Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson arrives at the premiere of 'Gridiron Gang' in Hollywood on September 5. - Reuters

LOS ANGELES (AP):

It was another down weekend at the box office although moviegoers helped Sony Pictures and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson score with the football flick Gridiron Gang.

The drama about a football team at a Los Angeles juvenile detention centre took in an estimated US$15 million in ticket sales to claim the top spot for the weekend. The debut gave distributor Sony its 10th top opener this year, setting an all-time industry record. Overall, box office revenues for the top-12 films dipped 12.3 per cent from the same weekend last year. That makes for two down weekends in a row, cutting into the single-digit revenue gains the studios have enjoyed so far this year.

Studio revenues are still up 6.2 per cent over last year and attendance is also up 3 per cent, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations Inc.

Despite high expectations from director Brian De Palma and a cast including Josh Hartnett and Scarlett Johansson, the gruesome murder mystery The Black Dahlia opened in the second spot with US$10.4 million.The film, from Universal Pictures, fared better than last week's debut of Hollywoodland, which sank from the number two spot to ninth place this week. Both films deal with real-life Los Angeles mysteries.

The other major film opening was Paramount's The Last Kiss which took in US$4.7 million for fourth place.

The rock

But the weekend belonged to 'The Rock,' who scored his fifth No. 1 opening in his career, helping to further his reputation as an action movie star.

Top 10 box office listing

1.	Gridiron Gang,
		US $15 million.
	2.	The Black Dahlia,				US$10.4 million.
	3.	Everyone's Hero,				US$6.2 million.
	4.	The Last Kiss,				US$4.7 million.
	5.	The Covenant,				US$4.7 million.
	6.	Invincible,
		US$3.9 million.
	7.	The Illusionist,				US$3.8 million.
	8.	Little Miss Sunshine,			US$3.4 million.
	9.	Hollywoodland,				US$2.7 million.
10.	Crank, US$2.7
		million.