Annoying Brit comic Steve Coogan will likely be banished to Hollywood’s supporting ranks after the failure of “Hamlet 2,” a sloppy variation on “Waiting for Guffman” that Focus bought at Sundance this year for a record $11 million. Broadening to 1,500 screens during its second weekend, the show-biz spoof died in 17th place with just $1.7 from Friday to Sunday, the worst of the five wide openings. Coogan was a replacement for Nicolas Cage, who was attached when the film was in development at New Line Cinema. “Tropic Thunder,” wherein Coogan’s obnoxious character is killed at the end of the first reel, held onto the top slot for a third weekend pretty much by default. “Babylon A.D.,” the latest in a summer string of under performers from Fox, could only manage $9.7 million and second place. By contrast the fifth place, $7.9 million finish for “Traitor” was a more than respectable showing for a serious terrorist thriller toplined by Don Cheadle. “Disaster Movie” was a disaster for Lionsgate, scraping up just $6.2 million in seventh place, while MGM continued its slow descent toward oblivion with “College” in 15th place, with most if not all of its $2.1 million gross kept by theater owners to cover the air-conditioning bills. The final figures are out today, but Variety figures the four-day weekend was off around 14 percent from 2007, when the Weinsteins scored a rare post-Miramax hit with the $26.4 million opening of “Halloween.” On the positive side, the Hollywood Reporter estimates that $4 billion worth of tickets were sold over the 18-week summer season despite a flatlining economy. And “The Dark Knight” became only the second film in history (after “Titanic”) to cruise past the $500 million mark, with Variety predicting a finally domestic tally of $530 million, or $70 million short of the “Titanic” cume. Another winner this weekend was the crowd-pleasing “Mamma Mia!’ which quietly danced past “Chicago” as the No. 2 grossing musical of the modern era thanks to a sing-along version that boosted ticket sales by 2 percent. “Grease” holds the record with $188 million.