Historically, Labor Day Weekend closes the more-or-less explosive summer movie season not with a bang, but a whimper, and this weekend doesn’t look like it’s going to buck that overall trend. Perhaps because filmgoers are fatigued by successive summer blockbusters clamoring for their attention (though this year, maybe not so much), or because studios have become wary of the date, it has become an uncomfortable no man’s land between the big-budget actioner period and the awards-hopeful drama season. Whether the chicken or the egg is to blame, it seems folks don’t go to the cinema much around this time of year — possibly they’re aware that a darkened theater isn’t the best place to show off the whites they’re wearing for the last time this season.
That said, this weekend’s 3-day totals look to be around the same as last year’s, with the top 12 films taking in a total of around $81m, a marked improvement on 2007 and 2008’s figures for the same period – a lot due this year to a large upswing in attendance on Saturday, making up for poor Friday night figures. It also meant we were treated to a more-difficult-to-call-than-usual fight for the number one spot, with three new releases (“The American,“ “Machete” and “Going the Distance”) targeting very different audiences, and last week’s biggies “Takers” and “The Last Exorcism” also hanging in there.
It was Anton Corbin’s George Clooney-starrer “The American” that pulled ahead of the pack after a slow enough start, its $16m 3-day seeming to prove once again, that although the buzz online and in various polls may have been louder about Robert Rodriguez’s “Machete,” when it comes right down to it, more people will shell out their hard-earneds to watch an established movie star in a thriller, albeit a low-key one, than will go see a hard-R cameo-studded B-movie. That’s in theaters at least — no doubt the films’ relative lives internationally and on DVD/TV will tell their own stories. In any case, it’s kinda nice to be able to champion the number one film for once, while its pace may be too slow and considered for some (RT 61%, MetaCritic 62), we liked it quite a bit. And that opening, while modest in the scheme of things, may be enough to push it into being one of the top Labor Day openers of all time, an impressive-sounding feat till you realize that the current holder of that top honor is 2007’s “Halloween” rehash.
Turns out the real battle is for second place, with BoxOfficeMojo and Deadline disagreeing as to who gets the silver at this point in time. It’s certainly close to the wire with Nikki Finke and Brandon Gray agreeing that “Machete”‘s 3-day will be around around $11.3m, but disagreeing on “Takers”’ er, take — Mojo put it at $11.5m, Deadline at $11.2 – either way a significant figure for last week’s no. 1 film, again proving just what clout our reviews hold with the filmgoing public — we thought it was derivative dross. Update: BOM’s official numbers are in and their numbers were correct. “Takers” took the number two spot.
“Machete,” strangely for the number three film, really provides the major talking point this weekend. It’s by no means a flop, was made for relatively little and Fox acquired it for only $5m. But on the other hand, they apparently marketed the crap out of it, especially to the Latino community, and it does feature an eclectic, starry supporting cast that on its own should have been able to pull in bigger numbers — certainly definitively bigger than a second-week heist picture in which Matt Dillon is the biggest name. And if we believe the Box Office Mojo figures (which we tend to), it lost a lot of steam from its no. 1.opening on Friday. Is the R-rating really wholly to blame? Or are we once again seeing ‘Scott Pilgrim’-style, that a film can be buzzed-about up the wazoo, but that Hollywood has yet to find a guaranteed way of harnessing that noise and translating it into bums on seats? Yes, there is no doubt this film will make a profit, and possibly quite a significant one, as it expands into other territories, but if you’d been laying bets beforehand, it might have been expected to get there quicker, and certainly to own this modest weekend, rather than vying for no.2 spot. Us? Well, we either kinda liked it or kinda didn’t depending on if you’re point or counterpoint.
“Going the Distance” invites negative puns on its title as it takes in only a lacklustre $6.8m 3-day. And while it may not quite deserve to languish below “Takers” and “The Last Exorcism” on its opening weekend, yeah, we thought it was pretty uninspiring stuff, some neat turns by supporting cast members (Charlie Day — yay!) aside.
“The Expendables” hangs in at no.6 with $6.6m — with 3398 screens it still has the widest release of any film in the top 12 as it motors towards $100m domestic. A film that has already crossed that barrier, “The Other Guys” drops two places to no.7 and does $5.4m in its fifth week of release, while Julia Roberts finds herself in Italy and India and at no. 8 in week 4, with “Eat Pray Love” taking $4.8m, despite having a few more screens than “The Other Guys.”
“Inception” is still at number 9, and still showing on 1704 screens, so if you haven’t already seen it because you’ve been trapped under something heavy for the last 8 weeks, there’s still time. Not that those guys really need the cash – this week’s $4.5m brings its cumulative so far to over $277m, a number so colossally awesome for this kind of film that we wonder if somewhere Chris Nolan isn’t waiting for someone to tip him into a bathtub of cold water…
At 10, “NannyMcPhee Returns” makes $3.6m-ish and having allowed the announcement, production and release of this one to pretty much pass us by, we’re going to continue to do just that with its theatrical run, if you don’t mind.
Arthouse-wise, “Get Low” is the biggest film out right now, still on 560 screens and with a 6th week take of $1.25m bringing its cume to nearly $5.5m, while “A Woman, A Gun and a Noodle Shop” debuted on 5 screens with $27,700. We didn’t much care for that one, but with “Animal Kingdom,” which we loved, expanding to 53 screens, and “The Tillman Story,” also a rave from us, spreading from just 5 to 24 screens there are, as ever, good reasons to go arthouse, as we wait for awards-bait to make it to our local multiplex this fall.
Weekend BO numbers (according to BoxOfficeMojo)
1. The American $12.97 million (cume since Wednesday release $16.1 million)
2. Takers $11.45 million ($37 million total)
3. Machete $11.3 million
4. The Last Exorcism $7.6 million ($32.4 million total)
5. Going the Distance $6.8 million
6. The Expendables $6.59 million ($92.1 million total)
7. The Other Guys $5.44 million ($106.8 million total)
8. Eat Pray Love $4.85 million ($68.9 million total)
9. Inception $4.53 ($277 million total)
10. Nanny McPhee Returns $3.55 ($22.4 million total)
11. The Switch $3.068 million ($21 million total)
12. Vampires Suck $3 million ($32 million total)
