Labor Day at the Theatre

During Hollywood's weakest long weekend of the year, Bullock managed a respectable, $14 million Friday-Monday debut for the critically trashed All About Steve, while Pitt's Inglourious Basterds marched toward $100 million with a $15 million four-day take.

 

The Final Destination, last weekend's 3-D-boosted champ, was this weekend's champ, too, with $15.4 million, Exhibitor Relations reported.

 

• All About Steve will finish third, not second as projected Sunday, per Exhibitor Relations. The romantic comedy flip-flopped with Inglourious Basterds, which moved up a spot.

• Third place or second place, All About Steve didn't bomb, despite a Tomatometer reading on Rotten Tomatoes of 5 percent. Yes, 5 percent. Just so you know, if you turn on a camera and film a wall and/or make The Dukes of Hazzard, you can rate a Tomatometer reading higher than 5 percent.

• Arguably even stranger but true, All About Steve made more money at each of its theaters than any movie in the Top 10.

• Maybe goodwill did it? All About Steve not only starred Bullock, hot off The Proposal, but Bradley Cooper, hot off The Hangover.

• To be sure, All About Steve isn't exactly a career highlight for Bullock. It's her lowest-grossing debut for a wide-release movie since 2002's Murder By Numbers.

• Only one Quentin Tarantino movie has ever blown past $100 million. At $95.2 million after three weekends, Inglourious Basterds looks to soon join Pulp Fiction.

• From Friday-Sunday, Gerard Butler's Gamer scored $9 million, Box Office Mojo said, which, given an average ticket price of $7.18, works out to about 1.2 million tickets sold. In 1982, Tron scored a $4.7 million Friday-Sunday debut, which, given a then-average ticket price of $2.94, works out to about 1.6 million ticket sold. Game over.

• Even if you add in Monday's grosses, which are expected to bring Gamer up to $11.2 million, Tron still outsold its video-game descendant.

• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen will make $1 million through today, Paramount Pictures estimated, and will join Hollywood's exclusive $400 million or more club. Once Revenge of the Fallen's membership is confirmed, there will be only nine members.

• District 9, the little sci-fi movie that could, broke $100 million, with a $9 million Friday-Monday.

• Of the weekend's new movies, Mike Judge's Extract was, as Exhibitor Relations' Jeff Bock put it, "the best-reviewed film that did the worst." It's expected to gross $5.5 million Friday-Monday.

• On the upside of being down, Extract is now projected to finish ninth, not 10th.

• The long and the short of it: G-Force fell out of the Top 10 after six weekends and a $114.6 million run, through Sunday; Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock fell out of the Top 10 after one weekend, and a $6 million run, also through Sunday.

• The summer box office estimates held. This now-concluded beach season will go down as the highest-grossing—and one of the weirdest. While revenue was up (thanks, 3D!), attendance was down. While August was surprisingly hot, thanks to G.I. Joe and District 9, Bock said, June and July were surprisingly cool.

• Perhaps nothing symbolized the summer's split personality more than Terminator Salvation. The movie grossed $371 million worldwide; its producers filed for bankruptcy.

Here's a look at the holiday weekend's top-grossing films based on Friday-Monday estimates as compiled by Exhitor Relations:

• The Final Destination, $15.4 million
• Inglourious Basterds, $15 million
• All About Steve, $14 million
• Gamer, $11.2 million
• District 9, $8 million
• Halloween 2, $7.01 million
• Julie & Julia, $7 million
• G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, $6.7 million
• Extract, $5.5 million
• The Time Traveler's Wife, $5.46 million