In a weekend where no movie particularly distinguished itself, the George Clooney starring The American took top honours at the US box office, ending up with an ok but not particularly impressive $12.9 million. It took the lead away from the early front runner, Robert Rodriguez’s Machete, which in the end closed the weekend in third place, with $11.3 million.
While neither of those movie cost massive amounts to make, a lot had been hoped for from both, so while studios are unlikely to be crying over those numbers, there’s not a huge amount of toasting going to be happening either, especially as it’s the lowest take for a number 1 movie this year.
The only other opener was the Justin Long and Drew Barrymore rom-com Going The Distance, which ended up in fifth place, with a less than impressive $6.8 million. Take a look below for the US box offfice top 10 for the weekend, of Sept 3rd-5th.
| Rank | Title | Weekend Gross (millions) | Total Gross to date (millions) |
| 1 | The American | $12.9 | $16.1 |
| 2 | Takers | $11.4 | $37.9 |
| 3 | Machete | $11.3 | $11.3 |
| 4 | The Last Exorcism | $7.6 | $32.4 |
| 5 | Going The Distance | $6.8 | $6.8 |
| 6 | The Expendables | $6.5 | $92.1 |
| 7 | The Other Guys | $5.4 | $106.8 |
| 8 | Eat Pray Love | $4.8 | $68.9 |
| 9 | Inception | $4.5 | $277.1 |
| 10 | Nanny McPhee Returns | $3.5 | $22.4 |