Diyah Pera/Lionsgate Publicity
Natasha Calis stars as ‘Em’ in “THE POSSESSION.”

1. The Possession – $20 million [debut week] Lionsgate’s horror/thriller easily took the box office title in its opening week. September is a bleak month for movies so this could have some staying power it might not otherwise have had any other month.

Richard Foreman, Jr./The Weinstein Company
Shia LaBeouf as Jack and Tom Hardy as Forrest in “LAWLESS.”

2. Lawless – $14 million [debut week] – The Prohibition-era film had a decent opening, but it shows that Shia LaBeouf – the lead most prominently featured in the commercials and trailers – isn’t a draw when he’s not attached to a Michael Bay spectacle masquerading as “Transformers.”

Frank Masi/Lionsgate Publicity
(From left) Maggie (Yu Nan), Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) and Toll Road (Randy Couture) in “THE EXPENDABLES 2.”

3. The Expendables 2 – $12 million [$59.5 million total; 3rd week] – The two-time champ gets knocked down to third place this week. I’m surprised the film hasn’t done better – right now it trails the original by $16 million from the same three-week run. The original went on to earn $103 million, but the sequel likely won’t match that total. Fortunately, Stallone and company have already begun early plans for “The Expendables 3″ so I can get another shot of brainless, crazy action starring my favorite action heroes from the 80s and 90s.

Mary Cybulski/Universal Studios
Aaron Cross’ (JEREMY RENNER) life-or-death stakes have been triggered by the events of the first three films.

4. The Bourne Legacy -$6.2 million [$90.8 million total; 4th week] – This is still the low grosser of the franchise (the third installment, The Bourne Ultimatum, earned $227 million) but Universal looks to have made a smart decision in not letting series star Matt Damon’s departure prevent them from keeping the Bourne films going. And with a weak September, “Legacy” has a shot of beating out “The Bourne Identity’s” gross of $121 million.

Credit: LAIKA, Inc.
Courtney, Alvin, Mitch, Norman, and Neil in “PARANORMAN.”

5. ParaNorman – $6 million [$32.9 million in total; 3rd week] – The stop-motion/3D kid’s thriller rounds out the top 5 for another week.