'Last Exorcism' & 'Takers' Go Neck And Neck

AUGUST 30, 2010 - The Last Exorcism and Takers delivered sizeable debuts in a near photo finish for the North American weekend top spot, while Avatar's Special Edtion relaunch yielded modest numbers. Overall weekend business was off six percent from the same time-frame last year, when The Final Destination led.

Grossing US$20.5 million at 2,874 locations, The Last Exorcism, reinforced the seemingly perennial popularity of supernatural horror, particularly serious ones about hauntings or exorcisms. Its opening ranked well above average for the sub-genre, grossing more than Exorcist: The Beginning and The Unborn (2009).

Here are the Top 5 North American B-O studio grosses for Aug 27-29, 2010 weekend, in terms of rank, Movie name (studio), Weekend takings in USD, (Cumulative gross, USD) and week on chart, courtesy of Boxofficemojo. (Updated on 31 Aug).

1. The Last Exorcism (Lion's Gate) $20.5 million ($20.5 million) 1

2. Takers (Screen Gems) $20.3 million ($20.3) million) 1

3. The Expendables (Lion's Gate) $9.5 million ($82.0 mil) 3

4. Eat Pray Love (Sony) $6.8 million ($60.5 mil) 3

5. The Other Guys (Sony) $6.2 million ($99.0 mil) 4