It’s been a slow holiday weekend at the box office thus far, the top grossing movie from Friday through Sunday only making $12.9 million. That movie was “The American”, a thriller whose star, George Clooney, likely drew audiences into the theaters. It was followed by the heist movie “Takers”, which was number one last weekend in a close battle with “The Last Exorcism”. It has since then pulled ahead of that movie and has remained fairly steady at $11.4 million this weekend.
As for the weekend’s other two new releases, “Machete” did quite well, while “Going the Distance” sort of fell flat. “Machete”, a gory, action-packed grindhouse flick, came in third $11.3 million, narrowly missing second place. Its association with Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s “Grindhouse” and its style, which is a throwback to 1970s grindhouse films, likely drew plenty of fans of cult movies and action. “Going the Distance”, however, only debuted in fifth with $6.8 million. Like the rest of the new releases, it is rated R; unfortunately, most R-rated rom-coms have trouble finding an audience, unless they’re related to “Sex and the City”. But it is a respectable, if not outstanding, debut in what has turned out to be a very slow movie weekend (although, believe it or not, business is up 5% from last year. Perhaps more people are doing activities nearer to their homes rather than traveling this Labor Day.).
The complete list of the top 12 movies at the box office this weekend is as follows:
1. “The American”: $12.9 million
2. “Takers”: $11.4 million
3. “Machete”: $11.3 million
4. “The Last Exorcism”: $7.6 million
5. “Going the Distance”: $6.8 million
6. “The Expendables”: $6.5 million
7. “The Other Guys”: $5.4 million
8. “Eat, Pray, Love”: $4.8 million
9. “Inception”: $4.5 million
10. “Nanny McPhee Returns”: $3.5 million
11. “The Switch”: $3.06 million
12. “Vampires Suck”: $3 million
All of the movies mentioned above are currently playing in theaters in the St. Louis area. Click the links to read my full review of the movie.
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Comments
My guess is that the box office for "The American" will drop off significantly as word of mouth passes that this isn't a middle-aged "Bourne Identity." 24 hours later I like the film better than I did right after leaving the theater.
http://www.examiner.com/metroeast-in-st-louis/ian-hardin
Ian Hardin
St. Louis Metro-East Examiner
I was hoping it would be one of those movies that I would appreciate more after letting in sink in for a day or so, but that's just not the case with me, unfortunately.
hm, is the american any good? on the radio this morning they were talking about how bad it was...
I didn't like it. It's a lovely looking movie, but it's just boring. And I never felt like the story was going anywhere.
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