This is how the summer ends: not with a bang, but with a whimper. The combined totals of the top five films over the four-day holiday weekend could only manage to gross 75 percent of what X-Men Origins: Wolverine pulled down during its opening weekend back on May 1. The Final Destination claimed the top spot for the second weekend in a row, barely edging out Inglourious Basterds to take the honors. Unfortunately, for the three newcomers to multiplexes, it was a case of better luck next time: All About Steve, Gamer and, most disastrously, Extract failed to make any impression on audiences and will likely hit your Netflix queue sometime before Thanksgiving. As we do each Tuesday, here’s a breakdown of the top five at the box office.
1. The Final Destination: $15.4 million ($50.5 million total)
Forget Labor Day for a second: By taking in just $12.3 million over the Friday-to-Sunday period of the weekend, The Final Destination became the proud owner of the lowest gross for any No. 1 film since Bangkok Dangerous led the way with just $7.8 million on this weekend last year. But, on the bright side, the fourth film in this ridiculous horror series is almost assured of becoming the top grosser (pun!) in the franchise before all is through.
2. Inglourious Basterds: $15 million ($95.2 million total)
Behold the power of Brad Pitt! Besides being a legitimate sleeper hit stateside—it will easily sail passed $100 million sometime this week—Basterds continues to prove the star’s worldwide clout. Overall, the film has grossed just under $180 million to date. Somehow we doubt the same thing could be said if anyone other than Mr. Pitt was front and center on the poster.
3. All About Steve: $13.9 million ($13.9 million total)
Despite owning some of the worst reviews of the entire year—and that is really saying something—All About Steve wound up with slightly higher returns than most prognosticators were anticipating. Of course, that means the results went from “embarrassing” to merely “terrible,” but, hey, we’re sure Fox will take whatever victory they can on this dog.
4. Gamer: $11.2 million ($11.2 million total)
It turns out boys would rather play video games than watch a movie about them. Gamer bombed away at the box office, meaning the jury is still out on Gerard Butler’s career. If you count 300 as a triumph of marketing and premise and not his star power—or perhaps as proof of the star power of his abs—it seems that the Scottish star is better suited as the manly-but-sensitive lead in romantic comedies (see P.S., I Love You and The Ugly Truth) than as a big-ticket action star. We hope casting directors are paying attention.
5. District 9: $9 million ($103.2 million total)
Congratulations to District 9, which became the 19th film to pass the $100 million barrier already this year, and in the process held off Halloween 2 ($7 million/$27.1 million total) and Julie & Julia ($7 million/$80.6 million total) to finish fifth at the box office. If you’re wondering where the other new release of the weekend, Extract, landed on the chart, take a peak down at the bottom. The latest “comedy” from Mike Judge—and we use that term loosely since it was about as funny as sitting in traffic—detonated in tenth place with just $5.3 million. We hate to break it to everyone, but the Office Space “auteur” is no longer employable as a filmmaker.
