As Americans enjoy the long holiday weekend celebrating Labor Day, The American [THEAM] came out on top at the weekend box office with an estimated $16.4 million over the 4-day weekend and $19.5 million since Wednesday. Focus Features successfully marketed the George CLooney [GCLOO] drama as a Bourne-esque action thriller since its audience gave the film the awful low CinemaScore grade of D-.
The Mexploitation film Machete [MCHTE] finished second with an estimated $14.0 million. Unsurprisingly, Latinos made up a majority of its patrons at 60%.
Takers [TAKER] placed third with $13.5 million over the long weekend. Comparing the 3-day portion of the weekend, the heist film dropped 47% from its debut. Meanwhile, The Last Exorcism [LXORC] tumbled 64% from its opening and grossed $8.8 million for the holiday weekend.
A romantic comedy about a cross-country relationship proved too serious for moviegoers as Going the Distance [GDIST] banked just $8.6 million over the Labotr Day weekend. Appealing to mostly adult women, the film is likely to have the best legs out of the three new openers.
| Rank | TITLE | F-S-S-M | TOTAL |
| 1 | THE AMERICAN | $16,395,249 | $19,540,627 |
| 2 | MACHETE | $14,000,000 | $14,000,000 |
| 3 | TAKERS | $13,500,000 | $39,951,000 |
| 4 | THE LAST EXORCISM | $8,780,000 | $33,550,000 |
| 5 | GOING THE DISTANCE | $8,610,000 | $8,610,000 |
| 6 | THE EXPENDABLES | $8,500,000 | $94,070,000 |
| 7 | THE OTHER GUYS | $6,650,000 | $108,116,000 |
| 8 | EAT, PRAY, LOVE | $6,250,000 | $70,354,000 |
| 9 | INCEPTION | $5,850,000 | $278,433,000 |
| 10 | NANNY MCPHEE RETURNS | $4,671,300 | $23,537,275 |
| 11 | THE SWITCH | $3,930,000 | $22,305,000 |
| 12 | VAMPIRES SUCK | $3,800,000 | $33,098,657 |
Source: Exhibitor Relations Co.
Tag(s): THEAM, GCLOO, MCHTE, TAKER, LXORC, GDIST