Box Office: A not-so 'Final Destination' edges out 'All About Steve'

Audiences just can't seem to get enough of "The Final Destination." 

Credit: Warner Bros.

You can look at Friday's box office results from two very different perspectives.  First, audiences are telling Warner Bros. and New Line they can't get enough of "The Final Destination" as the 3-D horror flick stays in the top spot for the second Friday in  a row.  Or, the trio of new releases "All About Steve," "Gamer" and "Extract" have very little appeal to the public.  Considering "Destination" found only $3.57 million in sales on Friday, it's probably mostly the latter. 

Still, with $38.7 million in total box office since it's debut, the fourth "Destination" looks to surpass the previous highest grossing installment, "Final Destination 3," which ended up with $54.1 million.  This "Final" journey looks like it will end up with between $65-70 million when all is said and done.  Not too shabby for a picture that was originally intended to go straight to DVD before the hook of making it in 3-D warranted a theatrical release.

As for the new openers, Sandra Bullock's long on the shelf romantic comedy "All About Steve" barely came in second with $3.5 million.  The scathingly reviewed picture will be having Bullock and co-star Bradley Cooper both hoping audiences remember "The Proposal" and "The Hangover" first when thinking of the duo's last respective flicks.  Still, the 20th Century Fox release could take home $14-15 million by the end of the four-day weekend which isn't a disaster.

If estimates hold, Gerard Butler's "Gamer" isn't that far behind in the third slot with only $3.3 million on Friday and a hopeful $12 million for the weekend.  While hopes weren't that high, Lionsgate has to be disappointed the actioner hasn't found more of an audience.  Then again, sometimes moviegoers can smell a bad flick a mile away.

Fourth place went to "Inglourious Basterds" which continues to perform strongly on good word of mouth  With another $3 million and around $11-12 million for the holiday weekend, "Basterds" is edging closer and closer to the magical $100 million mark.  A significant achievement director Quentin Tarantino hasn't achieved since "Pulp Fiction" way back in 1994.

Mike Judge's "Extract" also opened on Friday and even with a strong marketing push by Miramax couldn't find an audience with only $1.36 million in ticket sales.  Certainly not reviled by critics as some of the weekends other releases, Judge should seriously consider the titles of his pictures in the future.  "Idoicracy" and "Extract" don't necessarily sell their stories very well.

Labor Day weekend is traditionally one of the slowest of the year as the last vacation frame for many and usually results in a studio dumping ground for some of the worst films of the year. With "All About Steve" and "Gamer," that certainly appears to be the case.

Look for more box office updates as the Labor Day weekend continues on HitFix.