HOLLYWOOD - SwimFan made an unexpectedly big box office splash, opening in first place to $12.4 million.My Big Fat Greek Wedding continued dancing in second place, holding beautifully with $10.6 million. With its cume now at $96 million, Wedding is heading for an enormously profitable $125 million or more.
City by the Sea washed ashore quietly in third place with $9.1 million.
Signs placed fourth with $8.0 million while its cume entered mega-milestone territory with $205.8 million.
xXx finished fifth with $5.5 million as its cume reached $131 million.
With no new blockbusters driving the fall's first post-Labor Day weekend, key films (those grossing $500,000 or more) were down marginally by about 1 percent -- $68.2 million versus last year's $68.8 million. It was the eighth consecutive weekend in which business was down from last year.
THE TOP TEN
20th Century Fox's PG-13 thriller SwimFan kicked off atop the chart to a surprisingly strong ESTIMATED $12.43 million at 2,855 theaters ($4,354 per theater).
Directed by John Polson, it stars Jesse Bradford, Erika Christensen and Shiri Appleby.
Asked why SwimFan hadn't tracked like it would end up being the weekend's number one film, Fox executive vice president, distribution Rick Myerson said Sunday morning, "The tracking is a guide. It's not the Ouija board that gives you exact information. We noticed that the tracking for young females and young males was increasing all week. I think sometimes what people do is look at the overall tracking rather than get into the specifics.
"The audience was young females and young males and that started to come on (stronger) at the end of the week. There hadn't been a movie for young females since Blue Crush and there hadn't been a movie for young males since xXx. So all of a sudden they saw, 'Hey, this is the perfect vehicle for me. Let's go.' I think that had something to do with it."
IFC Films' release of Gold Circle Films and HBO's PG rated romantic comedy sleeper hit My Big Fat Greek Wedding held on to second place in its 21st week with a still outstanding ESTIMATED $10.59 million (-5%) at 1,695 theaters (+76 theaters; $6,249 per theater). Its cume is approximately $96.0 million, well on its way to $125 million or more in domestic theaters.
Wedding's average per theater was the highest for any film playing in wide release this weekend.
Directed by Joel Zwick, it stars Nia Vardalos and John Corbett.
Going into the weekend, with SwimFan not tracking like it would place first, insiders had speculated that Wedding could move up to the top spot.
"We fell a few meters short of SwimFan, but can't complain about a $10 million (plus) weekend that dropped off only 5 percent from a holiday weekend," IFC distribution head Rob Schwarz said Sunday morning.