Julia Roberts, Scott Pilgrim and a horde of man-eating piranha may have been no match for Sly and the gang, but the devil is a different story. Not only did The Last Exorcism snag the top spot from the The Expendables but this week’s other newcomer Takers, too, but not by much. Eli Roth and Lionsgate are likely very pleased with The Last Exorcism’s $21.3 million opening especially considering the film only took $1.8 million to make. And the same goes for the folks over at Screen Gems. After being bumped from its original May release date, who would have thought Takers would help end the summer with a bang and earn a $21 million haul?

As for the old timers, The Expendables took a 44% hit, earning $9.5 million in week three while Eat Pray Love had a 42.2% week three drop and added another $7 million to its pot. The Others Guys held on quite nicely in its fifth week, only dropping 35.1% and taking $6.6 million to the bank, bringing its domestic gross to $99.3 million.

Vampires Suck may have opened with a bang, but the fun didn’t last. The spoof took a massive 56.6% hit dropping from the #2 spot all the way down to #6 with just $5.3 million. Inception is still holding on strong in its seventh week, jumping up from the ninth spot to the seventh position. It pocketed $5.1 million bringing its grand total to $270.7 million. Nanny McPhee Returns is stagnant in the eighth spot, but still dropped 43.6%. It only took in $4.7 million in its second week and certainly isn’t looking to be as successful as the original.

Coming in at #9 is The Switch with $4.7 million and Piranha 3D follows closely behind with $4.3 million. Lottery Ticket got hit the hardest, dropping 62.4% and out of the top ten completely even after a fourth place opening. Avatar: Special Edition wasn’t able to crack the top ten either pulling in $4 million at 812 theaters.

Things could shake up quite a bit in the first week of September. We’ve got three wide releases coming our way all geared towards different audiences. There’s George Clooney’s dramatic thriller The American, which will open early on Wednesday as well as the romantic comedy Going the Distance and the action film Machete. The Last Exorcism will likely remain in the top five, but I’ve got a feeling Takers will take a heavy hit, perhaps even dropping below The Expendables. In terms of our newcomers, I’ll say The American at #1, Going the Distance at #2 and Machete at #3.

By Perri Nemiroff (via Box Office Mojo)