't really fit in. But I don't see any reason why a comedy shouldn't be part of the festival."

Faux websites and mockumentary

Several faux websites were created for the main characters and some of their prior film roles. A website for Simple Jack, a faux film exhibited within the film, was removed by DreamWorks on August 4, due to protests from disability advocates. In addition, other promotional websites were created for "Make Pretty Skin Clinic", the fictional company that performed the surgery of the film's character Kirk Lazarus, along with one for the energy drink "Booty Sweat".

In mid-July 2008, a faux trailer for the mockumentary Rain of Madness was released. The mockumentary was a parody of Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse. It follows co-writer Justin Theroux as a fictional documentarian named Jan Jürgen documenting the behind-the-scenes aspects of the film within the film. The faux documentary included a movie poster and an official website prior to Tropic Thunders release. The mockumentary was released on the iTunes Store after the film's release and was also included on the home video release. Amy Powell, an advertising executive with Paramount Pictures, reflected on the timing of the release of Madness: "We always thought that people would be talking about Tropic Thunder at the water cooler, and that's why we decided to release Rain of Madness two weeks into Tropic 's run — to keep this positive buzz going."

Energy drink

As a tie-in for the film's release, Paramount Pictures announced that it would be marketing an energy drink known as "Booty Sweat," which is shown throughout the film. The energy drink was the first product to be released concurrently with a film's release, as other fictional products are usually released prior to or after the film has ended its theater run. Michael Corcoran, Paramount's president of consumer products, commented on the release: "Not to my knowledge has this ever been done before. We're very excited, because it has the potential to live for quite a while, well beyond the film." The drink is marketed in college bookstores, on Amazon.com, and by other retailers.

Release

Theatrical release

The film had its premiere on August 11, 2008, at the Mann Village Theatre in Westwood, California, two days before the film's release in theaters. Members of several disability groups picketed before the premiere, protesting the portrayal of mental retardation shown within the film. The groups revealed that it was the first time that they had ever protested together at an event. As a result of the protest, the normally unobstructed views of the red carpet leading to the premiere was blocked off by 10-foot (3-m) high fences and there was an increase of security personnel present. When the film had its premiere in the United Kingdom in September 2008, there were no protests held.

The release date for the film's North American release was initially scheduled to be July 11, 2008, but was pushed back to August 15, before moving up two days earlier to August 13. As a result of its move from July, 20th Century Fox moved its family comedy Meet Dave in its place. The release date also shares the opening weekends for Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Mirrors. Studios consider the third week of August to be a weaker performing period than earlier in the summer due to students returning to school. However, R-rated comedies such as The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) and Superbad (2007) were released in mid-August and performed well at the box office. Reacting to Tropic Thunders release date, Rob Moore, vice chairman of Paramount Pictures, stated: "For a young person at the end of summer, you want to have some fun and forget about going back to school. What better than a crazy comedy?"

Reception

The film has received mostly positive reviews. As of January 1, 2009 the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 83% of critics gave the film a positive review based on a sample of 211 reviews, with an average score of 7.1/10. At the website Metacritic, which utilizes a normalized rating system, the film earned a favorable rating of 71/100 based on 39 reviews by mainstream critics.

After attending an industry screening in April 2008 Michael Cieply from The New York Times stated that the film was "...shaping up as one of [2]’s best prospects for the summer." Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film a positive review, writing "There are some wildly funny scenes, a few leaden ones and others that are scattershot, with humorous satire undercut by over-the-top grisliness. Still, when it's funny, it's really funny."

The faux trailers prior to the film were also focused on by critics. David Ansen of Newsweek approved of the trailers, writing "Tropic Thunder is the funniest movie of the summer — so funny, in fact, that you start laughing before the film itself has begun." Robert Wilonsky of The Village Voice was critical, saying that the trailers "...resides in the land of the obvious, easy chuckle."

Members of the cast received varying opinions by critics. Robert Downey, Jr. was praised by many critics, claiming that he "stole the show", was "...off-the-charts hilarious...", and would bring viewers "...the fondest memories of [3] work." Tom Cruise's role was lauded by Sara Vilkomerson as "...an astonishingly funny and surprising supporting performance." Logan Hill of New York argued against Cruise's cameo saying that it "...just makes him look a little lost and almost pathetic — shucking and jiving, trying to appeal to the younger moviegoers who are abandoning him."

