The whistle has blown, the ref has waved his flag and the players are headed into the showers for a well earned… Hang on – this isn’t Match Of The Day.
But this is the end of the summer season, and as Hollywood took itself to the beach/mountains/wine-swimming lake for the four day Labor Day weekend, sport was still on its mind.
Why? Marky Mark Wahlberg’s Invincible, the true-life tale of American Football legend Vince Papale, stormed to the top of the charts for a second week at number one. With a tiny drop in ticket sales, the Disney drama made $15 million this weekend.
It meant that OTT action thriller Crank was kept from the top spot despite a healthy Friday and a final tally of $13 million.
And more people clearly wanted to see Jason Statham try to stay alive by kicking people’s heads in than have their own heads messed with by Nic Cage in Neil LaBute’s Wicker Man remake. Arriving third, the horror didn’t exactly benefit from some less-than-appreciative reviews, and could only rustle up $11.7 million. Still, it’s not the disaster some were expecting.
That dishonour went to Crossover, the streetball sports melodrama that only managed $4.5 million and missed out on a spot in the top ten.
Elsewhere, it was a story of successes (Little Miss Sunshine and The Illusionist continued to put the big films to shame in limited releases, while Talladega Nights took the chequered flag as this year’s biggest comedy to date), and some others clinging on (World Trade Center, Accepted and Barnyard). Oh, and that Pirates film continued to do well, even as it left the top ten. Something about approaching $1 billion worldwide now? No pressure for At Worlds End, then…
The summer madness is dead. Long live awards frenzy! Here are the charts…
Title
Weekend Gross
Total Gross
Week #
1
Invincible $15,031,122
$37,847,122
2
2
Crank $13,000,000
$13,000,000
1
3
The Wicker Man
$11,720,000
$11,720,000
1
4
Little Miss Sunshine
$9,725,228
$35,833,000
6
5
The Illusionist
$8,021,000
$12,081,000
3
6
Talladega Nights
$7,700,000
$138,373,000
5
7
Barnyard
$6,404,000
$63,593,000
5
8
Accepted
$5,912,780
$29,422,000
3
9
World Trade Center $5,816,000
$63,702,000
4
10
Step Up
$5,487,000
$58,368,000
4