Friday Report: 'Possession' Tops Terrible Day at the Box Office
The Possession held on to first place on what was likely the lowest-grossing Friday since September 2008. Among openers, The Words underwhelmed while The Cold Light of Day performed about as poorly as expected.

The Possession fell 53 percent to an estimated $2.88 million on Friday. That's actually a solid hold considering supernatural horror movies have been known to drop 60 percent or more on their second Friday. With a $26.7 million total, it's currently running about even with Lionsgate's The Last Exorcism.

Lawless once again took second place with an estimated $1.78 million, which is a light 36 percent drop from last Friday. The period drama has now grossed $19.3 million, which is a bit ahead of last year's The Debt ($18.5 million) through the same point.

The Words debuted to an estimated $1.6 million on Friday, and distributor CBS Films is expecting around $5 million for the three-day weekend. That's below the already-modest forecasts, and it's clear that the marketing campaign really didn't bring anything exciting to the table here. The audience was 58 percent female and 78 percent over 25 years of age, and they awarded the movie a "B" CinemaScore.

In fourth place, The Expendables 2 fell 41 percent to an estimated $1.31 million. Its new total of $72 million is decent, but it still trails the original Expendables by over $15 million.

2016 Obama's America added around $1.1 million from 2,017 locations for a new total of $23.9 million. It currently ranks fourth all-time among political documentaries, and sometime today will move up to second.

A Friday estimates is not currently available for The Bourne Legacy.

The Dark Knight Rises reached another milestone on Friday: after adding an estimated $850,000, the conclusion to Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy moved past E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial to claim eighth place on the all-time domestic box office chart. The movie has now earned $435.4 million, and should come close to $450 million before the end of its run.

The Cold Light of Day bombed hard on Friday with an estimated $637,000 from 1,511 locations. Raiders of the Lost Ark's IMAX re-release was comparatively stronger, netting $438,000 from just 267 locations. Still, neither movie will earn over $2 million this weekend, and both will fall outside the Top 10.

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Related Chart:

Grosses for Friday, September 7, 2012