Horror flick "The Possession" exorcised A-list action romp "The Expendables 2" from the top slot at the North American box office over the holiday weekend, industry figures released Tuesday showed.
The newly-released supernatural thriller, starring Kyra Sedgwick and Jeffrey Dean Morgan as divorcing parents trying to rid their daughter of an evil spirit, raked in $17.7 million, or $21.1 million including Labor Day on Monday.
Another new release, Depression-era Western "Lawless," took second place, generating $10 million on the slow, late summer weekend, or $12.9 million including the extra day, said movie tracker Exhibitor Relations.
"The Expendables 2" and "The Bourne Legacy" fell to third and fourth places, with $9 million and $7.2 million in ticket sales respectively, or $11.5 million and $9.3 million including Monday.
"ParaNorman," an animated movie about a boy who can speak to the dead, held onto its spot just behind the two action blockbusters, earning $6.9 million in box office receipts by Sunday, and $9 million over four days.
And quirky fantasy-comedy "The Odd Life of Timothy Green" held steady at sixth place, bringing in $6.3 million, or $8.6 million including Monday.
In seventh was "The Dark Knight Rises," the latest Batman film, with $6.1 million or $8 million over four days. The final installment in the Christopher Nolan-directed trilogy has so far raked in over $433 million.
Political spoof "The Campaign," starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis, dropped to eighth place, with box office receipts of $5.7 million or $7.2 million.
A more serious political movie, "2016: Obama's America," a documentary by conservative writer and commentator Dinesh D'Souza, came in ninth, with $5.1 million, or $7.5 million including Monday.
And rounding out the top 10 was Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones's romantic comedy "Hope Springs," with $4.7 million in ticket sales, or $6.1 over the full holiday weekend.
