"Covenant" Lords Over "Hollywoodland"

Summer's over. Football's started. School is back. And few people apparently were interested in seeing Ben Affleck playing an actor who used to wear tights for a living.

That combination made for a very weak weekend at the box office, as the silver screen tarnished in the post Labor Day doldrums, with nary a film crossing the $10 million mark.

The Covenant conjured up $8.9 million to claim the weekend win--the lowest total for a number one movie in three years.

The Protector, in which action star Tony Jaa saves the Southern Hemisphere from a power hungry villainess, opened in fourth place with just $5 million.

None of the new films managed to live up to studio's pre-release (and lowball) expectactions.

The last time a new number one movie took in less than $10 million was exactly this time three years ago, when David Spade's ostensible comedy Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star opened with a teensy $6.7 million.

The Top 10 movies combined only sold about $49 million worth of tickets, a 31 percent drop from the Friday-Sunday gross of Labor Day weekend, and 26 percent down from this time last year, when The Exorcism of Emily Rose burst in with $30 million.

Despite its top-ranked status, the Sony/Screen Gems-distributed The Covenant didn't even have the top per-theater average in the Top 10. Directed by Renny Harlin and starring a bunch of young newcomers, the PG-13 film, which wasn't screened for critics, only scared up a $3,302 average at 2,681 sites.

It was topped by Hollywoodland, an R-rated Focus release that averaged $3,828 at 1,548 locations. Aside from Affleck, who was named Best Actor this weekend at the Venice Film Festival, the noirish thriller also stars Diane Lane as Reeves' lover, Bob Hoskins as her movie mogul husband and Adrien Brody as a private eye hired to investigate Reeves' death, which had been ruled a suicide. Allen Coulter directs.

The Protector, a dubbed Asian import released by the Weinstein Company, averaged $3,267 at 1,541 locations.

Sherrybaby, starring Maggie Gyllenhaal as a ex-con coping with motherhood and drug addiction, had the highest average among the new movies debuting in limited release. The IFC film averaged $6,955 at five theaters for a total of $34,774.

Last week's top movie, Disney's pigskin tale Invincible lost considerable yardage as real games began airing. The inspiration true story was down 54 percent, with $5.6 million in third place for a three-week total of $45.5 million.

Meanwhile, last weekend's openers fell very sharply in their second week. Crank dropped 53 percent, down from second to fifth with $5 million; the Lionsgate release has now tallied just under $20 million. The Wicker Man turned to straw, dropping 57 percent and falling from third to eighth with $4.1 million; the Warner Bros. release has only grossed $17.4 million.

Holding up best was The Illusionist, which only dropped 28 percent in its fourth week. The PG-13 historical mystery, released by the Yari Film Group, dropped only one slot from fifth to sixth and averaged $3,658 at 1,362 locations (391 more than last week) for $4.5 million. It has now grossed $18 million.

The industry, or at least Disney, could take some delight over the hit of the summer Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest hitting the $1 billion mark worldwide. It's only the third film to achieve that mammoth gross--the other's are The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King with $1.1 billion and Titanic with $1.8 billion.

Here's a rundown of the Top 10, based on preliminary figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations (final numbers are due Monday):

1. The Covenant, $8.9 million
2. Hollywoodland, $5.9 million
3. Invincible, $5.6 million
4. The Protector, $5 million
5. Crank, $4.9 million
6. The Illusionist, $4.5 million
7. Little Miss Sunshine, $4.3 million
8. The Wicker Man, $4.1 million
9. Talladega Nights, $3 million
10. Barnyard, $2.7 million

(Originally published Sept. 11, 2006 at 12:35 p.m. PT.)