In a weekend where no movie particularly distinguished itself, the George Clooney starring The American took top honours at the US box office, ending up with an ok but not particularly impressive $12.9 million. It took the lead away from the early front runner, Robert Rodriguez's Machete, which in the end closed the weekend in third place, with $11.3 million.
While neither of those movie cost massive amounts to make, a lot had been hoped for from both, so while studios are unlikely to be crying over those numbers, there's not a huge amount of toasting going to be happening either, especially as it's the lowest take for a number 1 movie this year.
The only other opener was the Justin Long and Drew Barrymore rom-com Going The Distance, which ended up in fifth place, with a less than impressive $6.8 million. Take a look below for the US box offfice top 10 for the weekend, of Sept 3rd-5th.
| Rank |
Title |
Weekend Gross (millions) |
Total Gross to date (millions) |
| 1 |
The American |
$12.9 |
$16.1 |
| 2 |
Takers |
$11.4 |
$37.9 |
| 3 |
Machete |
$11.3 |
$11.3 |
| 4 |
The Last Exorcism |
$7.6 |
$32.4 |
| 5 |
Going The Distance |
$6.8 |
$6.8 |
| 6 |
The Expendables |
$6.5 |
$92.1 |
| 7 |
The Other Guys |
$5.4 |
$106.8 |
| 8 |
Eat Pray Love |
$4.8 |
$68.9 |
| 9 |
Inception |
$4.5 |
$277.1 |
| 10 |
Nanny McPhee Returns |
$3.5 |
$22.4 |