Eek. And I thought a $14 million weekend was bad.

Seven days ago, Tropic Thunder reached the #1 spot despite an unimpressive box office turnout. This week, Bangkok Dangerous accomplished that same achievement—with only $7.7 million dollars.

While number crunchers weren’t expecting stellar numbers (kids are back in school, football’s back gone), the underwhelming response to Nicolas Cage‘s latest film was a bit surprising. Not only did the film industry have its worst weekend of 2008, Bangkok had the lowest take for any first-placed flick in five years. (Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star topped with $6.6 million in 2003.)

The bad news? This dismal performance is just one more chink in Nicolas’ uneven career. Anyone remember last September’s Wicker Man? That movie had a $9.6 million debut. The good news? If you’re a National Treasure fan, you’re pretty much guaranteed another sequel. As a matter of fact, Cage has pretty much promised to milk that cash cow already.

1. Bangkok Dangerous, Lionsgate, $7,783,266 (avg. $2937)
2. Tropic Thunder, Dreamworks/Paramount, $7,230,710 (avg. $2098)
3. The Dark Knight, Warner Bros., $5,515,119 (avg. $2142)
4. The House Bunny, Sony, $5,512,870 (avg. $2015)
5. Traitor, Overture Films, $4,274,297 (avg. $2028)
6. Babylon A.D., 20th Century Fox, $4,180,570 (avg. $1221)
7. Death Race, Universal, $3,710,915 (avg. $1435)
8. Disaster Movie, Lionsgate, $3,031,307 (avg. $1147)
9. Mamma Mia!, Universal, $2,855,945 (avg. $1500)
10. Pineapple Express, Sony, $2,255,875 (avg. $1252)

(You can review last week’s numbers here.)