'The American' Leads US Weekend B-O

SEPT 6, 2010 - The summer movie season came to a typically quiet close over the weekend. The American led the way with a standard-issue George Clooney debut, Machete had an average late summer action movie launch, while Going the Distance stalled. Overall business, though, was up five percent from the same time frame last year.

The American, which stars Clooney as a hitman, earned an estimated US$13 million at 2,823 locations for a US$16.1 million tally since opening last Wednesday.

Here are the Top 5 North American B-O studio estimates for Sept 3-5, 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 American (Focus) $12.9 million ($16.1 million) 1

2. Takers (Screen Gems) $11.4 million ($37.9) million) 2

3. Machette (Fox) $11.3 million ($11.3 million) 1

4. The Last Exorcism (Lion's Gate) $7.8 million ($32.4 million) 2

5. Going The Distance (WB) $6.8 million ($6.8 million) 1