Box Office, The Expendables 2 | featured news

Hollywood may have run out of summer hits, but an anti-Obama documentary is helping to fill the gap. Holdover movies easily topped the weekend box office again, led by Sylvester Stallone's "The Expendables 2" at No. 1 for the second-straight weekend with $13.5 million. The weekend's new wide releases were overshadowed by "2016: Obama's America," which expanded from limited to nationwide release and took in $6.2 million to finish at No. 8.

Like their muscles, the box-office drawing power of Sylvester Stallone and his action-hero cohorts appears to be atrophying with age: “The Expendables 2,” with Mr. Stallone and a muscular ensemble, was the No. 1 movie in North America over the weekend. But its estimated $28.8 million in ticket sales was 21 percent lower than its series predecessor’s opening-weekend total, after accounting for inflation. Millennium Films spent about $90 million to make “The Expendables 2,” which was distributed by Lionsgate.

Action extravaganza The Expendables easily topped the Friday box office, but overall moviegoing remained on the softer side as the sequel found itself trailing the original 2010 film. Expendables 2, from Lionsgate and Millennium Films, grossed $10.5 million for a projected weekend opening in the $27 million to $28 million range. On the same weekend two years ago, Expendables grossed $13.3 million on its first Friday for a $34.8 million opening.