The American Wins Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend has accounted for the worst total box office performance of the year as The American takes the top spot with Machete coming in third and Going the Distance tanking in fifth.

George Clooney gets his first solo #1 opener with the assassin themed The American. Pulling in $13 million for the weekend it has now totaled $16.1 million since opening on Wednesday. The movie had decent reviews and just moderate interest but that was enough along with having Clooney headline to propel it to the box office win on such a weak holiday weekend. Word of mouth has been poor though so it doesn’t look like it will have strong legs going forward.

It was a soft opening for Machete with $11.3 million where 60% of its box office came from latinos, and unfortunately they just don’t make up a large enough segment of the movie going public to make it a hit. Reviews were generally positive but this type of movie is pretty restricted in who it appeals to. The $11.3 million is almost identical to what Grindhouse made its opening weekend, the movie in which Machete premiered with a fake trailer.

Drew Barrymore and Justin Long saw another bomb added to their resumes as Going the Distance opened with just $6.8 million. Mediocre reviews and flat marketing did in the romantic comedy. It had an R rating which would seem to have also contributed as the movie looked like it was PG-13 from the ads.

Amongst holdovers last week’s number one Takers dropped a respectable 44% to $11.4 million taking its total to nearly $38 million. The Last Exorcism dropped off a little heavier at 62% but it has still collected over $32 million already on a $1.8 million budget.