Tropic Thunder is a 2008 action comedy film produced and directed 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 decide to abandon them in the middle of the jungle, forcing them to fight their way out.

Stiller initially had the idea for the film while playing a small part in Empire of the Sun , 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 deemed the largest film production in the island's history. Tropic Thunder had a large 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.

The film met controversy among the disability advocacy community prior to its release on August 13, 2008. It received generally positive 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 over $150 million worldwide.