In a rather blah weekend at the box office, the movie Takers ended up just ahead of The Last Exocism in a photo finish that was so messy I was wondering if any roadside assistance was going to be necessary in its wake. Takers raked in $20.5 million while Last Exorcism blasphemed its way to a $20.3 million weekend in the final tally.

Takers had a $20 million budget so that movie is sitting stable; however, Last Exorcism is a true example of indie filmmaking, with a budget of only $1.8 million, so even the second-place finish meant a return on investment of over 10:1.

That’s not bad, but the box office hit the doldrums after that, with no film even cracking the $10 million mark. Even the special edition re-release of Avatar barely took in $4 million now that it’s out on DVD anyway.

Will next weekend bring any relief? Not likely; George Clooney’s boring political piece, The American, looks uninspired; and the latest Robert Rodriguez thriller, Machete, is coming out too silent from the gate to gauge. Finally, the Drew Barrymore-Justin Long rom-com Going the Distance has a chance to do some business, but don’t expect any of these new films to set fire to the movie-going public.

Call it the Magnificent Nine (or Eleven, if you count the micro-cameos by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis); the Stallone mega-star-loaded action flick, The Expendables, sat alone atop of the box office this past weekend, hauling in a tidy $34.8 million in domestic box office receipts. The film, which has yet to hit internationally, fell short of the hoped-for opening of $40 million plus, but the flick was still light years ahead of the competition.

The closest behind the boys was a flick for the gals; Julia Roberts’ Eat Pray Love took in $23.1 million over the weekend and has yet to debut overseas. That’s not bad for a film that cost around $60 million to make. The Will Ferrall action-comedy The Other Guys brought up a distant third with $17.4 million and has a domestic haul of nearly $70 million to date against a production budget of $100 million. Yet considering the film hasn’t debuted internationally, that could improve.

Inception came in fourth with $11.2 million in its fifth week. It’s take so far is around $250 million domestically plus $315 million in foreign markets for a total take to date of $565 million. That’s $400 million or so in profit after production costs.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World debuted in fifth place and managed $10.6 million only; against its $60 million budget, that’s bad news. Foreign markets only added an additional million, which does not bode well for the graphic novel-inspired Michael Cera film. Nothing else came close to topping $10.0 million.

One bright now about a film currently much further down the list; with a global take of $940.5 million to date, Toy Story 3 has now displaced Shrek 2 as the top-grossing animated feature of all time. Where to next? Why, to infinity and beyond, of course! Looks like cutting that scene where Buzz Lightyear tried on prom dresses was a good call after all! That should be left to teen girls, guys!

This coming weekend, Nanny McPhee Returns should be the best of the new crop, though Vampires Suck and The Switch both have a shot not to totally stink. The same might not be said for the car-wreck-in-3D flick, Piranha 3D.

After that, though, movie-going gets grim until maybe mid-October, when I personally am looking forward to Paranormal Activity 2.

Inception won’t make it to a month of box office dominance, as the Will Ferrell-Mark Wahlburg buddy comedy, The Other Guys, which is on its way to a weekend in the neighborhood of $40 million or just shy of that. All the hand dryers in the world won’t help Inception beat that, since the movie only took in $5.5 million on Friday on the way to a weekend that likely won’t reach $20 million.

Yet it’s Step-Up 3D that looks to take second place behind The Other Guys and in front of Inception; it took in $6.6 million, en route to a weekend expected to fall short of $20 million and will below expectations for the 3D dance flick. The jury’s officially out until Monday, but for the moment that’s how things are playing out.

Smart filmmaker Christopher Nolan has proven he can deliver box office without Batman; his brainy thriller, Inception, earned its third straight week atop the box office this week, gaining $27.4 million to bring its US total to $193 million to date. Foreign markets have added another $171 million for a global take of around $364 million. Not shabby.

Steve Carell’s Dinner for Schmucks was the most worthy challenger this week, earning $23.5 million for a strong second-place showing. Salt fell off big-time to third, earning only $19.4 million in its second week. The animated Despicable Me was fourth with $15.5 million.

The modestly budgeted Charlie St. Cloud ($12.3 million) just beat out children’s film Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore ($12.2 million) for the fifth and sixth place finishes, respectively. Nothing else earned more than $5.1 million.

This weekend the competition may not be as rough; anything could happen with the Will Ferrell-Mark Wahlberg action comedy The Other Guys, while Step-Up 3D is also hard to predict, though it’s unlikely either will set the world on fire.

But on Friday, August 13, the best weekend left in the summer movie season hits like a hurricane, as about a dozen action film stars of the 80s and 90s unite for The Expendables, Julia Roberts looks to turn heads in Eat Pray Love, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World could surprise a lot of people the way the prices of steel buildings do compared to brick-and-mortar construction.

With the weekend box office numbers now final, it is clear that all the promotional tote bags in the world couldn’t help Angelina Jolie’s SALT from upsetting Chris Nolan’s INCEPTION from the top spot at the box office.

