HOLLYWOOD -- After this past weekend's box office receipts were tallied, George Clooney remains a movie star minus the accompanying marquee value.

Back in October, we examined the conundrum that is Clooney -- a smart, affable guy with ridiculously good looks and equal amounts of talent on both sides of the camera, which somehow never have translated into any kind of clout at the box office.

At one point, Michael Clayton looked to be the movie that would change those fortunes, but even with an Oscar win (for Tilda Swinton) and a nomination for Clooney, the legal thriller failed to pass the $50-million mark over the course of its initial run and subsequent re-release.

Observers were then looking at Leatherheads, a period football movie teaming Clooney, Renee Zellweger and The Office's John Krasinski to do the trick, but the throwback screwball comedy, also directed by Clooney, fumbled in its first weekend.

Not only did it fail to unseat reigning champ, 21, but when the final figures were announced Monday, the $58-million production's $12.7 million opening-weekend take was even less than that of Nim's Island, a family fantasy starring Jodie Foster and Little Miss Sunshine's Abigail Breslin.

Next up for George is a pair of Coen brothers pictures.

In the can is Burn After Reading, also starring Swinton, Brad Pitt and John Malkovich, while Clooney is still planning to mark his fourth time calling the shots with the Joel and Ethan Coen-penned Suburbicon, about which little is known other than it's another dark comedy.

Maybe Clooney should be open to an Ocean's Fourteen.

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