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The rest of the top ten makes me want to be sick, as we don't have a returning film grossing more than $6 million (yes, I'm in a mood). Too often I talk about how studios are too dependent on release dates – had some studio released a decent film this weekend – hell if they had RE-released a decent film this weekend, it would have had a chance at a top ten spot, but no, we are left with what are quickly becoming rancid leftovers.

Number two this weekend is either the The American with the D- Cinemascore, or Takers, three-weekends old and carrying its 30% fresh rating. Both of these films NEVER should have opened at number one (they both did) or had a second weekend in the top three (uh-huh), but here we are. This weekend, Takers is listed in second, and again the studio should be commended for turning crap into gold via a smart release strategy over a stupid period on the calendar. Takers earned $6.1 million this weekend and was off 44%, however, Screen Gems has turned what should have been a direct to the Walmart $3.99 bin into a minor (and I emphasize minor) hit. Takers cost Screen Gems $32 million to make and it has earned $48.1 million. Why? Because there was nothing else to see.

The American is currently listed at number three. The George Clooney snoozer earned $5.9 million and dropped 55% from its $13 million win last weekend. This is an adult drama being sold as a thriller and it dropped more than 50% over what will be the slowest weekend of the year. This is a box office paradox, but everything is this weekend. Give The American $28.3 million after two weekends, and give a win to Focus Features, who will have a financial success with this one, despite it being – at best- an expensive arthouse flick.

Our next match-up is between two very different films, Machete and Going the Distance. It's somewhat of a surprise these two are facing off, as Machete beat Distance by about $5 million last weekend. Current estimates have Machete on top with a weekend gross of $4.2 million, good for fourth. The drop was huge, coming in at 63%, but somewhat expected. Grindhouse, which Machete is a child of, also dropped 63% in its second weekend (and 68% in its third). Machete was made for $20 million, and has now earned $20.8 million domestically.

Going the Distance is fifth, as the Drew Barrymore/Justin Long snoozefest has a so-so hold. Distance earned $3.8 million this weekend and drops 44%. The drop won't help much in the long run, as the budget for this Warner Bros. flick came in at $32 million, and it has so far grossed $14 million. We have four new releases next weekend, and three the week after, so this turd is going to get flushed pretty quick.

The Other Guys manages to hang on in the top ten for a sixth weekend, despite there being no real reason for this to happen. The Other Guys earned another $3.6 million this weekend and fell 32%. The $100 million Sony release has now earned $112.7 million.

The Last Exorcism gets filleted this weekend, much like it did last weekend when it dropped 64%. The cheap Lionsgate pickup earned another $3.4 million this weekend, and dropped a loud 53%. Give the $1.8 million film a domestic total of $38.1 million so far.

The Expendables continues to wander toward a $100 million domestic total, but it will have to wait until it's out of the top ten to do it. The Expendables earned $3.2 million this weekend, and dropped 51%. It has earned $98.5 million domestic, and over $125 million overseas.

The nine-weekend-old Inception continues to earn, as it pulled in another $3 million this weekend. The $160 million Warner Bros. film has now earned a remarkable $282.4 million stateside, and $425 million overseas, which means it has crossed the $700 million mark worldwide.

Eat Pray Love manages another top ten weekend. The five-weekend-old Julia Roberts flick earned $2.9 million this weekend and dropped 40%. The $60 million Sony flick has now earned $74.6 million, and hasn't seen a foreign release as of yet.

As discussed above, the top 12 total is abysmal, coming in at $68 million. Its not even worth comparing to last year (but if you want to, those films earned $76.2 million). Let's hope next weekend shakes the dust off the box office. New openers include the horror flick Devil, Easy A, an intelligent looking high school film (is that possible?), The Town, from director and star Ben Affleck, and a Lionsgate film I've never heard of, Alpha and Omega.

Top Weekend Box Office for 9/10/10-9/12/10 (Actuals)
Rank	Film	Distributor	Estimated Gross	Actual Gross	Weekly Change	Running Total
1	Resident Evil: Afterlife	Screen Gems (Sony)	$27,700,000	$26,650,264	- 3.8%	$26,650,264
2	Takers	Screen Gems (Sony)	$6,100,000	$5,675,611	- 7.0%	$47,680,783
3	The American	Focus Features	$5,895,806	$5,674,240	New	$28,111,358
4	Machete	Fox	$4,200,000	$4,294,120	New	$20,916,709
5	Going the Distance	Warner Bros. Pictures	$3,835,000	$3,788,222	- 1.2%	$13,952,322
6	The Other Guys	Columbia Pictures (Sony)	$3,600,000	$3,347,995	- 7.0%	$112,442,408
7	The Last Exorcism	Lionsgate	$3,450,000	$3,322,853	- 3.7%	$38,062,322
8	The Expendables	Lionsgate	$3,250,000	$3,223,651	- 0.8%	$98,466,264
9	Eat Pray Love	Sony/Columbia	$2,900,000	$2,928,256	+ 1.0%	$74,660,964
10	Inception	Warner Bros. Pictures	$3,015,000	$2,802,390	- 7.1%	$282,211,978
11	Nanny McPhee Returns	Universal Pictures	$2,021,220	$2,080,315	+ 2.9%	$26,281,045
12	The Switch	Miramax	$2,028,000	$2,001,103	- 1.3%	$25,005,832
	Also Opening/Notables
	Dabangg	Eros	N/A	$628,137	New	$628,137
	Legendary	Samuel Goldwyn	$128,000	$126,964	New	$126,964
	I'm Still Here	Magnolia	$100,000	$100,000	New	$100,000
	De Mai Tinh (fool For Love)	Variance	$52,800	$49,313	New	$49,313
	The Romantics	Four of a Kind Productions	$45,000	$45,527	New	$45,527
	Bran Nue Dae	Freestyle	$26,960	$23,527	New	$23,527
	Genius Within: the Inner Life of Glenn Gould	Lorber Films	N/A	$17,034	New	$17,034
	Ahead of Time	Vitagraph	$11,750	$12,790	New	$12,790
	Hideaway (le Refuge)	Strand	N/A	$11,124	New	$11,124
	The Trial	Mountain Top Releasing	N/A	$8,957	New	$8,957
	Who Is Harry Nilsson?	Lorber Films	N/A	$6,078	New	$6,078
	Lovely, Still		N/A	$4,584	New	$18,048
	A Woman, a Gun, a Noodle Shop	Sony Classics	$30,434	$28,501	New	$70,577
	The Tillman Story	Weinstein Co.	$89,630	$83,970	New	$422,275
	Get Low		$1,006,398	$864,834	- 14.1%	$6,912,937
	Flipped	Warner Bros.	$490,000	$481,438	- 1.7%	$1,264,515
	Despicable Me	Universal Pictures	$1,498,750	$1,657,100	+ 10.6%	$243,531,970
Click here for all weekend data
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations

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