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The Last Exorcism finishes fourth, but that's only because it's Labor Day Weekend. With its drop, the film should have slipped to the bottom rungs of the box office ladder. The Lionsgate mockumentary dropped precipitously this weekend, falling 63% and earning only $7.6 million. Lionsgate doesn't care, as The Last Exorcism was a $2 million pickup for the studio. That $2 million has now turned into $32.3 million, and Exorcism could still see $40 million before its done.

New release Going The Distance is the biggest loser in a number of ways this weekend. The Drew Barrymore/Justin Long rom-com finished the three-day portion of the weekend with only $6.9 million in sales from the most venues of our three openers – 3,030 – and had a lowly venue average of $2,272. With a production cost of $32 million, it was also the most expensive new release of the weekend, and it was the worst reviewed opener of the weekend as well. The Warner Bros. property finished with a 48% fresh rating, behind Machete (71%) and The American (61%). Forgetting He's Just Not That Into You, Barrymore has stunk it up at the box office as of late. She's missed with Everybody's Fine ($3.9 million opening, $9.2 million finish), Whip It ($4.7 million opening, $13 million finish), and Lucky You ($2.7 million opening, $6 million finish). Charlie's Angels 3 anyone?

The Expendables finishes sixth as Stallone and friends enjoy a fourth weekend in the top ten. The Lionsgate product earned $6.8 million and was off 29% compared to last weekend. The Expendables has now earned $92.3 million stateside against an $80 million budget – and is popping overseas, as it has already earned $100 million on foreign shores.

Will Ferrell's The Other Guys ends up seventh, as the run for this one continues. Sony's action comedy earned $5.4 million in its fifth weekend and was off 14%. While no Rush Hour, The Other Guys has managed to eclipse the $100 million mark, taking in $106.9 million.

The other Sony release in August is Eat Pray Love, and while the Julia Roberts travelogue may not have achieved what Sony was hoping for, it still will be a financial success. Eat Pray Love earned $4.9 million in its fourth weekend, and was off 29%. It cost Sony $60 million to make, and has now brought in $69 million. This one should be huge overseas, where it has yet to open.

Ninth goes to Inception, which has been in the top ten for two months. Inception earned another $4.5 million this weekend and was off 7%. It has now taken in $277.1 million domestically, and is approaching $400 million in overseas business. Inception may have been costly to make ($160 million) but is proving to be one of the better investments of the summer.

Nanny McPhee returns gets the low rung in the top ten this weekend, as the Emma Thompson production never caught on in US cinemas. Nanny McPhee Returns earned $3.6 million this weekend and was off 24%. The $35 million Universal release has now earned $22.4 million stateside and $63 million overseas.

Overall this weekend, it was a typical Labor Day frame at the box office. The top 12 films this weekend earned only $81.3 million this weekend. Last year, with Final Destination on top for the second consecutive frame, the top 12 brought in $81.1 million - an almost identical number to 2010. Next weekend looks even slower, as the only opener is Resident Evil: Afterlife. Like usual, wake me up when September ends.

Top Weekend Box Office for 9/3/10-9/5/10 (Actuals)
Rank	Film	Distributor	Estimated Gross	Actual Gross	Weekly Change	Running Total
1	The American	Focus Features	$12,968,744	$13,177,790	New	$19,806,118
2	Machete	Fox	$11,300,000	$11,416,164	New	$14,102,888
3	Takers	Screen Gems (Sony)	$11,450,000	$10,876,732	- 47.0%	$39,986,817
4	The Last Exorcism	Lionsgate	$7,550,000	$7,341,976	- 64.0%	$33,522,575
5	Going the Distance	Warner Bros. Pictures	$6,885,000	$6,884,964	New	$8,508,290
6	The Expendables	Lionsgate	$6,750,000	$6,620,133	- 30.5%	$93,885,594
7	The Other Guys	Columbia Pictures (Sony)	$5,400,000	$5,287,889	- 15.9%	$108,130,839
8	Eat Pray Love	Sony/Columbia	$4,850,000	$4,800,758	- 29.6%	$70,279,644
9	Inception	Warner Bros. Pictures	$4,530,000	$4,572,249	- 6.2%	$278,457,609
10	Nanny McPhee Returns	Universal Pictures	$3,574,560	$3,533,925	- 25.0%	$23,672,660
11	Despicable Me	Universal Pictures	$2,824,000	$2,984,015	+ 4.3%	$241,498,630
12	Vampires Suck	Fox	$3,000,000	$3,196,167	New	$33,240,602
	Also Opening/Notables
	We Are Family	Utv	N/A	$296,907	New	$366,354
	Mesrine: Public Enemy #1	Music Box Films	$70,000	$74,449	New	$100,242
	A Woman, a Gun, a Noodle Shop	Sony Classics	$27,761	$27,330	New	$35,033
	Last Train Home	Zeitgeist	$20,000	$20,418	New	$24,207
	Prince of Broadway	Elephant Eye Films	N/A	$9,800	New	$11,992
	Avatar	20th Century Fox	$2,300,000	$2,257,595	- 43.7%	$758,247,840
	Mesrine: Killer Instinct	Music Box Films	N/A	$91,376	New	$336,376
	The Switch	Miramax	$3,068,000	$3,119,557	- 31.9%	$22,292,201
	Piranha 3D	Dimension Films	$2,300,000	$2,432,258	- 43.5%	$23,105,959
	Lottery Ticket	Warner Bros. Pictures	$2,290,000	$2,151,388	- 44.2%	$21,074,972
	The Tillman Story	Weinstein Co.	$133,000	$136,399	New	$303,560
	Scott Pilgrim vs. the World	Universal	$1,581,720	$1,553,475	- 38.0%	$29,267,130
	Get Low		$1,258,149	$1,204,465	- 26.6%	$5,760,386
	Salt	Columbia Pictures (Sony)	$1,250,000	$1,257,471	- 33.3%	$115,561,662
	The Girl Who Played With Fire	Music Box Films	N/A	$236,420	New	$6,643,255
	Toy Story 3	Walt Disney Pictures	$1,900,000	$1,944,801	+ 92.4%	$408,890,408
Click here for all weekend data
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations

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