'Lawless' and 'Oogieloves' close out the summer

Leading the box office is the chiller The Possession (2,816 theatres), a "Jewish-themed Exorcist" with "cheap scares." THR's Frank Scheck cheekily predicts that "if nothing else," it should "discourage the practice of buying antique wooden boxes at flea markets." A nice teen-million debut
should be in store for the movie, which hopefully has better luck than The Apparition, which opened last weekend to a lackluster $2.8 million.

The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure will be competing for the title of biggest flop this weekend. The movie, which targets kids from ages 3-5, opened to a shockingly low $47 per-screen average on Wednesday. The release on 2,160 screens is way too big for this kind of movie. It will probably earn something in the $5 million
range over the four-day weekend. That's still a pittance compared to the $55 million marketing and production budget. How does a movie featuring nobodies in costumes cost that much money? I'm seriously confused about this tot-centered picture, though I bet it will do well in the home video market, where parents can let their kids watch the movie in the other room without being forced to devote their whole attention to content that's way above them.

The uber-violent Lawless (2,565 theatres), which opened on Wednesday to $1.1 million, should end up in the teen millions. With the popularity of "Boardwalk Empire," I was excited to see another Prohibition-set movie, but I found
the shoot and knife 'em ups to be unnecessarily gruesome. FJI's Daniel Eagan faults the "glum, pompous drama," and also notes there are far better TV shows (he mentions "Breaking Bad" and "Justified") that elicit more powerful reactions in viewers.

Also not to be overlooked is 2016: Obama's America. The political doc has earned $12.3 million to date, $10 million of which came after last Friday's expansion. Most trackers aren't used to predicting a movie with these kinds of demographics, so another big weekend could be in store for the conservative movie.

To lure infrequent moviegoers who may not be caught up on this summer's blockbusters (or who want to see them again), Disney is expanding the releases of The Avengers and Brave. The superhero movie will play in 1,700 theatres, up from 123. Brave will also move into 1,700 theatres, from 423 locations.

For a Good Time, Call... (23 theatres) is the tale of two enemies-turned-friends who start a
phone-sex line business in their apartment. It sounds raunchy, but it's actually a surprisingly engaging story of twentysomething female friendship (with some sex-toy sight gags thrown in). FJI's David Noh agrees, dubbing the "carefree and affectionate" movie a "rather winning little female-fueled comedy." Ari Graynor is particularly sharp in her role, in a rare upgrade from the supporting roles she usually plays.

On Tuesday, we'll give a rundown of how everything did in what's usually one of the slowest holiday periods for the box office.

In late summer slump, 'Expendables 2' leads with $13 million

This week was bad for new wide releases. The three new releases finished seventh, tenth, and twelfth. Those are dismal debuts across the board.

Many expected Premium Rush would have a chance at beating The Expendables 2, but instead the action hero picture topped the box office with a $13.5 million weekend, a 52% drop
from opening, on par with the percentage drop of the original. In seventh, Premium Rush earned just $6.3 million. I guess bike chases just don't have the same allure as mechanical smash-ups. Along with Lance Armstrong's decision to not fight against allegations of doping anymore, it was a bad weekend for bike enthusiasts.

Cracking tenth place, Hit & Run's $4.6 million made it a huge hit for indie standards, but some had predicted the well-reviewed picture could have soared even higher. Still, this low-budget movie is already in the green and because it stars TV favorites Dax
Shepard and Kristen Bell, it should do well in the home entertainment environment.

In twelfth, horror offering The Apparition reeled in $2.9 million. With a wisely limited release of 800 theatre, the per-screen average of $3,600 was actually higher than all but two of the movies that placed above it. That means distribution costs weren't too high and people had the benefit of seeing the movie in a packed theatre, where screams can be contagious.

The surprise hit of the weekend was the conservative documentary 2016: Obama's America, which expanded on the eve of the Republican National Convention. Many estimated the movie would earn in the $2-3 million range, on par with other right-leaning docs, but instead it pulled in $6.2 million with a strong per-screen average of $5,700. The weekend tripled its total gross to date, which stands at $9 million. That makes it the highest-grossing conservative doc ever. Ads on talk radio helped support the political picture, which also benefits from heightened interest thanks to the upcoming election.

New Specialty releases fared much better than wide ones. Sleepwalk with Me, which had Ira Glass and the "This American Life" audience in its corner, debuted to $65,000 per-screen. Glass hosted a midnight screening of the movie in Manhattan this weekend, which was one reason the movie earned the title of "best per-screen average opening ever from a first-time filmmaker." Mike Birbiglia writes, directs, and stars in the autobiographical work, which will expand into twenty markets next week.

Samsara, a meditative travelogue, opened to $75,000 on two screens. Our filmmaker profile
reveals just how much work went into the non-fiction picture, which visits 100 locations in 25 countries on five continents. That sounds well-worth the price of admission.

This Friday may kick off a three-day weekend, but it's one of the few holiday periods where Hollywood suffers. With many people trying to get one last weekend outdoors in, the time period is a dead zone. On Wednesday, the violent Prohibition-set picture Lawless will get a head start on the weekend. On Friday, The Possession will open wide and try to pull in horror fiends.