Friday Report: 'The Possession' Grips Top Spot
As expected, the box office was fairly quiet on Friday. The Possession debuted in first place with a solid $6.05 million at 2,816 locations; that's lower than Lionsgate's other recent supernatural horror movies The Last Exorcism ($9.4 million) and The Haunting in Connecticut ($9.7 million), but it does at least put the movie on pace for a four-day opening around $20 million.

In second place, Lawless added $2.75 million from 2,888 locations for a three-day total of $4.9 million. Among recent Labor Day weekend thrillers, it's tracking ahead of The Debt ($4.5 million) but behind The American ($7 million). Based on these comparisons, the movie is poised to get to around $14 million by Monday.

The Expendables 2 eased 43 percent to an estimated $2.18 million on Friday, bringing its total to $59.5 million. It currently lags behind the original movie by nearly $16 million through the same point, and has zero chance of getting close to $100 million by the end of its run.

The Bourne Legacy held nicely on Friday, dipping just 34 percent to an estimated $1.8 million. The movie has now earned $90.8 million, and is only outpacing the first Bourne movie by around $8 million.

2016 Obama's America expanded from 1,091 to 1,750 locations yesterday, but was off 28 percent to an estimated $1.6 million. The conservative documentary passed Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story ($14.4 million) yesterday to claim fifth place all-time among political documentaries, and its total is now at $14.7 million.

ParaNorman fell 39 percent to an estimated $1.407 million for a total of $32.9 million. The Dark Knight Rises was just behind with $1.405 million (off 29 percent), for a new total of $426.7 million.

The Avengers expanded in to 1,705 locations and added $365,000 yesterday. The movie has now earned $618.2 million, and it will push past $620 million before its Sept. 25 DVD/Blu-ray release.

Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure was expected to finish outside of the Top 12 yesterday, though an official number is not currently available.

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Forecast: 'The Possession' Set to Haunt Theaters Over Labor Day

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Grosses for Friday, August 31, 2012