Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- “The Final Destination,” the latest installment of the R-rated horror-movie franchise from Warner Bros., took in $12.4 million at U.S. and Canadian theaters this weekend and repeated as the No. 1 film.

“All About Steve,” starring Sandra Bullock, made its debut in second place with $11.2 million. “Inglorious Basterds” was third with $10.8 million, researcher Hollywood.com Box-Office said in an e-mailed statement.

Sales for the top 12 films rose 7.5 percent from the year- ago period, a fairly strong performance considering that the screen releases were dominated by violent, R-rated movies that many younger fans can’t see, said Gitesh Pandya, editor of BoxOfficeGuru.com in New York. It was the fifth straight weekend ticket sales topped 2008 levels.

“The recession is helping the box office,” he said. “People need escapism, and movies are relatively inexpensive.”

“The Final Destination” is the fourth film in a series and it follows a group of teens who try to cheat death after one of them has a premonition of a fatal accident. Last weekend’s debut was the highest opening weekend for the franchise, according to Box Office Mojo.

‘All About Steve’

The film also is the seventh by Time Warner Inc. this year to debut in first. The studio leads its rivals with box-office receipts of $1.52 billion through yesterday, according to Box Office Mojo, which also tracks receipts.

“All About Steve,” a romantic comedy from News Corp.’s Twentieth Century Fox, features Bullock as a crossword-puzzle creator who becomes infatuated with a news cameraman after a blind date.

The movie did better than some analysts had expected after it was savaged by critics, Pandya said. The movie may have gotten a boost from the success of “The Proposal,” released in June, which reinvigorated the 45-year-old actress as a romantic- comedy star, he said.

“The surprise was ‘All About Steve,’” Pandya said. Reviews showed “overwhelming dislike” for the film, said CBS Inc.’s Metacritic.com, which compiles reviews from newspapers and other outlets.

‘Gamer’

“Inglourious Basterds,” which was third, stars Brad Pitt and Diane Kruger and tells the story of a band of Jewish- American soldiers out to kill Nazis in occupied France. The Quentin Tarantino-directed film from Weinstein Co. has brought in $91 million in three weeks in theaters.

“Gamer,” the sci-fi thriller from Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., took in $9 million for fourth place. The movie stars Gerard Butler and tells the story of a deadly online tournament where players control other humans in battle.

Fifth-place’s “District 9” had sales of $7 million. The science-fiction movie from Sony/Tri-Star, set in South Africa, is about refugees from another planet who are stranded in Johannesburg. Produced by “Lord of the Rings ” trilogy director Peter Jackson, the film won “universal acclaim” from reviewers, according to Metacritic.com.

“Extract,” a comedy from “Beavis and Butthead” creator Mike Judge and released by Walt Disney Co.’s Miramax division, came in 10th with $4.19 million in sales. It made its debut in 1,611 theaters.

Attendance Up

Year-to-date receipts total $7.4 billion, up 7.8 percent from a year earlier, Los Angeles-based Hollywood.com Box-Office said. Attendance is up 3.9 percent this year.

The following table has figures provided by studios to Hollywood.com Box-Office. The amounts are based on actual ticket sales for Sept. 4 and Sept. 5 and estimates for yesterday.

                  Rev.                Avg./    Pct. Total
Movie             (mln)     Theaters  Theater  Chg. (mln)  Wks
==============================================================
1 FINAL DESTINATION    $12.4    3,121   $3,984   -55  $47.6  2
2 ALL ABOUT STEVE       11.2    2,251    4,976    --   11.2  1
3 INGLORIOUS BASTERDS   10.8    3,358    3,230   -44   91.0  3
4 GAMER                  9.0    2,502    3,597    --    9.0  1
5 DISTRICT 9             7.0    3,139    2,230   -32  101.3  4
6 HALLOWEEN II           5.6    3,088    1,816   -66   25.7  2
7 JULIE & JULIA          5.2    2,528    2,057   -26   78.8  5
8 G.I. JOE               5.1    2,846    1,792   -34  139.4  5
9 TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE   4.22   2,803    1,504   -35   54.6  4
10 EXTRACT               4.19   1,611    2,599    --    4.19 1
11 SHORTS                2.6    2,631      990   -42   17.0  3
12 G-FORCE               1.98   1,477    1,339   -30  114.6  7


Top 12 Films Grosses


   This Week     Year Ago      Pct.
     (mln)         (mln)       Chg.
===================================
     $79.4         $73.9      +7.5

Year-to-date Revenue


     2009          2008
      YTD           YTD        Pct.
     (mln)         (mln)       Chg.
===================================
    $7,384        $6,851      +7.8


Year-to-date Attendance:     +3.9%

To contact the reporters on this story: James Callan in New York at jcallan2@bloomberg.net; Tim Mullaney in New York @ tmullaney1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 7, 2009 00:01 EDT