A soporific session at the penultimate summer box office weekend saw Lionsgate’s all-star action romp climb to $52.3m, while the Conservative doc 2016 Obama’s America surged into the top ten in its seventh weekend in release.

Sylvester Stallone et al added $13.5m and have a tough mission on their hands if they are to overtake the predecessor’s final haul $103.1m, a figure that is not adjusted for inflation.

The big news of the session was the political documentary. Rocky Mountain Pictures expanded 2016 Obama’s America wide in its seventh session from 169 to 1,091 theatres.

According to reports the distributor used a grass-roots campaign to create a must-see event for political sympathisers. The film speculates how the US will fare should the President win a second term in November.

Rocky Mountain Pictures’ release slate over the years includes the global warming rebuttal An Inconsistent Truth, the intelligent design polemic Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed and The Ten Commandments.

There were two new releases in the top ten: Sony released the Joseph Gordon-Levitt action thriller Premium Rush at number seven on $6.3m and Open Road Films launched the action comedy Hit & Run in tenth place on $5.9m over. Warner Bros’ ghost story The Apparition arrived in twelfth place on $2.9m from 810 theatres.

In limited release Oscilloscope Laboratories opened its documentary Samsara on a notable $73,800 from two venues, IFC release Sleepwalk With Me on an impressive $65,000 from a single venue and MPI debuted Guillaume Canet’s thriller Little White Lies on $26,500 from three.

Next weekend’s wide releases are: Lionsgate’s horror film The Possession (formerly Dibbuk Box) from producer Sam Raimi; The Weinstein Company’s Lawless with Shia LeBeouf, Tom Hardy and Jessica Chastain; and Oogieloves In The BIG Balloon Adventure from Kenn Viselman Presents.

Estimated Top 10 North America Aug 24-26 2012
Film (Dist) / Est wkd gross / Est total to date

1 (1) The Expendables 2 (Lionsgate) Lionsgate Int’l $13.5m $52.3m

2 (2) The Bourne Legacy (Universal) UPI $9.3m $85.5m

3 (3) ParaNorman (Focus Features) FFI $8.5m $28.3m

4 (4) The Campaign (Warner Bros) WBPI $7.4m $64.5m

5 (6) The Dark Knight Rises (Warner Bros) WBPI $7.2m $422.2m

6 (7) The Odd Life Of Timothy Green (Buena Vista) WDSMPI $7.1m $27.1m

7 (-) Premium Rush (Sony) SPRI $6.3m –

8 (13) 2016 Obama’s America (Rocky Mountain Pictures) $6.2m $9.1m

9 (8) Hope Springs (Sony) SPRI $6m $45m

10 (-) Hit And Run (Open Road Films) Exclusive Media $4.7m $5.9m

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