LOS ANGELES – The action comedy “Tropic Thunder” weathered a rush of new movies to remain No. 1 for a second-straight weekend with $16.1 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The Paramount-DreamWorks release – starring Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black as actors caught up in real battle while shooting a war movie – raised its 12-day total to $65.7 million.

“Tropic Thunder” came in just ahead of Sony’s campus comedy “The House Bunny,” which debuted in second place with $15.1 million. “The House Bunny” stars Anna Faris as an ostracized Playboy bunny who becomes den mother to a sorority of campus misfits.

Universal’s “Death Race” – an update of 1975’s “Death Race 2000,” with Jason Statham starring as a driver in a kill-or-be-killed auto race of the future – opened at No. 3 with $12.3 million.

The weekend’s other new wide releases, Ice Cube’s sports drama “The Longshots” and Rainn Wilson’s music comedy “The Rocker,” opened weakly.

“The Longshots” – an MGM-Weinstein Co. release starring Ice Cube as a former high school star coaching his niece, the first girl to play Pop Warner football – came in at No. 8 with $4.3 million.

20th Century Fox’s “The Rocker,” starring Wilson as an over-the-hill heavy-metal drummer who gets a chance at stardom with a high school band, took in $2.8 million to finish at No. 12.

After a run of blockbuster weekends, late summer was proving the usual dumping ground for modest movies as business slowed and audiences eased into back-to-school mode.

That opened the door for “Tropic Thunder” to repeat as the weekend’s box-office leader.

“There isn’t that divide where there’s a couple of huge movies coming every week,” said DreamWorks spokesman Chip Sullivan.

Summer’s biggest hit, “The Dark Knight,” continued its climb up the box-office charts, placing fourth with $10.3 million. The Warner Bros. Batman sequel has taken in $489.2 million on its way to becoming the second film ever to top $500 million, after “Titanic” ($600.8 million).

Overall movie revenues of $3.9 billion are slightly ahead of last summer’s record pace. But higher admission prices mean the actual number of tickets sold is down about 3 percent compared to summer 2007, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

Still, Hollywood should finish with a box-office record and a second-straight summer topping the $4 billion mark.

“Thank you, ‘Dark Knight.’ That’s added close to half a billion dollars,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers. “One film like ‘The Dark Knight’ can make a huge difference.”

In limited release, Focus Features’ comedy “Hamlet 2” pulled in $435,000. Starring Steve Coogan as a high school drama teacher staging a campy, irreverent musical sequel to Shakespeare’s play, “Hamlet 2” expands into nationwide release Wednesday.