Zombies Take Over the Box Office

Oddly enough, it was zombies that helped to revive the traditionally slow box office weekend after Labor Day. Resident Evil: Afterlife, the fourth movie based on the popular video games, posted a series-best $27.7 million debut, taking a decisive first place. In fact, the next six films’ weekend grosses don’t even add up to Evil’s total. Unsurprisingly, star Milla Jovovich has already said a fifth installment is “definitely” in the works. Down the list, three new releases from last week—George Clooney’s The American, B-movie flick Machete, and Drew Barrymore’s romantic comedy Going the Distance—all dropped about 50 percent from their debuts, taking third, fourth, and fifth place, respectively. In second was Takers, holding up nicely in its third week and banking a cumulative gross of $48 million.