Clooney outdraws "Machete" at holiday box office

LOS ANGELES | Mon Sep 6, 2010 12:45pm EDT

LOS ANGELES Reuters - In the battle of the box office assassins, A-lister George Clooney barely mustered more firepower with his new chart-topper "The American" than the relatively unknown star of "Machete," as the summer moviegoing season wrapped feebly during the Labor Day holiday weekend.

"The American," in which Clooney plays a laconic gunslinger holed up in a picturesque Italian village, earned $16.4 million across the United States and Canada during the four days beginning September 3, distributor Focus Features said on Monday.

"Machete," a violent fantasy starring character actor Danny Trejo as a Mexican hitman with a penchant for sharp objects, came in at No. 2 with $14.0 million, said 20th Century Fox.

Both studios said they were happy with the openings, which exceeded modest expectations, even if the movies are not destined for box office greatness. Clooneys movies, for example, usually end up in the $30 million to $40 million range, and Focus doubted the new one would buck that trend.

The top 10 boasted one other newcomer, the optimistically titled Drew Barrymore romantic comedy "Going the Distance," which stalled at the outset. It came in at No. 5 with a disappointing $8.6 million, said Warner Bros. Pictures.

Both "Machete" and "Going the Distance" opened on Friday, while "The American" got a two-day head start and has earned $19.5 million to date.

Last weekends champion, the Sony Pictures heist thriller "Takers," slipped to No. 3 with $13.5 million; its 11-day haul rose to $40 million.

Sales for the top-12 films fell to their lowest level in almost a year, a fitting coda to a summer lineup whose weak performance was obscured by the 3D boom.

While sales from the first weekend in May through Monday are projected to break last years record, the increase comes solely from higher ticket prices. The number of tickets sold -- a better gauge of Hollywoods health -- hit its lowest level since 1997.

Tracking firm Hollywood.com Box-Office predicted summer attendance would come in at 552 million tickets sold, a 2.6 percent drop from last year, and the lowest since 1997 when 540 million were sold. It forecast summer receipts of $4.35 billion, up 2.4 percent from last summers record levels. Final tallies will be released on Tuesday.

Movies released in 3D, such as "Toy Story 3," "Cats & Dogs," "Despicable Me," and "The Last Airbender," allowed movie theaters to charge an average premium of $3 per ticket. In some markets, this pushed the ticket price to almost $20. The average ticket price for all movies was $7.88, according to Hollywood.com Box-Office.

Sales are expected to remain weak for the next few weeks as the studios dump their under-performers so that they can focus on prestige pictures catering to awards voters and on holiday-season crowd-pleasers.

Focus Features is a unit of General Electric Co. 20th Century Fox is a unit of News Corp. Sony Pictures is a unit of Sony Corp. Warner Bros. Pictures is a unit of Time Warner Inc.

Reporting by Dean Goodman; editing by Mohammad Zargham

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Hitman Clooneys American wins weekend with $16M AP

LOS ANGELES George Clooneys hitman tale "The American" has captured the top spot at the box office with a $16.4 million debut over the long Labor Day weekend.

Since opening Wednesday, the Focus Features release has taken in $19.5 million.

The 20th Century Fox revenge romp "Machete" and Sonys heist thriller "Takers" were in a duel for second-place.

"Machete" led with $14 million from Friday to Monday. "Takers" followed with $13.5 million, though the two movies were close enough that rankings could change once final numbers are released Tuesday.

"Takers," which had been the No. 1 movie the previous weekend, raised its 10-day total to $40 million.

The weekends other new wide release, Drew Barrymores romance "Going the Distance" from Warner Bros., opened at No. 5 with $8.6 million.

It was a typically quiet Labor Day period for Hollywood, a transition weekend as summer blockbuster season ends and young audiences prepare for the start of the school year.

Hollywood closed its busiest season with record revenue of $4.35 billion, about $100 million more than the previous high set last summer, according to Hollywood.com, which tracks box office. Yet because of higher ticket prices, movie attendance slipped to about 552 million, the lowest since summer 2005, said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian.

"This is a perfectly unspectacular end to a perfectly unspectacular summer," Dergarabedian said. "If you look at how low the attendance figure dropped, thats the audience telling Hollywood this crop of movies was good, but not good enough to get us out in huge numbers."

