“Collateral” debuted atop the box office, with sales of $24.4 million, but was below expectations for a Tom Cruise movie.

It was also the second smallest opening for a movie this summer, earning just $500,000 more than Fahrenheit 9/11, yet the Michael Moore movie was seen in far fewer theatres.

The Village fell one spot to second, bringing in $16.6 million in box office sales.

Bourne Supremacy continues its impressive tally, bringing in another $14.4 million. Rounding out the top 5 are The Manchurian Candidate with Denzel Washinton ($10.8 million) and the near-flop debut of Little Black Book.

Cruise played a bad guy in Collateral with Jamie Foxx, a rare choice of character for the A-list actor who usually plays the softer roles. Mission Impossible 2 opened in 2000 with almost $56 million in sales. His last movie, The Last Samurai, pulled in $24 in its opening week, but that was considered a flop.

Because of the R-rating and rough reviews, it was expected that Collateral would bring in about $20 million, but for the star power of Cruise, earlier expectations were higher.






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