Mira Nair's 19th-century class-warfare film "Vanity Fair", starring Reese Witherspoon, had lacklustre showings when it opened in the theatres last week.

Hollywood experienced a completely jaded four-day long weekend that included Labour Day even as a hurricane forced Florida theatres to shut down.

The film opened Wednesday to mediocre reviews, which are devastating for a highbrow adaptation like this, says hollywoodreporter.com.

Four new movies debuted in the theatres last week: the Josh Hartnett romantic thriller "Wicker Park"; the Mel Gibson-produced "Paparazzi" about overzealous celebrity photographers; Reese Witherspoon's take on the 19th century class-warfare novel "Vanity Fair"; and the hip-hop comedy "The Cookout".

None of them were able to make a dent.

The martial arts epic "Hero" starring Jet Li has held on to the top spot at the box office for the second week in a row, with a $11.5 million haul over the weekend, less than half of what it earned a week earlier -- making it the lowest- grossing No. 1 film of the year.

The lost-in-the-woods parody "Without a Paddle" came in second in its third week, with $9.4 million, and "Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid", a sequel to 1997 monster-serpent adventure, was No. 3 with $8 million in its second week.

Among the new films, "Paparazzi" ranked the highest at No.4 with $7.8 million, following two holdovers from previous weeks.

"Wicker Park" ranked sixth with $6.7 million, while "Vanity Fair" came in eighth with $6.12 million for the four-day weekend.