What's hot in cinema on the other side of the pond

Week ending: 5 September 2010

The American, a thriller about an enigmatic assassin, shot to number one over the Labor Day holiday weekend with an estimated $13m debut. Including its Wednesday opening, The American, which stars George Clooney and is directed by Anton Corbijn, has rung up a five-day total of $16.1m. Takers, which ended up squeaking ahead of The Last Exorcism to debut in top spot last week, was down 44% as it slipped to second place with $11.4m. The heist flick has now bagged a two-week total of $37.9m.

Machete didn’t quite cut it, with the all-star slasher movie only managing to debut in third place with $11.3m. Directed by Robert Rodriguez and produced by his buddy Quentin Tarantino, Machete’s lustrous cast includes Robert DeNiro, Jessica Alba, Steven Seagal and Lindsay Lohan. The Last Exorcism took a hefty 63% downswing to finish up in fourth place with $7.6m for a two-week total of $32.5m.

Going the Distance only managed to get to fifth place as the romantic comedy starring Drew Barrymore and Justin Long debuted with $6.9m. The Expendables added a further $6.6m to take its four-week total to $92.2m, while The Other Guys finally made it across the $100m mark mid week before adding $5.4m at the weekend to take seventh place. The Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg comedy’s five-week total of $106.9m means it’s the seventh Ferrell movie to top $100m, though only five of those were starring roles.

Inception is the sixth highest earner for 2010. Its eight-week total stands at $277.1m after adding $4.5m. Overall, the top ten movies combined for a total of $75.2m, down slightly on last year’s $76.4m for the corresponding period when The Final Destination ended up in top spot for a second week running with $12.4m.

Up next week, the only major release sees Resident Evil getting the 3-D treatment when Milla Jovovich reprises her role of Alice for the fourth time in Resident Evil: Afterlife.