Monday Box Office Recap - Shia Continues to Own Opening Weekends.

Shia did it once again. In LaBeouf’s steady stream of blockbusters, Eagle Eye, a flick he stars in alongside Michelle Monaghan, pulled in near $30 Million this opening weekend, putting the film in the number once spot and fourth for September historical opening weekends. The movie’s high opening marks many in the young career of Shia LaBeouf and continues to prove to Hollywood that audiences just can not get enough of the curly hair bad boy. Coming in second was Nights in Rodanthe, a big screen adaptation of romance novel king Nicholas Sparks book, starring two time on screen couple Diane Lane and Richard Gere. Lakeview Terrace, the neighborhood thriller starring Samuel L. Jackson, kept a close edge in third place. The big surprise of the weekend was the success of Fireproof, a Christian-themed flick starring Kirk Cameron and made with a budget of $500,000. The movie came in fourth overall, with a $6.5 million gross. The movies high weekend gross was reportedly due to tickets purchased ahead of time from Church groups and was made from only 839 theaters. Samuel Goldwyn, the studio that released the film, is said to increase theaters the movie can be seen to take advantage of the obvious demand. And The Coen Brother’s Burn After Reading remains a popular film, coming in fifth, with just a little over $6 million this weekend.

Sadly the weekend did not prove to be too nice to Spike Lee or Clark Gregg. Spike Lee’s latest war based mystery Miracle at St. Anna came in at ninth place with $3.5 million this weekend, a major decline in the director’s typical box office draw. The movie, based on a story about a regiment of African-American soldiers in Italy during World War II has not received the best reviews and as we can see from the most recent war themed movies, American audiences are not in the mood to watch ANY war on the big screen. Another loser this weekend was Choke, the big screen adaptation of the amazing Chuck Palahniuk novel. With a great cast, mixed reviews and incredibly interesting advertisements EVERYWHERE, the movie pulled in $1.3 Million, putting it in 14th place for weekend box office totals. Granted the movie opened in about ¼ of the theaters most of the other top grossing flicks did, but the studio and insiders are quite surprised by the low figures. Here’s this weekend’s other big winners:

Here is the rest of the Box Office Top ten, courtesy of Box Office Mojo.
1. Eagle Eye - $29.2 million
2. Nights in Rodanthe - $13.6 million
3. Lakeview Terrace - $7 million
4. Fireproof - $6.5 million
5. Burn After Reading - $6.2million
6. Igor - $5.5million
7. Righteous Kill - $3.8 million
8. My Best Friend’s Girl - $3.8 million
9. Miracle at St. Anna - $3.5 million
10. Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys - $3.2 million