'Resident Evil' Takes Bite Out of Competition

Resident Evil: Afterlife, the fourth live-action film in the series based on the Resident Evil video games, chewed its way to the top of the box office charts this weekend.  The film brought in a series' best $27.7 million, boosted by 3-D ticket sales.  Attendance was down from prior films in the series, but with a modest $60 million budget, the film should turn a nice profit for distributor Sony.

Second place went to Takers, which fell 44% to $6.1 million in its third weekend.  With $48.1 million to-date, the high concept heist flick is well on its way into the black.

In third spot was George Clooney's The American, falling from the top spot last weekend.  The film dropped 55.3%, which is significant for a film that appeals to an older audience.  This likely means it isn't experiencing stellar word-of-mouth.  $5.9 million in grosses, The American has tallied a total of $26.7 million over two weeks.

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Slow Labour Day Weekend Allows 'American' to slash 'Machete'

George Clooney's The American led a typically slow Labour Day weekend at the box office, bringing in $16.7 million over the three days since opening on the previous Wednesday.  Its total after the weekend was $19.8 million.

In second place, Machete, the spin-off flick from Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez' Grindhouse film, opened with $14.1 million.  

The top two films each had a production budget of approximately $20 million, so both should be able to reach profitability relatively easily.

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'Takers' Takes It

In a surprise upset, Takers has claimed the weekend's box office crown from The Last Exorcism.  Sunday estimates had placed The Last Exorcism as the first place film, and Takers in the second spot, but once the results were in, Takers claimed first place with $20.5 million, and the Last Exorcism had to settle for second with $20.4 million.

Regardless of who took the stop spot, though, both studios had to be happy with results that will have their movies in the black in no time.  In fact, with its $20.4 million gross, The Last Exorcism has nothing to worry about, considering its budget is a measly $1.8 million.

'Exorcism', 'Takers' Virtually Tied

The Last Exorcism and Takers, two new releases this weekend, battled it out in a very tight race where it looks like The Last Exorcism squeaked into first place, but the reality won't be known until sometime on Monday.

With an estimated $21.3 million, The Last Exorcism is looking like the first place film for the weekend, but with terrible word of mouth, it's quite possible the film suffered more of a Saturday to Sunday drop than the studio initially estimated.

Takers took in an estimated $21 million in its opening frame, and also suffers from terrible word of mouth, so it'll be interesting to see how this shakes out.

No matter which film takes the top spot, however, Lion's Gate's The Last Exorcism is the real success story here.  Even if the film drops by 70% in its second weekend (a very real possibility),| it's already a hugely profitable film thanks to its tiny $1.8 million production budget.  Even adding in the costs for prints & advertising, a $20 million+ opening will bring the film well into the black.

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