"The American" stars Clooney as a hitman who finds unlikely friendship and romance while trying to lay low in Italy before doing one last job.

"Machete" features a cast including Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Steven Seagal and Lindsay Lohan in a bloody tale of a former Mexican federal cop Danny Trejo taking on crooks, dirty politicians and thugs by the score.

"Going the Distance" stars Barrymore and Justin Long as a couple trying to maintain a coast-to-coast long-distance relationship.

With Clooneys appeal to adult audiences, "The American" dominated older crowds, while "Machete" was a hit with Hispanics, who accounted for 60 percent of the movies viewers.

"The whole marketing campaign was thrust at the Latino audience, and they have clearly responded and embraced the movie," said Chris Aronson, head of distribution for 20th Century Fox. "I would go so far as to say Danny Trejo is the first Latino superhero."

With $3.9 million over the long weekend, Universals animated hit "Despicable Me" raised its haul to $241.3 million, surpassing the $238.4 million take of DreamWorks Animations "Shrek Forever After," which failed to catch the same box-office fire as the franchises earlier installments.

Summers top hit, Disneys animated blockbuster "Toy Story 3," pulled in $2.7 million to lift its total to $408.8 million, second only to "Shrek 2" at $436 million on the domestic chart for animated features.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Monday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Tuesday.

1. "The American," $16.4 million.

2. "Machete," $14 million.

3. "Takers," $13.5 million.

4. "The Last Exorcism," $8.8 million.

5. "Going the Distance," $8.6 million.

6. "The Expendables," $8.5 million.

7. "The Other Guys," $6.7 million.

8. "Eat Pray Love," $6.3 million.

9. "Inception," $5.9 million.

10. "Nanny McPhee Returns," $4.7 million.

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Online:

http://www.hollywood.com/boxoffice

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Universal Pictures and Focus Features are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co.; Sony Pictures, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount and Paramount Vantage are divisions of Viacom Inc.; Disneys parent is The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is a division of The Walt Disney Co.; 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Fox Atomic are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a consortium of Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Sony Corp., Comcast Corp., DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC Films is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.; Rogue Pictures is owned by Relativity Media LLC; Overture Films is a subsidiary of Liberty Media Corp.

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Bahamas drops charges in Travolta extortion case AP

NASSAU, Bahamas A judge in the Bahamas dismissed charges Monday against two people accused of trying to extort money from John Travolta after the prosecutor said the actor no longer wanted to pursue a case stemming from the death of his teenage son.

Prosecutor Neil Braithwaite had submitted a motion to drop the case after a jury had already been picked and a retrial about to start for the two defendants.

"The Travolta family has said that this matter has caused them unbelievable stress and pain and they wish to put this whole thing behind them," Braithwaite said.

Ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne and his attorney, politician Pleasant Bridgewater, were accused of threatening to release private information about the January 2009 death of Travoltas 16-year-old son Jett at the family vacation home in Grand Bahama.

Lightbourne, who was among the medics who treated Jett, allegedly sought $25 million from the actor with the assistance of Bridgewater, who resigned her seat in the Bahamas Senate after she was charged in the case.

A judge declared a mistrial in October after a Bahamian lawmaker suggested the still-deliberating jury had acquitted one of the suspects.

Travolta had testified during that trial and one of his attorneys said in October that he had been prepared to testify again if necessary. But the actor said Monday that the delay in prosecuting the case had prompted his decision not to take the stand again

"The long-pending status of this matter continued to take a heavy emotional toll on my family, causing us to conclude that it was finally time to put this matter behind us," he said in a statement to The Associated Press. "Therefore, after much reflection I concluded that it was in my familys best interest for me not to voluntarily return to The Bahamas to testify a second time at trial."

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Tony Blair cancels London appearance over protests AP

LONDON Tony Blair on Monday canceled a planned public appearance in London to promote his new memoir over concerns about potential disruption from protesters.

The former British prime minister said he didnt "want the public to be inconvenienced by the inevitable hassle caused by protesters," during his appearance on Wednesday at Waterstones bookstore in central London.

"I know the Metropolitan Police would, as ever, have done a superb job in managing any disruption, but I do not wish to impose an extra strain on police resources, simply for a book signing," Blair said in a statement.

