Though there were four new releases in the top 10 this weekend, it was another declining weekend at the box office, with earnings of approximately $75 million. That’s down 29 percent from this time last year, and the third-lowest total of 2012. New releases included Open Road Films’ “End of Watch” at No. 1, Relativity’s “House at the End of The Street” at No. 2, Warner Bros.’ “Trouble with the Curve” at No. 3 and Lionsgate’s “Dredd” at No. 6.

This weekend’s leader was “End of Watch,” which debuted at a mediocre $13.15 million. The film should maintain profitability in the coming weeks through word of mouth, as its “A-” rating on CinemaScore will drive more people to see it. The film cost an estimated $7 million to produce, and Open Road Films only acquired it for $2 million, which means the film will be profitable and within range of other cop-genre films.

Coming in at No. 2 was “House at the End of The Street” with $12.3 million. The film was slated to be released this past April; however, Relativity pushed it back to a September release after the film’s star, Jennifer Lawrence, appeared in “The Hunger Games” in March. This was a very wise move by Relativity, as it gave “House at the End of The Street” star power that attracted larger audiences.

“Trouble with the Curve” debuted in third place with $12.2 million from 3,212 locations.  Despite the stardom of director Clint Eastwood and a “B+” grade on CinemaScore, the film is only ranked seventh all-time for baseball-genre films — last September’s baseball film, “Moneyball,” debuted at $19.5 million. The mediocre opening can be accredited to Clint Eastwood’s most recent controversial speech fiasco at the Republican National Convention, and perhaps the growing weariness of audiences to baseball genre films. There are already 162 days a year dedicated to baseball, and with the playoffs coming up, audiences might not want to watch a film about a sport they can easily watch at home.

The final new release in the top 10 came from Lionsgate’s “Dredd,” which opened in sixth place with an embarrassing $6.3 million behind a production budget of $50 million. The box office bomb shines light on the current issue with Comic-Con — though the film generated tremendous buzz from Comic-Con attendees, that audience is only a small portion of moviegoers. Hopefully Lionsgate will learn its lesson and realize that blowing a marketing budget on a Comic-Con crowd will not guarantee financial success.

– Compiled by Ian Tecklin, contributing writer, ijteckli@syr.edu