娱乐英语新闻:Two debuts fight for North America box office crown with close tallies

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Liongate's new horror film " The Last Exorcism" has temporarily won the North America box office derby but may trade its position with another debut of the week, "Takers," as the tallies have virtually tied.

"The Last Exorcism," a low-budget fake-documentary horror film is projected to have bagged 21.3 million dollars in movie tickets sales over three days beginning on Friday, the North America box office authority said. "Takers," a Sony/Screen Gems action film dealing with a group of bank robbers who find their 20 million- dollar plan interrupted by a hard-boiled detective, trails behind with 21.0 million dollars in sales estimates.

Poster of new horror film " The Last Exorcism".

The two films could report last-minute sales that could change their results after the final results were tallied after the business is closed after midnight, the authority said.

"The Expendables," Sylvester Stallone's latest action which stars ten veteran action actors who were active during the 80s, did 9.5 million dollars in business this weekend. It has grossed a total of 82 million dollars in gross receipts since opening three weeks ago.