George Clooney, Thekla Reuten, The American
The Anton Corbijn-George Clooney thriller/drama The American was the no. 1 movie on Labor Day Monday, Sept. 6, at the North American box office, according to studio estimates found at Box Office Mojo. That feat is less impressive than it sounds.
After six days, The American hasn’t even reached $20m domestically, cuming at $19.54m. Its per-theater Monday average was less than that of John Luessenhop’s heist thriller Takers on its second weekend out: $1,158 vs. $1,179.
Featuring Hayden Christensen, Paul Walker, Matt Dillon, Chris Brown, and Idris Elba, Takers was the no. 2 movie, with $2.6m.
Right on its heels was Ethan Maniquis and Robert Rodriguez’s Machete, with $2.57m. If estimates are correct, the exploitation action-thriller has already fallen below the daily $1,000-per-theater mark: $964 on Day 4.
Machete features Danny Trejo, Robert De Niro, Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Steven Seagal, Don Johnson, Jeff Fahey, and Cheech Marin.
At no. 4, Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables earned $1.85m, closely followed by Drew Barrymore and Justin Long’s romantic comedy Going the Distance with $1.71m.
The Julia Roberts-Javier Bardem-James Franco romantic drama Eat Pray Love brought in $1.45m at no. 6.
Next in line were Daniel Stamm’s mockumentary The Last Exorcism with $1.37m at no. 7 and the Will Ferrell-Mark Wahlberg comedy The Other Guys with $1.35m at no. 8.
Rounding out the top twelve were Christopher Nolan-Leonardo DiCaprio’s Inception with $1.3m; Emma Thompson’s Nanny McPhee Returns with $1.16m; Despicable Me, back among the top twelve, with $1m; and Jason Bateman-Jennifer Aniston’s The Switch.
Vampires Suck was kicked out of the top twelve, while Avatar: Special Edition made less money than Piranha 3D ($633k vs. $615k) according to studio estimates.
Among the top twelve movies, Takers had the highest per-theater average, the aforementioned $1,179. Nanny McPhee Returns had the lowest, $430.
Also among the top twelve, Despicable Me and Nanny McPhee Returns posted the lowest Sunday-to-Monday decreases, -7.4% and -7.5%, respectively. The Last Exorcism posted the sharpest attendance drop, -41.9%.
Photo: The American (Giles Keyte / Alliance Atlantis)