Several critics commented on the controversy over lines in the film talking about the mentally disabled. Christian Toto of The Washington Times argued against the opposition, "Tropic Thunder is drawing fire from special interest groups for ... its frequent use of the word 'retard', but discerning audiences will know where the humor is targeted. And they’ll be laughing too hard to take offense." Kurt Loder of MTV contrasted the opposition to the lines with Downey, Jr's character portrayal of an African American, "The scene in which the derisive Alpa Chino T. Jackson nails Lazarus’ recitation of black-uplift homilies as nothing more than the lyrics to the Jeffersons theme is funny; but the one in which Lazarus quietly explains to Speedman that his Simple Jack character failed because he made the mistake of going 'full retard' — rather than softening his character with cuteness in the manner of Forrest Gump — is so on-the-nose accurate, it takes your breath away." Duane Durek of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote that the film "...is just sophomoric enough to offend. And while it is also funny, it is without the empathy or compassion to cause us to wonder why we are laughing."

A review in Variety by Todd McCarthy was critical, with McCarthy commenting: "Apart from startling, out-there comic turns by Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise, however, the antics here are pretty thin, redundant and one-note." Rick Groen of The Globe and Mail gave the film a negative review, calling it "an assault in the guise of a comedy — watching it is like getting mugged by a clown." J.R. Jones of Chicago Reader stated "The rest of the movie never lives up to the hilarity of the opening, partly because the large-scale production smothers the gags but mostly because those gags are so easy to smother."

Box office performance

Stacey Snider, the chief executive of DreamWorks, suggested that the film would earn around $30 million in its opening weekend and go on to be as successful as the 2006 film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, which earned $129 million domestically and a total of $260 million worldwide. Bob Thompson, a writer for the National Post, speculated that the film would outperform The Dark Knight which had been the number one film in domestic box office performance for the four weeks prior to the release of Tropic Thunder. In a list compiled prior to the summer's film releases, Entertainment Weekly predicted that the film would be the tenth highest domestic grossing film of the summer with $142.6 million.

Tropic Thunder opened in 3,319 theaters and, for its first five days of domestic release, earned $36,845,588. The film placed first in the weekend's box office with $25,812,796, surpassing Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Mirrors, both of which opened the same weekend. It also ended the four-week streak of the number-one film The Dark Knight. Reacting to the film's opening receipts, DreamWorks spokesman Chip Sullivan stated "We're thrilled, quite frankly. It played out exactly how we hoped." In foreign markets for the film's opening weekend, it was released in 418 Russian and 19 United Arab Emirates locations earning $2.2 million and $319,000, respectively.

The film maintained its number one position at the domestic box office for the following two weekends, making it the second film in 2008 (after The Dark Knight) to hold the number-one position for more than two consecutive weekends. The film's widest release was in 3,473 theaters, placing it in the top 25 widest releases in the U.S. for 2008. For 2008, the film is the third-highest-grossing domestic R-rated film, following Sex and the City and Wanted. The film grossed over $100 million domestically, becoming the first film Stiller directed to do so. Tropic Thunder also became Stiller's seventh, Black's fourth, and Downey, Jr.'s third film to gross more than $100 million domestically in their careers as lead actors. As of December 21, the film has had gross receipts of $110,461,307 in the U.S. and Canada and $77,502,776 in international markets for a total of $187,964,083 worldwide.

Awards

Prior to Tropic Thunders release, its trailer won the "Best Comedy Trailer" award at the Golden Trailer Awards. In October 2008, Paramount Pictures chose to put some of its end-of-year award push funds behind Tropic Thunder, and began advertising for Robert Downey, Jr. to receive a nomination by the Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor. In a November 2008 issue by Entertainment Weekly, Downey, Jr.'s film role was considered one of the three contenders for best supporting actor. As a way of extending the film-within-a-film "universe" into real life, there have also been at least two online "For Your Consideration" ads touting Downey, Jr.'s character, Kirk Lazarus, for Best Supporting Actor; one of these contains "scenes" from Satan's Alley that were not in the trailer as released in theaters. At least one of the ads was produced by Paramount and intended for early For Your Consideration awareness for Downey, Jr.'s role.

With the onset of the annual Hollywood film award season at the end of 2008, Tropic Thunder began picking up nominations and awards beginning with a win for "Hollywood Comedy of the Year Award" at the 12th annual Hollywood Film Festival on October 27, 2008. The film was nominated for best motion picture, comedy or musical, for the Satellite Awards. In addition, Downey, Jr. was nominated for best actor in a supporting role.
On December 9, the Broadcast Film Critics Association released their nominees for BFCA's Critics' Choice Awards; Tropic Thunder was nominated for Best Comedy Movie and Robert Downey Jr. was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. The awards will be presented on January 8, 2009. On December 11, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association nominated both Downey, Jr. and Tom Cruise for Golden Globes for Best Supporting Actor. Also in December, the Boston Society of Film Critics recognized the cast with its Best Ensemble award while the Screen Actors Guild nominated Downey, Jr. for Best Supporting Actor.

