"Transporter 2" Devirginizes Box Office

It took Transporter 2 to transport the Labor Day weekend box office to a new high.

The sequel starring Brit Jason Statham as the titular kick-ass bloke earned a record $20.1 million from Friday through Monday, according to studio tallies.

The Labor Day opening record was previously held by another sequel, Jeepers Creepers 2, which debuted with $18.3 million in 2003.

And, in a switch from much of this summer, the overall box office was actually up from last year.

Fox's PG-13 Transporter 2 grossed $16.5 million from Friday to Sunday, easily surpassing the $9.1 million opening of 2002's The Transporter, which eventually grossed $25.2 million. Performing much better than the studio hoped, the second go-round averaged $6,087 at 3,303 sites, nearly double the original's $3,540 at 2,573 theaters.

It also left the studio reaching to explain to appeal. "People love the character," Fox distribution executive Bert Livingston told the Associated Press. "It's escapism, and with all the tragedy going in New Orleans, I think people want to get away and lose themselves for an hour and half."

With its slam-bang debut, Transporter 2 knocked down The 40-Year-Old Virgin to second place after two weeks on top. Steve Carell's sexual coming-of-age comedy is still performing strong, drooping only 18 percent in its third weekend, with $16.5 million over the four-day period and $13.3 million over the three. The R-rated Universal release has grossed a genuinely potent $71.9 million.

Another film making a splash was the sophisticated thriller The Constant Gardener. Opening Wednesday to favorable reviews, the adaptation of John Le Carré's novel about the exploitation of Africa for the benefit of big corporations opened in third place with an expectations-exceeding $11 million from Friday through Monday and $8.7 million from Friday through Sunday. The R-rated Focus release, starring Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Danny Huston, Archie Panjabi and Bill Nighy, and directed by City of God's Fernando Meirelles, averaged $8,144 at 1,346 theaters over the long weekend, best among the top 10, and has grossed $12.7 million since its opening on Wednesday.

The Underclassman, on the other hand, didn't make the grade. The PG-13 Miramax crime comedy, starring Nick Cannon as an undercover cop investigating drugs and death at a snobby school, didn't even break into the top 10. In the 11th slot it earned just $3.1 million over four days from a $2,726 average at 1,132 sites.

In limited release, Warner Bros' PG-13 sci-fi action adventure A Sound of Thunder, based on a Ray Bradbury short story about the dangers of time travel and starring Ben Kingsley, Catherine McCormack, Edward Burns and a bunch of flying ape lizards, swooped up $1.2 million over four days. Dumped into just 816 sites, it averaged an almost silent $1,459.

But at just one site William Eggleston in the Real World, a documentary journey with the photographer through the decay of the American South, earned $8,920 over four days and has snapped up $14,805 since opening Wednesday.

Meanwhile, two films in their second week of wide release dropped severely over the four-day holiday. The Brothers Grimm was down 52 percent, only earning $9 million over four days to bring the troubled production's gross to a very grim $28.7 million. The horror story The Cave fell into as deep a hole, also dropping 52 percent, with just $3.8 million over the four-day period to bring its total to $11.8 million.

The Labor Day weekend is never a busy time at the box office. Still, studios will take some consolation in knowing that the top 12 movies combined for $97.7 million over four-day period, up more than 17 percent from last year and striking a positive note at the end of a dismal summer--overall ticket sales since May are down 9 percent compared to 2004. (The glass-is-half-empty set will no doubt point out that the three-day total of $78.1 million was actually 3 percent lower than last weekend's haul.)

Here is a rundown of the top-grossing films over the four-day holiday from Exhibitor Relations (Friday to Sunday numbers are in parenthesis):

1. Transporter 2, $20.1 million ($16.5 million)
2. The 40-Year-Old Virgin, $16.5 million ($13.3 million)
3. The Constant Gardener, $11 million ($8.7 million)
4. Red Eye, $9.4 million ($7.6 million)
5. The Brothers Grimm, $9 million ($7.2 million)
6. Four Brothers, $6.4 million ($5 million)
7. Wedding Crashers, $5.8 million ($4.8 million)
8. March of the Penguins, $5.6 million ($4.1 million)
9. The Skeleton Key, $4 million ($3.3 million)
10. The Cave, $3.8 million ($2.9 million)

(Originally published Sept. 5, 2005 at 3:20 p.m. PT.)