Holiday Weekend Box Office: August 31 - September 3

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1.  The Possession - $21.3 million

2.  Lawless - $13 million

3.  The Expendables 2 - $11.2 million

4.  The Bourne Legacy - $9.3 million

5.  ParaNorman - $8.8 million

6.  The Odd Life of Timothy Green - $8.5 million

7.  The Dark Knight Rises - $7.9 million

8.  2016 Obama's America - $7.08 million

9.  The Campaign - $7.02 million

10.  Hope Springs - $6 million

While it may have been a fairly quiet weekend at the box office during this last weekend of the summer, it didn't go without a few records being broken.  After kicking off the summer back in May with a staggering $207 million opening weekend, Marvel's The Avengers returned to theaters this weekend, and although it didn't manage to crack the top ten, the $2.4 million it earned this weekend was enough to push it past $1.5 billion worldwide.  That's a nice way to wrap things up in theaters before the DVD arrives in stores later this month.

Another reason for superhero fans to smile:  The Dark Knight Rises officially made it past the $1 billion mark worldwide this weekend.  Its domestic total currently stands at $433 million.  That's damn good, especially considering that it doesn't have the benefit of a 3D boost, and the awful events that unfolded in Aurora that it's had to carry since opening night.  Not to mention it's also a damn good film.

The final record broken this weekend might go down as a notorious one:  The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure, an utterly bizarre kids' film intended to be a sort of 'get-up-and-dance' interactive experience starring some terrifying giant puppets, totally bombed this weekend, earning just $601,000 over the four-day weekend, putting it in 22nd place on the box office list, and officially the worst opening weekend of all time.  The movie was averaging about $278 per theater over the entire weekend, which means that any brave souls who did check this thing out certainly had plenty of empty seats to choose from.  Likely to be hitting home video by next weekend, this thing will either find a second life as entertainment for toddlers, or entertainment for stoners.  Probably both.

New releases that fared better this weekend (watching paint dry fared better than Oogieloves, it would seem) was horror film The Possession, which took the top spot with a respectable $21.3 million.  The crime-thriller Lawless did just all right with $13 million.  Expendables 2 is still playing well, earning $11.2 million, and Bourne Legacy looks likely to crack the $100 million mark, earning $9.3 million and bring its domestic total to $98.3 million.

Audiences liked their politics in documentary and comedy form this weekend, as 2016 Obama's America ran neck-and-neck with The Campaign, earning $7.08 and $7.02 million respectively.

Next weekend is looking somewhat quiet, with The Cold Light of Day, The Words, and The Inbetweeners opening in theaters.  Oh, and there's this little film called Raiders of the Lost Ark starting a limited IMAX run on Friday.  That one sounds like a keeper.