Earlier, Blair told ITV television that a bookstore signing session could cause unnecessary "hassle and cost" for police. Protesters demonstrating against Blairs decision to join the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq hurled shoes and eggs at him in Dublin on Saturday.

Anti-war demonstrators had planned to rally outside Blairs signing, and he said he was also worried that the far right British National Party might attempt to cause trouble.

"You end up just causing a lot of hassle for people and cost when there are better things for the police to do and its not as if we need to do it," said Blair, who added that the book was "selling fantastically."

"It is sad at the same time, frankly. If people want to have a book signed, people should protest but not try and physically prevent you doing it."

Waterstones managing director Dominic Myers said the cancellation of the signing "is a matter of regret that because of the likely actions of a minority, our customers are now not able to meet a three-times elected prime minister of the United Kingdom, whose book has become our fastest-selling autobiography ever."

Blair was paid a 4-million-pound $7-million advance for the memoir "A Journey," which mounts a strong defense of his policies during his years as prime minister from 1997 to 2007.

The book is a best-seller � currently No. 1 in Amazons British rankings and in its U.S. top 10 � but it has sparked protests from opponents of his policies, especially the invasion of Iraq.

A Facebook group calling on people to "subversively move Tony Blairs memoirs to the crime section in book shops" has more than 7,000 members. Members have submitted shots of the book sitting on the fantasy, true crime and horror shelves at stores.

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Chinese film on 1960 labor camps cheered in Venice

By Silvia Aloisi

VENICE | Mon Sep 6, 2010 9:19am EDT

VENICE Reuters - A powerful Chinese film on the plight of political prisoners condemned to forced labor camps in the late 1950s wooed critics in Venice on Monday, with some tipping it as a strong contender for the festivals top prize.

"The Ditch" tells the little-known story of some 3,000 people deported for "re-education" to labor camps on the edge of the Gobi desert, in western China, and struggling to survive extreme climate and acute food shortages.

Billed as right-wing enemies by the government for even mildly criticizing the Communist party or simply because of their background, many died of starvation, disease and exhaustion in the ditches that served as dormitories.

Director Wang Bing spent three years tracking down survivors and wardens of the Jiabiangou and Mingshui Camps for the film, a surprise entry in the main competition line-up that was only revealed on Monday.

"For 10, maybe 20 years, independent Chinese cinema has focused above all else on the social problems of the poorest working classes in contemporary China," Bing says in the production notes.

"The Ditch is perhaps the first film to deal directly with contemporary Chinas political past, talking as it does about the Rightists and what they endured in the re-education camps. Its still a taboo subject."

The film, warmly applauded at a press screening, is unlikely to be released in its home country, where authorities remain sensitive about how such topics are portrayed.

Still, Bing said he hoped the film would be an opportunity for younger Chinese like him -- he was born in 1967 -- to learn about their countrys past.

"I wanted to talk about our history, past events that can be criticized because of the way in which the Chinese suffered, and show them so that people can reflect on them," he told reporters, speaking through a translator.

DOCUMENTARY STYLE

Shot like a documentary, The Ditch focuses on the last three months of life in an annexe camp where the 1,500 prisoners who had survived until then were moved in 1960, as drought ravaged the whole of China.

Initially forced to plough 4,000 hectares of barren land in the middle of nowhere, they are later left to waste in underground dormitories as food runs out and many cannot stand on their feet.

Barely 500 people came out of that experience alive when authorities finally decided to send the prisoners back home.

"Everything in the film really happened at the camp. Nothing has been made up or added," says Bing, who used many non-professional actors for his first feature film after a string of documentaries.

The Ditch is one of 24 titles vying for the Venice film festivals top Golden Lion prize which will be awarded on Saturday.

Also in competition and premiering on Monday is "Essential Killing," a different struggle for survival with Vincent Gallo as a suspected Taliban fighter on the run from U.S. forces in Afghanistan and later in Europe.

With very sparse dialogue, and not a single word uttered by its lead character, the film by Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski follows Gallos escape through a snow-blanketed forest, and also stars Emmanuelle Seigner as the mute woman who briefly helps him.

Editing by Paul Casciato

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