Though Shia LaBeouf’s roles in the successes of Transformers and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull could largely be credited to nostalgia for preexisting franchises, the $29.2 million bow of his latest film, Eagle Eye, this weekend proves that the young actor is now a bankable star in his own right. The conspiracy thriller — no, sadly, it was not a biopic about the late-nineties singer-songwriter Eagle-Eye Cherry — more than doubled the weekend take of the Richard Gere–Diane Lane romance Nights in Rodanthe, which nevertheless grossed above expectations at $13.6 million and performed well with older audiences. Perhaps Shia should take note of Gere’s commercial staying power: Action movies may be his bread and butter as a young heartthrob, but as he ages, he may want to consider doing at least one tearjerker that prominently features beaches and/or horses.