The final numbers are Inception $43.7 million on the weekend, Salt in second place with $36 million. Despicable Me was a distant third with $23 million and no one else even cracked $10 million.

Of course, this weekend will be interesting as the kid-friendly Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore makes a challenge to the adults-only Inception. Charlie St. Cloud could quietly do well, also. And there’s always a chance Dinner for Schmucks could break $10 million, which could lift box office results overall.

We’ll see.

The very smart thriller, Inception, appears as though it will hold off a strong challenge from Angelina Jolie’s new thriller, Salt. In Friday returns, Inception drew $13.2 million while Salt drew $12.7 million, with both films seemingly on a course to break the $35 million mark before the weekend’s out.

That would be a strong second-week showing by Inception and a decent, if not dazzling, debut by Salt. Despicable Me, the animated children’s film, is the only other film likely to break the $10 million weekend barrier, as fourth-place-at-the-moment children’s live-action flick, Ramona and Beezus, based on the Beverly Cleary children’s classic that was around when I was in grade school, was trailing a distant fourth place with only about $3.0 million on Friday, good enough to stay ahead of Nic Cage’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

So while Jolie’s SALT continues to set spirometer ablaze, mark me down for being more interested in Chris Nolan’s latest “film between Batman films” offering, Inception.

The Steve Carell-fronted Universal animated feature, Despicable Me, blew into the lead by a long shot this weekend, raking in just over $60 million in its debut bow, against a production budget of $69 million. Not bad!

Last week’s champ, Twilight Saga: Eclipse, fell off as expected following its very early in the week debut. Still, the teen angst vamp flick drew enough blood out of moviegoers to add another $33.4 million to its coffers domestically. That brings the flick’s total so far to $237 million domestically. Add in another $219 million from foreign markets as you have a tidy $456 million take on around 12 days, which isn’t bad for a movie that had a comparatively modest production budget of $68 million.

Predators was predictably disappointing, drawing only $25.3 million. Fortunately, they kept the budget to $40 million, which means it should make money for the studio. And after a month in release, Toy Story 3 finally slowed down a bit, falling to fourth place and drawing $22 million for the week. They’ve grossed $340 million domestically, $553 million with foreign sales added in, against a $200 million budget; not bad at all.

M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender came in with $17.1 million, good enough for fifth place, and reached $100 million domestically. With foreign markets adding in only an additional $10 million, unless something picks up soon, the studio will be lucky to break even on this $150 million budgeted movie.

The Adam Sandler-fronted Grown-Ups also managed to do respectably, adding $16.4 million for a total of $111 million against an $80 million budget.

Behind that, nothing else cracked the $10 million mark; Knight and Day remains a spectacular failure, drawing under $8 million this weekend and earning nearly $62 million to date against a $117 million budget that they’ll probably never quite make back, until DVD/Blu-Ray sales get added in.

Coming this weekend is the interesting-looking Inception, directed by Dark Knight’s Christopher Nolan; as well as Disney’s “ehh… whatever” release, Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

Let’s face it: the best of the summer movies are pretty much already out, and we’re now into late-summer fare; there will be some nice mild hits, but I think most of the blockbusters are on the table already, along with a cozy box of Swisher Sweets. Overall, not a terrible summer; though many of the best-performing movies were not necessarily the ones everyone was looking toward.

Nothing else even came close.

Toy Story 3, in 3D at many locations, simply destroyed all competition this week at the box office, hauling in a mammoth $110 million in its debut… and that was just domestically! Add in worldwide box office totals and the flick that cost Pixar $200 million to make has already made most of its money back, with $184 million already in its coffers. That’s not bad at all, and proof that G and soft PG-rated family fare is still the best way to make money in Hollywood.

Whether watching it in a theater or on a Samsung smart phone, Toy Story 3 was seen by a LOT of people already, and it’s unlikely to slow down much any time soon.

Karate (Kung-Fu) Kid came in with an additional $29.8 million in its second week, bringing its 10-day total to around $107 million… not bad for a flick that cost only $40 million to make. A-Team finished third but continued to disappoint, drawing in a mere $14.4 million and finishing nearly 50 percent behind Karate (Kung Fu) Kid for the second straight week.

Yet the biggest bomb of the week was Jonah Hex, the DC Comics-inspired western that featured Josh Brolin in the title role and recently-fired-from-Transformers-3 chick Megan Fox in support, barely made a blip on the radar, coming in at seventh place overall with only $5.3 million in its opening weekend against a $47 million budget; even Prince of Persia: Sands of Time beat it, and that film’s been out for a month now.

Speaking of Prince of Persia, while the $200-million-budget film has only grossed about $82 million domestically, expect a sequel; the film’s going crazy overseas and has grossed around $295 million when global receipts are added in. Outstanding!

Can Toy Story 3 stay on top? I think so; Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz are unlikely to open Knight and Day strong enough to stunt Toy Story 3′s momentum, and Grown-Ups just isn’t going to be a big-open film. The real test will come at the end of June, when both M. Night Shyamalan’s take on The Last Airbender, and the much-anticipated third Twilight Saga film, Eclipse, both open.

