"Gridiron Gang" Sacks "Dahlia"

Apparently movie fans are ready for some football...and little else.

For the second time in the past month, a heart-tugging film based on a true story of pigskin glory has touched down atop the weekend box office.

This time it's Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's Gridiron Gang following in the cleats of Mark Wahlberg's Invincible and scoring $14.4 million, per final studio tallies released Monday.

With much real football to watch and school back in session, ticket sales registered another down week--off nearly 13 percent from this time last year. Aside from Gridiron Gang's modest success, the three other new films in wide release opened to weak business.

The noiristh thriller The Black Dahlia wilted with $10 million in second place; the kiddie baseball cartoon Everyone's Hero batted in only $6.1 million in third; and the Zach Braff-powered romance The Last Kiss smooched up a mere $4.6 million in fifth.

Starring the Rock as a probation officer who inspires a bunch of young offenders to achieve higher goals, Gridiron Gang averaged $4,114 at 3,502 locations. The PG-13 Sony release was the studio's 10th top opener this year, an industry record for the most number ones in a calendar year, beating the previous best of nine recorded in 2003 also by Sony. Gridiron Gang is also the fifth number one debut in the Rock's career--but his lowest grossing of the bunch, just behind Doom's $15.4 million last year.

The Black Dahlia, Brian De Palma's star-heavy adaptation of James Ellroy's book about one of Hollywood's nastiest murders, had a slightly better average, with $4,495 at 2,226 locations. The R-rated Universal film about a pair of 1940s private eyes (Aaron Eckhart and Josh Hartnett) investigating the slaying of a starlet (Mia Kirshner) and Scarlett Johansson and Hilary Swank as the requisite femme fatales. Despite mixed reviews, tracking data predicted the film would open in the mid-teens.

Everyone's Hero, a computer-animated project started by the late Christopher Reeve, is a tall tale about a Depression-era kid who recovers Babe Ruth's stolen bat, a chatty piece of wood voiced by Whoopi Goldberg). Unloaded into 2,896 sites, the G-rated Fox release averaged $2,093.

The Last Kiss, starring Braff as an architect afraid of settling down with his pregnant girlfriend (Jacinda Barrett), performed better, averaging $3,410 at 1,375 locations--the best per-site average among the Top 10. The R-rated Paramount film--written by Oscar winner Paul Haggis, directed by Tony Goldwyn and also starring Rachel Bilson--finished behind last week's top movie, The Covenant. The horror flick dropped 46 percent, down to fourth place with $4.8 million to bring its gross to $15.8 million.

Crashing even worse in week two was Hollywoodland, another noir about another nasty Tinseltown death--the mysterious demise of TV Superman George Reeves. The film plummeted 54 percent from second to ninth place with $2.7 million, bringing its total to $10.5 million.

The Protector, which opened fourth last weekend, tumbled out of the Top 10, landing in 11th with $2.5 million for a two-week gross of $9.1 million.

Other established movies fared better.

Disney's Invincible was only down 17 percent in sixth place, tallying $4.1 million for a total of $51.1 million.

The romantic historical mystery The Illusionist dropped only 20 percent as it continued to expand in its fifth week. Now in 1,438 sites, the film filled its coffers with another $3.6 million in seventh and has conjured up a total of $23.1 million.

The summer sleeper and possible Oscar contender Little Miss Sunshine dropped only one place in its eighth week, finishing in eighth with $3.3 million. The film has grossed $46.4 million to surpass The Full Monty as Fox Searchlight's second biggest film ever, behind only the 2004 hit Sideways.

Tops in limited release were the British comedy Keeping Mum and the documentary The U.S. vs. John Lennon. The former, starring Rowan Atkinson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith and Patrick Swayze (that's not a misprint), averaged $13,556 at two sites for a total of $27,112 for distributor ThinkFilm. The latter, a PG-13 Lionsgate release about attempts to deport the outspoken former Beatle, averaged $11,524 at six sites to debut with $69.143.

Al Franken: God Spoke, from Balcony Releases, opened in two sites, where it averaged $5,267 for $10,533. At 164 locations, the R-rated Echo Bridge offering Artie Lange's Beer League, another lowbrow slacker comedy, averaged $1,681 for $275,606. At 24 locations the PG-13 Yari Film Group release Haven a thriller set on a tax haven island with an ensemble cast that includes Orlando Bloom, should barely register a blip on the IRS radar after averaging $1,598 for a total of $38,355. At 12 locations, the R-rated Fox Searchlight release Confetti, an improvised mocumentary about Brits vying in a wedding competition, averaged $1,713 for $20,550.

Here's a rundown of the top-grossing films based on final figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

1. Gridiron Gang, $14.4 million
2. The Black Dahlia, $10 million
3. Everyone's Hero, $6.1 million
4. The Covenant, $4.8 million
5. The Last Kiss, $4.6 million
6. Invincible, $4.1 million
7. The Illusionist, $3.6 million
8. Little Miss Sunshine, $3.3 million
9. Hollywoodland, $2.72 million
10. Crank, $2.68 million

(Originally published Sept. 17, 2006 at 12:45 p.m. PT.)