LeBoeuf eyes $29 million, Nights may be a sleeper with $13 mil bow

By Keith Williams

Shia takes over as new Box Office guarantee

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 9/28/08 — Popcorn sales shot up dramatically across America this weekend as techno thriller Eagle Eye downloaded an estimated $29.2 million from 3510 eyries, leaving Nights in Rodanthe, the new Gere/Lane weepie to snuffle up $13.5 million out of 2704 tearducts.

Reuniting both star and director of Disturbia, Shia LeBoeuf and D.J. Caruso’s new offering blasted away the cobwebs of the past few weeks as well as bettering their past effort by $7 million. For Le Boeuf, the name that most people can’t pronounce but certainly recognize (“Shy-a Le-buff” is how he pronounced it last time HT interviewed him), this must be considered proof of the draw he now holds at the box-office, since his previous films arguably did well on franchise and concept rather than star power.
This is his fourth No. 1 movie in a row.
However, beware Le Boeuf, as a returnee to the box office charts of today flew out of nowhere on angel’s wings to nip at the heels of the new pretender. Yes, legendary 80′s teen star Kirk Cameron (Like Father Like Son) was back with a film most people considered a gnat on the back of current mainstream releases. Fireproof was the film, and with the backing of religious groups sucked up an estimated $6.5 million from a mere 839 collection plates. Not exactly Passion of the Christ size figures here, but an impressive enough figure to keep Sarah Palin and her cohorts happy.

Nights at Rodanthe, which sounds like a dental surgery in California, did better than the last chick-flick offering, The Women, taking the kind of returns, neither hit nor flop, that suggest Warner Bros might have a sleeper on its hands. Writer Nicolas Sparks seems determined to hammer a stake-post into this territory, having been there before with The Notebook and doing rather well off it too. Time will tell over the next few weeks whether this proves to be true, or if it’s just a put-to-sleeper. Unfortunately, that was the fate that awaited Spike Lee’s dull but worthy Miracle at St Anna, taking $3.5 million from 1185 landings to arrive at no 9. Slagging off Clint Eastwood for historical inaccuracies in his recent wartime epics couldn’t have helped, but subject matter, a running time of over two and a half hours together with a largely unknown cast would have kept many away too.

Last week’s no 1, Lakeview Terrace fell by two positions to no 3 with a 53.3% drop for $7 million over the weekend, Burn After Reading lit up $6.1 million from a 44.1 % drop, Igor fell the least with 29.5% to rope in $5.5 million, while Righteous Kill on a 48.8% tumble brought in $3.8 million. Biggest fades of the week would be My Best Friend’s Girl and The Family That Preys (but not hard enough) at 54% and 56.5%, grabbing $3.8 million and $3.1 million respectively before bidding adieu the top ten.
Weekend Estimates courtesy of boxofficemojo.com