Come July 30, there will be winners and losers galore. No telling which will be which till we get there, though. It’s that kind of summer.

In the battle of 80s nostalgia at the box office this weekend, it appears Kung-Fu Kid… er, I mean Karate Kid will sweep the leg of the A-Team this weekend; on Friday Karate Kid opened with $18.8 million at the box office, while the A-Team did well enough to secure a strong second place finish, but still only half as good as the Jackie Chan-Will Smith’s kid pairing.

This 1-2 punch of 80s remakes seems poised to finally knock down Shrek Forever After, which only posted $4.4 million on Friday to take a distant third behind the A-Team, and everything else was even worse than that. It’s likely that the stronger dose of profanity may have been the key to holding back the A-Team from competing more evenly with the Karate Kid, especially since the Karate Kid maintained the PG-rated level of the original film that inspired the remake.

Hopefully, this pair of movies will help lift the box office out of the toilet it’s been in the past week or two, with several hot summer blockbusters fizzling out of the gates, and some unexpected hits coming out of nowhere to post weak, but better than expected, results (see Get Him To the Greek, last weekend).

Word is that Karate Kid is expected to haul in around $50-60 million in its opening weekend, which will almost ensure a sequel with Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan. The A-Team could be a different story, however; after a decade in development hell, 20 writers and a huge production budget, let’s just say an opening weekend that could dip below $30 million is far less than what most were expecting.

Box office chaos seems to be the order of the summer; last week, Shrek stood strong against the double threat of Prince of Persia and Sex and the City 2, and now this week, early indicators are that a pair of movies no one gave a chance to crack the top three look like they might do just that.

Indications from Friday’s box office returns are that Shrek is maintaining a thin lead over everything, but the big surprise is the modestly-budgeted Judd Apatow comedy, Get Him To the Greek, which is currently in second place and breathing down Shrek’s neck. Killers, expected by many to be the best of the new films this weekend, is currently indicated to place a somewhat weak third place.

Sex and the City 2 and Prince of Persia are vying neck-and-neck for the fourth and fifth place spots in the race, and if it gets much tighter, no one involved in either production will need Apidexin any time soon.

Markmaduke opened weak, as expected, barely edging the durable Iron Man 2. It will be interesting so see how the horse race finishes when everything is said and done. Conventional wisdom says that next weekend, The A-Team and the Jackie Chan-powered Karate Kid remake will vie for the top spot in the box office, but given how unpredictable things are, who knows? Rosencrantz and Gildenstern Are Undead could surprise us all!

Shrek Forever After, billed as the animated series’ final chapter, maintained clear box office dominance despite challenges from a videogame franchise and a much-anticipated chick-flick redux. Last weekend (when HollywoodIdiocy.com was on a much deserved vacation), despite the presence of box office fat-burners like Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Sex and the City 2, it was the jolly green ogre who continued to reign supreme.

Shrek pocketed a hefty $57 million, bringing its 10-day total to $146 million domestically; add in another $60.6 million from foreign markets and Shrek has more than made its $165 million budget back. Meanwhile, the videogame-inspired Prince of Persia powered its way to a second-place finish, bringing in $37.8 million, while Sex and the City 2 disappointed most expectations with a close third-place finish, drawing $36.8 million, though that pace was slowed by an early opening day for Sex 2, which had a four-day total of $51.0 million starting from Thursday’s opening.

Only Killers looked to threaten this top three going into this weekend.

While Shrek Forever After, which has been billed as the final installment of the series, did well at the box office, the $70.8 million weekend it posted domestically is actually below expectations for the long-running feature series. While wholesale diamonds used to be less valuable than a Shrek installment, the weekend take will only go partway to paying off the $165 million production budget. There is no worldwide box office numbers to add in yet, making the situation even grimmer; most analysts were hoping the film would tip the $80 million mark in its opening bow, but while nearly $71 million isn’t bad, it does put the film behind pace to make its investment back and reach profit mode.

At least Shrek Forever After, however, fared better than the SNL-inspired movie, MacGruber, which cost a measley $10 million to make, but struggled to pull in a mere $4 million over its debut weekend, finishing out of the Top 5 in sixth place.

Iron Man 2 was good for second place, adding another $26 million to its domestic haul; the $200-million budget film has made $506 million worldwide to date. Robin Hood still trails Iron Man 2, drawing $18.7 million domestically to bring its 10-day total to a mere $66 million. A healthy $125 million overseas puts the film Ridley Scott-Russell Crowe actioner close to making its $200 million back, but is a clear disappointment domestically.

Letters to Juliet added $9 million in its second week, but nothing else even came close to cracking $5 million below that.

Business is sure to pick up this coming weekend, however, as men will be drawn to the videogame-inspired action flick, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, while women will be looking forward to Sex and the City 2, sequel to the uninspired hit of two years ago, though this time word is the sequel cracks a sharper wit.