In a rare repeat performance for a horror film, The Final Destination took the top spot in theaters for the second straight week with $15.4 million, according to Nielsen EDI.
The first-place encore is unheard of for a low-budget horror movie, which typically open big and fade fast.
But Destination is the only newer movie with 3-D, which has become an irresistible lure to teens and kids, regardless of genre — or critical reception. The guinea pig comedy G-Force was flayed by reviewers, but the 3-D film has done $115 million.
"The 3-D component gets kids coming back," says Jeff Goldstein of Warner Bros., which released Destination. "It's obvious we need more movies that are 3-D capable," Goldstein says. "We need a larger footprint."
The strong hold of Destination and other films helped Hollywood end its summer season on a positive note. Ticket sales surged 107% over the same weekend last year, which was not a holiday weekend.
Ticket sales, which faltered midway through summer, have regained their footing and pushed about 8% ahead of last year's overall pace, according to Hollywood.com.
Goldstein says the summer saw a string of solid performers as opposed to last season, which was anchored by The Dark Knight's $533 million.
"It didn't play out like last year, but this was a tremendous summer," Goldstein says. "A lot of smaller films picked up the slack."
Like Inglourious Basterds, which continues its triumphant march into fall. The film dropped just 22% to take second place with $15 million. The movie, which has done $95.2 million, will likely break $100 million by next weekend and could become director Quentin Tarantino's biggest movie, eclipsing Pulp Fiction's $108 million.
The Sandra Bullock comedy All About Steve was third with $13.9 million, meeting expectations.
"She's a movie star who sells tickets," says Bert Livingston of 20th Century Fox. "People thought it would be a weaker than normal Labor Day, but we had a good weekend."
The Gerard Butler thriller Gamer opened to $11.2 million, meeting projections, while District 9 added another $9 million to its haul, lifting its total to $103.3 million.
The only other big newcomer this weekend, Mike Judge's Extract, took in $5.3 million, about $1 million below what analysts expected.
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