Normally holiday weekends are when studios roll out some of their biggest movies, but Labor Day is pretty much the stepchild of these occasions, as the fact some States don’t recognise it and that it comes just before kids go back to school, mean it isn’t seen as a good time to bring out big movies.
It means that The Possession, which took $21.3 million over the four-day weekend, is the second-biggest Labor Day total ever. It’s an okay but not stunning start for the Sam Raimi produced horror movie, but as mentioned, it’s good for a Labor Day weekend.
The only other new opener in the top 10 was Lawless, which took second spot with $13.0 million over the weekend, and $15 million since it opened in the middle of last week. It’s not a particularly brilliant start considering the cast (Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy etc.) and good reviews, but period movies often have difficulty getting a foothold. However if word of mouth is good, it’ll hopefully hold up over the coming weeks.
Perhaps the biggest box office news came at the other end of the chart, where the children’s movie Oogieloves in the BIG Balloon Adventure (a Tweenies/Teletubbies style endeavour with people in big foam suits), earned an abysmal $445,000. That’s the worst opening ever for a movie opening on over 2,000 screens, and the second worst per screen average ever for a nationwide release. It’s been estimated that on average, there were less than two people per screening.
Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of August 31st-September 3rd.
| Rank | Title | Weekend Gross (millions) | Total Gross to date (millions) |
| 1 | The Possession | $21.3 | $21.3 |
| 2 | Lawless | $13.0 | $15.1 |
| 3 | The Expendables 2 | $11.2 | $68.5 |
| 4 | The Bourne Legacy | $9,3 | $98.3 |
| 5 | Paranorman | $8.8 | $40.3 |
| 6 | The Odd Life Of Timothy Green | $8.5 | $38.8 |
| 7 | The Dark Knight Rises | $7.9 | $433.2 |
| 8 | 2016 Obama’s American | $7.0 | $20.1 |
| 9 | The Campaign | $7.0 | $74.5 |
| 10 | Hope Springs | $6.0 | $53.3 |
There’s been little cheer at the US box office, due to what was easily the lowest grossing weekend of 2012 so far. The problem was that the holdovers weren’t that strong, while the new entries barely made a dent. The Expendables 2 stayed top of the list with $13.5 million, a 53% drop on its first weekend takings, so that it’s now noticeably trailing the take of the first film in the franchise.
The Bourne Legacy got off to a decent start at the US box office, scoring a $40 million three-day opening. That’s less than the previous Bourne sequels, but that’s not surprising considering the lack of Matt Damon in this one, but it’s still ahead of the first film, which took $27 million on its first weekend. The real question is whether the movie will have legs, which remains to be seen, but the film has had okay reviews and may well do well in the coming weeks.