UPDATE: A typically slow end to summer saw Lionsgate’s horror film score well with a $21.3m four-day number one result, while The Weinstein Company released Cannes entry Lawless in second place with a $15.1m four-day weekend.

The Posession was formerly known as Dibbuk Box and stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kyra Sedgwick. Ole Bornedal directed and Sam Raimi produced. John Hillocat directed Lawless, a Depression Era tale of rival bootlegging gangs starring Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, Jessica Chastain and Guy Pearce.

Elsewhere the previous weekend’s chart tended to shift down a couple of slots. The Expendables 2 has grossed $68.5m after three weekends in release through Lionsgate while Warner Bros’ The Dark Knight Rises in seventh place stands at $433.2m after seven and has crossed $1bn worldwide.

Universal’s The Bourne Legacy is on the cusp of $100m, standing at $98.4m after four sessions, while Rocky Mountain Pictures’ doc 2016 Obama’s America at number nine climbed to $20.3m over the Labour Day weekend.

Oogieloves In The BIG Balloon Adventure opened outside the top 20 through Kenn Viselman Presents on $600,000 from 2,160 theatres over the four-day session and stands at $800,000.

Marvel Studios’ The Avengers climbed 25 places to number 14 after Buena Vista gave it a summer-end boost and increased the screen count by 123 to 1,705. The superhero soup added $2.2m for $620.1m and has grossed more than $1.5bn worldwide.

Focus Features opened For A Good Time Call… and the Sundance acquisition took $141,000 from 23 sites. Indomina Media’s Flying Swords of Dragon Gate opened on $90,000 from 50 theatres. Drafthouse Films opened The Ambassador on $11,900 from four.

Next weekend’s wide releases are CBS Films’ Sundance acquisition The Words with Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana and action thriller The Cold Light Of Day with Henry Cavill, Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver from Summit Entertainment.

Estimated Top 10 North America Aug 31-Sept 3 2012
Film (Dist) / Est wkd gross / Est total to date

1 (-) The Possession (Lionsgate) Lionsgate Int’l $21.3m –

2 (-) Lawless (TWC) FilmNation $13.0m $15.1m

3 (1) The Expendables 2 (Lionsgate) Lionsgate Int’l $11.2m $68.5m

4 (2) The Bourne Legacy (Universal) UPI $9.4m $98.4m

5 (3) ParaNorman (Focus Features) FFI $9.0m $40.5m

6 (6) The Odd Life Of Timothy Green (Buena Vista) WDSMPI $8.5m $38.3m

7 (5) The Dark Knight Rises (Warner Bros) WBPI $7.9m $433.2m

8 (4) The Campaign (Warner Bros) WBPI $7.6m $75.2m

9 (7) 2016 Obama’s America (Rocky Mountain Pictures) $7.1m $20.3m

10 (9) Hope Springs (Sony) SPRI $6.0m $52.0m