Box-Office Blahs Continue

Samuel L. Jackson thriller Lakeview Terrace leads slumping Hollywood with estimated $15.6 million weekend gross

Well, at least Hollywood's having a better fall than Wall Street.

Other than that saving grace, it was another blah weekend at the box office. No film topped $20 million. Only two films topped $10 million, down from four last weekend.

Lakeview Terrace led the way, per studio estimates compiled today by Exhibitor Relations. And for what it was, the bad-cop, worse-neighbor thriller starring Samuel L. Jackson did well—a $20 million movie that debuted with $15.6 million.

My Best Friend's Girl (third place), another modest $20 million movie, managed to score only $8.3 million, star Kate Hudson's worst opening since 2003's panned Alex & Emma. The debut was even a step down for Dane Cook, whose Good Luck Chuck opened with $13.7 million on this same weekend last year.

Igor and Ghost Town, the other two major new releases, were just as weak.

Igor, the CGI recasting of the iconic monster-movie sidekick, grossed just $8 million (fourth place), while the Ricky Gervais comedy Ghost Town came away with $5.2 million (eighth place). Both earned more money, per theater, than My Best Friend's Girl, but not enough to brag.

Overall, ticket sales were off about 2 percent from this time last year—a downturn that Wall Street, sadly, would probably welcome about now.

Other tidbits from the weekend box office:

• At last look all was quiet on Cook's MySpace page. Last month, Cook blogged there that the poster for My Best Friend's Girl was "boring/odd and ha[d] zero to do with the movie I performed in." And that was the charitable comment.
• Joel and Ethan Coen's Burn After Reading (second place, $11.3 million; $36.4 million overall) held up okay in its second weekend.
• Robert De Niro and Al Pacino's Righteous Kill (fifth place, $7.7 million) didn't. Hold up okay, that is. After two weekends, the $60 million movie has grossed less than $30 million overall.
• The Women (seventh place, $5.3 million; $19.2 million overall) made back its reputed $16 million budget, but didn't appear to be long for the Top 10.
• Nicolas Cage's Bangkok Dangerous ($820,000, per Box Office Mojo) wasn't. Long for the Top 10, that is. It was out of there after just two weekends, and a $14.5 million cumulative gross that's well shy of its reputed $45 million budget.
• The Dark Knight (ninth place, $3 million; $521.9 million overall) notched its 10th weekend in the Top 10.
• Tropic Thunder ($2.6 million; $106.8 million overall) ended its Top 10 stay after five weekends. Traitor ($1 million; $22.4 million overall) and Death Race ($1 million; $34.9 million overall) vacated their spots after three and four weekends, respectively.
• The Keira Knightley costume drama The Duchess grossed a stately $202,527 at only seven theaters. The Ed Harris-directed Western Appaloosa likewise was strong in limited release, grossing $258,000 at 14 theaters.
• The Ben Kingsley drama Elegy ($207,882) passed the $3 million mark overall the hard way—earning its money while never playing on more than 200 screens, its distributor, Samuel Goldwyn Films, said.

Here's a recap of the top-grossing weekend films based on Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

1. Lakeview Terrace, $15.6 million
2. Burn After Reading, $11.3 million
3. My Best Friend's Girl, $8.3 million
4. Igor, $8 million
5. Righteous Kill, $7.7 million
6. Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys, $7.5 million
7. The Women, $5.3 million
8. Ghost Town, $5.2 million
9. The Dark Knight, $3 million
10. The House Bunny, $2.8 million