'Last Exorcism' Beats 'Takers' At Box Office

The Last Exorcism led the box office with $21.3 million in ticket sales over the weekend. The film is a faux documentary focusing on a camera crew that follows a priest as he performs his last exorcism. With the film’s documentary style, small-name actors and minimal effects, Exorcism stands to make huge profits. The film’s official budget has yet to be disclosed, although similar films like Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity have been among the most profitable films of all time.

Exorcism’s opening weekend does have a darker side; people are upset and talking poorly about the film’s ending.  Gitesh Pandya, the CEO of boxofficeguru.com, believes the earnings will quickly fall for Exorcism. “The deceptive marketing campaign helped the Friday opening day, but then sales collapsed on Saturday.” The film is apparently not exactly the horror film that advertisements portray. “Word of mouth is going to kill them.” A close second over the weekend was Takers, staring A-list names like Chris Brown, T.I., Hayden Christensen (pictured) and Matt Dillon. With high costs of actors, effects and promotion, Taken’s profit should be far less than Exorcism’s. The weekend total for the top ten fell dramatically after the top two spots.

1. The Last Exorcism (PG-13) – $21.3 mil

2. Takers (PG-13) – 21 mil

3. The Expendables (R) – 9.5 mil

4. Eat, Pray, Love (PG-13) – 7 mil

5. The Other Guys (PG-13) – 6.6 mil

6. Vampires Suck (PG-13) – 5.3 mil

7. Inception (PG-13) – 5.1 mil

8. Nanny McPhee Returns (PG)– 4.7 mil

9. The Switch (PG-13) – 4.6 mil

10. Piranha 3D (R) – 4.3 mil