Despite stupidly opening on a Wednesday (and siphoning off $3 million before the traditional opening weekend), The American grossed a completely predictable $13.1 million over three days and $16.6 million over the four-day holiday. This is no less than the ninth George Clooney vehicle to open to around $11-13 million since The Peacemaker in 1997. And, as I've written before, every time this happens, the pundits jump up and down about how Clooney may not be a real movie star. As I've also said before, true stardom is when it's just your face on the poster, especially when you're selling a somewhat uncommercial bit of cinema. That was certainly the case with The American, which is a slow and ponderous European-style thriller, with only just enough action to fill up the third act of a trailer (film-goers felt duped, as the film received a D- from Cinemascore). The fact that it will end up with $19.6 million between Wednesday and Monday is a testament to Clooney's sheer constancy as an opener for relatively cheap (the film cost Focus Features just $20 million) and arty projects. For what it's worth, if you know what you're getting into, the film is a relatively satisfying character-driven tone poem. It's a B-movie classed up and pruned down to resemble an art film.
In other holdover news, The Expendables now sits with $94 million, and is Lionsgate's second-biggest domestic grosser ever, behind the $119 million gross of Fahrenheit 9/11 back in 2004. The hold for this film has been kinda shocking, as it dipped just 30% this weekend despite direct demo-competition with two of the three openers. It has also amassed around $180 million worldwide, although Lionsgate only has the distribution rights for the UK. Despicable Me crossed the $240 million mark, making the film the summer's fifth-biggest grosser and overtaking Shrek Forever After ($238 million). Inception is right under $700 million worldwide, and that 'flop that spells the end of 3D' Step Up 3D has amassed $115 million worldwide on a $40 million budget. Salt has crossed $115 million, The Other Guys crossed $100 million, and Eat Pray Love sits at $70 million.