Box Office Report: We'll probably have more exorcisms now

Dude here again. Can you believe the summer movie season is almost over? Doesn't it seem like just last week when we were talking about how every movie this summer sucks, and there's nothing worthy of coming out, except for maybe Inception and Expendables? And here we are, a whole summer has passed us by.

And we're still making arguments that a lot of the movies this summer sucked.

This weekend, the estimates are giving us a neck-and-neck race. Whose ego will prevail victorious? Let's go to the numbers, shall we? (All in millions, remember, and these are the studio estimates. The actuals will be available on Monday, as these are holiday numbers).

1. The Last Exorcism (LGF) - $21.3, 2874 screens, week 1, $21.3 total

2. Takers (ScrGms)- $21.0, 2206 screens, week 1, $21.0 total

3. The Expendables (LGF)- $9.5, 3398 screens, week 3, $82.0 total

4. Eat Pray Love (Sony) - $7.0, 3108 screens, week 3, $60.7 total

5. The Other Guys (Sony) - $6.6, 3181 screens, week 4, $99.3 total

6. Vampires Suck (Fox) $5.3, 3233 screens, week 2, $27.9 total

7. Inception (WB)- $5.1, 2070 screens, week 7, $270.7 total

8. Nanny McPhee Returns (Uni)- $4.7, 2798 screens, week 2, $17.0 total

9. The Switch (Mir) - $4.6, 2017 screens, week 2, $16.4 total

10. Piranha 3D (Dim)- $4.3, 2491 screens, week 2, $18.2 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means that somehow, our collective audience viewing habits couldn't decide between the standard late-August horror fare thats served up to us, or Heat-lite starring two of the most wooden actors in the history of the game. The Last Exorcism, which I hear is quite effective, seemed to be on track with a large Friday haul, but Takers seems to be making money as well, which fascinates me because that movie looks like a junior high brandy ad. Real numbers will prove the winner, but this is another of those races where whoever wins, we lose.

The Expendables and Eat Pray Love continue their dance, sweeping up the remains. Meanwhile, all the other big releases from last week (five of them!) have settled down to the bottom of the chart. And sure, everybody's pulling in some money, but it's comparatively weak sauced compared to previous years.

Although it seems according to this chart that the top nineteen movies all grossed at least a million dollars, which is nothing to be ashamed about. To give you perspective, Step UP 3-D made $1.2 million dollars in three days, where as I made $262 in 3 days with my wonderfully shitty job. Justice: Hollywood Style!

Fun Fact: Only one movie in the top ten features a nude underwater ballet and a scene where a fish burps out a digested human penis. Not so fun fact- that movie is at the bottom of the list, not at the top where images like that belong. (Take that, Nolan).

Below the radar, James Cameron decided he wanted some more money, and released a special edition of Avatar, you remember that one, right? The movie about the blue hippies who want to save the world in 3D? Anyway, there are a few new scenes in the film, which means hot rapey blue firewire cable scenes! Anyway, the public was mostly not having that, having spent so much money seeing it in theaters earlier this year then buying the crappy bare bones Blu Ray, so it only made $4.0 million. just slightly less than Pirahna 3-D, which is the superior motion picture due to blood, nudity, and time factors.

So there, you have my amazing break down. Next week, Machete comes to own us all! And Clooney's got a new movie which mean it's time for serious movie season to start!

Until next weekend....

(All Numbers courtesy of Box Office Mojo)