From ew, With the help of a stronger-than-expected Saturday, The Expendables held on to first place for the second weekend in a row, beating out five newcomers that were trying to dethrone the aging action stars. Earning another $16.5 million, the Sly Stallone project fell 53 percent from its opening weekend, pushing its total gross to close to $65 million. The film that got the closest to the top was Twentieth Century Fox’s Twilight spoof Vampires Suck, which grossed $12.2 million over the three-day frame. (It has grossed $18.5 million since its Wednesday opening.) The rest of the new releases struggled, most failing to crack $10 million for their opening weekend.
In its second weekend, Eat Pray Love held in pretty well in theaters. The Julia Roberts-starrer dropped 48 percent for an additional $12 million. The globe-trotting piece has now grossed $47 million after ten days in release. Lottery Ticket landed in the fourth spot for the weekend and seemed to generate good will with audiences. The Bow Wow-starrer earned $11.1 million plus an A- from exit pollster CinemaScore, which portends a strong hold for the movie going forward. The Other Guys rounded out the top five for the weekend with an additional $10.1 million in its coffers. The Mark Wahlberg, Will Ferrell action-comedy has now earned $88 million since its opening three weeks ago.
Spot six went to the much-hyped, rarely viewed R-rated B movie, Piranha 3-D. Bowing to $10 million, the over-the-top bloody mess didn’t score that well with audiences, earning only a C from CinemaScore. Nanny McPhee Returns opened to slot seven. The sequel grossed $8.3 million but since it’s already earned north of $63 million from its international run, the kids flick (which had a $35-million budget) will end up in the black. And families seemed to respond well to the Emma Thompson-starrer, giving it an A- on the exit polls.
Despite the star power of Jennifer Aniston, The Switch bowed in eighth place. This romantic comedy didn’t receive as wide of a release as her movies usually get and earned only $8.1 million. Audiences weren’t in love with the flick either, scoring it with a middling B, according to CinemaScore.
Rounding out the top ten were two very different holdovers. Inception, in its sixth weekend of release, earned $7.6 million for a total cume of $261 million, making it one of summer’s biggest successes. Meanwhile, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World grossed only $5 million its second weekend in release, marking one of summer’s biggest box-office disappointments. The well-reviewed flick starring Michael Cera just isn’t working with audiences and in its second weekend, it dropped 53 percent for a meager cume of $20.7 million. It’s a shame since the Edgar Wright-directed flick is one of the most original to hit theaters in a long time.
