Poseidon fails to float at the US box office

The second weekend for Mission: Impossible III brought better news for Tom Cruise as the latest outing for Ethan Hunt managed to cling to the top of the box office for its second week. It dropped less than 50 percent to grab $24.5 million.

Less successful was Poseidon, which pulled into harbour with a distinctly unimpressive $20.3 million. With a $160 million budget plus marketing expenses to recoup, that won’t have too many faces smiling. Third place went to Robin Williams comedy RV, which grabbed $9.5 million. $42.8 million so far is nothing to laugh at, though clearly plenty of American families have been doing just that at the film itself.

Fourth sees another first-week title floundering with a disappointing take. Lindsay Lohan’s new comedy Just My Luck tanked with just $5.5 million. An American Haunting, meanwhile, showed decent holding power, making $3.6 million and moving down just two places in this second week.

The middle of the charts sees two films that couldn’t be more different battling it out for dominance. United 93 spent its third weekend at sixth, taking $3.6 million, just ahead of gymnastics comedy Stick It at seventh, with $3.2 million.

Ice Age: The Meltdown simply will not quit, grabbing another $2.9 million for a running US total of more than $187 million. It’ll be interesting to see if it can hold on to that with the release of fellow animated ‘toon Over The Hedge next week.

Finally, there’s Silent Hill at ninth with $2.2 million and Hoot at tenth with $2.1 million.