'Expendables' Overtakes Newcomers at US B-O

AUGUST 23, 2010 - The Expendables continues to flex its B-O muscles in North America in a weekend of weak opening releases. It scored an estimated US$16.5 million (down 53 per cent from last weekend) against newcomers Vampires Suck and Lottery Ticket.

Vampires Suck was the top grosser among new releases, collecting an estimated US$12.2 million from approximately 3,400 screens at 3,233 locations for a five-day haul of $18.6 million. With marketing that mostly honed in on Twilight and the vampire craze, the spoof's start was twice as much as Disaster Movie's debut in August 2008.

Inception, meanwhile, collected an estimated US$9 million to stay at No 9 over the weekend. All in all, it made US$619.5 million worldwide.

Here are the Top 5 North American B-O studio estimates for Aug 20-22, 2010 weekend, in terms of rank, Movie name (studio), Weekend takings in USD, (Cumulative gross, USD) and week on chart, courtesy of Boxofficemojo.

1. The Expendables (Lion's Gate) $16.5 million ($64.8 mil) 2

2. Vampires Suck (Fox) $12.2 million ($18.5 million) 1

3. Eat Pray Love (Sony) $12.0 million ($47.1 mil) 2

4. Lottery Ticket (WB) $11.1 million ($11.1 mil) 1

5. The Other Guys (Sony) $10.1 million ($88.1 mil) 3