Steven Strait stars as Caleb in a scene from the supernatural thriller 'The Covenant. - Contributed

LOS ANGELES (Reuters):

The new supernatural thriller The Covenant conjured up the lead at a sluggish weekend box office in North America with the lowest sales for a number-one movie in three years.

The Sony Corp. release sold US$9 million worth of tickets in the three days beginning September 8, followed by another new film, Hollywoodland, with US$6 million, and previous champ Invincible with US$5.8 million.

The last movie to open at number one with less than US$10 million was the David Spade comedy Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star with US$6.7 million exactly three years ago.

Overall box office sales also were the lowest since then, according to tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. The top-12 films earned US$54 million this weekend, just ahead of the US$50.5 million haul when Dickie Roberts ruled. A year ago, the top 12 earned US$73.5 million.

Both The Covenant and Dickie Roberts opened after the United States Labour Day holiday weekend, the last hurrah of the lucrative summer moviegoing season.

For the next couple of weeks, sales will be weak as the studios dump likely under-performers on the market and lay the groundwork for their prestigious Oscar contenders.

Opened within expectations

The Covenant, which cost about US$20 million to make, opened within expectations, Sony said. Directed by Finnish filmmaker Renny Harlin, the movie revolves around four studly warlocks at a prep school. The target audience appeared to skip the film, though, since three-quarters of the audience for PG-13-rated movie was aged 18 and older, Sony said.

The other new release in the top 10 was The Protector at number four. Thai martial arts director Tony Jaa's follow-up to the popular Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior earned US$5 million. The film was released by the Weinstein Co., the closely-held entity run by former Miramax Films chiefs Harvey and Bob Weinstein.

The top ten listings

1 The Covenant US$9 million

2 Hollywoodland US$6 million

3 Invincible US$5.8 million

4 The Protector US$5 million

5 Crank US$4.8 million

6 The Illusionist US$4.6 million

7 Little Miss Sunshine US$ 4.4 million

8 The Wicker Man US$4.1 million

9 Talladega Nights:The Ballad of Ricky Bobby US$ 3 million

10 Barnyard US$ 2.6 million