Home video

Tropic Thunder was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 18, 2008, in the U.S., three months after its initial release and a week after the end of its domestic theater run. The film will be released on home video on January 26, 2009 in the United Kingdom. Special features include an unrated cut of the film, audio commentaries (including one featuring Robert Downey Jr. as Lincoln Osiris, as a joke referenced in the film), several featurettes, deleted scenes, an alternate ending, and the Rain of Madness mockumentary.

For the film's first week of release, Tropic Thunder placed on several video charts. It reached second place on the the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart and Nielsen's Blu-ray Disc chart (both after WALL-E), earning $31,620,266 (not including Blu-ray sales). In rentals, it placed first on the Home Media Magazines video rental chart. As of December 21, DVD sales have totaled $52,737,325, placing it in the 25th position for most sales for 2008.

Controversy

Tropic Thunder has caused controversy in the disability advocacy community. A website for Simple Jack, a faux film exhibited within the film, was pulled on August 4 amid several groups' concerns over its portrayal of mental retardation, called "intellectual disabilities" by disability advocacy groups. A spokesman for DreamWorks said, "We heard their concerns, and we understand that taken out of context, the site appeared to be insensitive to people with disabilities." A coalition of more than 22 disability advocacy groups, including the Special Olympics and the Arc of the United States, objected to the repeated use of the word "retard", which disability advocates call "the R-word" because of its negative connotations. DreamWorks initially spoke of screening the film with the groups to determine if the film still offended the groups. However, the screening was postponed to the same day of the premiere on August 11 instead of August 8. After some representatives for the groups saw the private screening, they picketed outside the film's premiere. Timothy Shriver, the chairman of the Special Olympics, stated, "This population struggles too much with the basics to have to struggle against Hollywood. We're sending a message that this hate speech is no longer acceptable."

Disability advocates and others who previewed the film reported that the offensive treatment of individuals with mental disabilities is woven throughout the film’s plot. Disability advocates urged people not to see the film, claiming it is demeaning to individuals with mental disabilities and would encourage bullying. Stiller defended the film, stating "We screened the movie so many times and this didn't come up until very late...It's about actors and self-importance. I think the context of the movie it's pretty clear." Co-writer Etan Cohen claimed, "Some people have taken this as making fun of handicapped people, but we're really trying to make fun of the actors who use this material as fodder for acclaim." He went on to state that the film lampoons actors such as Dustin Hoffman and Tom Hanks, who portrayed mentally retarded characters in Rain Man and Forrest Gump, respectively. A DreamWorks spokesman did not directly respond to the criticism, stating that the film "...is an R-rated comedy that satirizes Hollywood and its excesses, makes its point by featuring inappropriate and over-the-top characters in ridiculous situations." The film's advertising was altered, but none of the scenes in the film were edited as a result of the opposition. In response to this controversy, the director's cut of the DVD (not the Blu-ray) includes a public service announcement that discourages use of the word "retard".

Soundtrack

The soundtrack and score for Tropic Thunder were released on August 5, 2008, the week before the film's release. The soundtrack features songs from The Temptations, MC Hammer, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Edwin Starr, and other artists. The single "Name of the Game" by The Crystal Method featuring Ryu has an exclusive remix on the soundtrack. Five songs, North American Scum by LCD Soundsystem, Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones, For What It's Worth by Buffalo Springfield, Low by Flo Rida and T-Pain, and Get Back by Ludacris, did not appear in the soundtrack, yet did appear in the film. The score was composed by Theodore Shapiro and performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony. William Ruhlmann of allmusic called the score "...an affectionate and knowing satire of the history of Hollywood action movie music, penned by an insider."

1. "Name of the Game (The Crystal Method's Big A** T.T. Mix)" by The Crystal Method (5:11)
2. "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)" by The Temptations (4:08)
3. "Run Through the Jungle" by Creedence Clearwater Revival (3:05)
4. "Sadeness (Part I)" by Enigma (4:13)
5. "U Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer (4:14)
6. "Ready Set Go" by Ben Gidsjoy (5:00)
7. "I Just Want to Celebrate" by The Mooney Suzuki (3:51)
8. "I'd Love to Change the World" by Ten Years After (3:43)
9. "The Pusher" by Steppenwolf (5:48)
10. "Movin' on Up" by Ja'net Du Bois (1:08)
11. "Frankenstein" by The Edgar Winter Group (4:45)
12. "Sometimes When We Touch" by Dan Hill (4:08)
13. "War" by Edwin Starr (3:47)
14. "I Love Tha Pussy" by Brandon T. Jackson (3:23)