A scene from "The Possession".

4 Sep – Hot on the heels of Raya celebrations was Merdeka last weekend (30 Aug – 2 Sept), which turned out to be more of a quiet than boisterous affair for movie-watching. It was speculated to be that the public were tired after their celebrations, plus, it was Hungry Ghost Festival as well for the Chinese, which may also be the reason "The Expendables 2" still came out top in spite of "The Possession's debut". However, Ole Bornedal's supernatural horror did not do too shabbily, having opened in second place due to the distributor's choice not to release "Lawless" in the country. Meanwhile, Akiva Schaffer's "The Watch" made an impressive climb up from its position in 15th to 3rd place, possibly because it was rated 18, as parents now have an excuse to sneak off to watch the film by themselves after imposing curfew on their kids by using the excuse of early morning classes the next day.

Moviegoers in the U.S. may not be celebrating Independence Day last weekend, but there were also holidays for them, as 3 September was Labor Day as opposed to falling on 1st May in Malaysia. Although many have elected to stay away from movie theatres, there were a few who cannot resist the call of the Dybbuk Box like Em Brenek in "The Possession", which led the film to scare up US$17.7 million. Newcomer Natasha Calis plays the girl who comes across an old box with Hebrew inscriptions, and upon opening it, behaves more and more sinister by day. However, as her parents Clyde (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Stephanie (Kyra Sedgwick) are in the midst of divorce, her behaviour grows unnoticed, until it becomes too late. Aside from Ole Bornedal's supernatural horror, "Lawless" also made its debut over the Labor Day weekend. Set in the Prohibition era, John Hillcoat's gangster film tells the story of the Bondurant brothers, played by Tom Hardy, Jason Clarke and Shia LaBeouf, who run a successful liquor bootlegging business. Rounding up the top three is "The Expendables 2".

Natasha Calis is the newest victim of supernatural horror.

On the other hand, Singaporeans are finally stepping it up with the long-awaited release of "Step Up Revolution" in cinemas over the weekend. For those who have forgotten about it, the dance film is the fourth instalment in the "Step Up" series that takes the dancing to Miami, with newcomers Ryan Guzman and Kathryn McCormick playing the leads and eventual love interests. Second after "Step Up Revolution" was "The Expendables 2", while the local gangster film "Imperfect" opened in third. The Steve Cheng-directorial tells the story of three friends who are forced to join the triad in order to escape bullying, but everything spirals downwards when one of them injures the son of a rival triad leader severely, leaving him comatose.

For Malaysia, new movies that opened last week were "29 Februari", "Katy Perry: Part Of Me", "Sadako", "Leftwings", "Mugamoodi" and "Joker".

For Singapore, new movies that opened last week were "Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Dog Days", "Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi (2D)", "My Ghost Partner", "ParaNorman", "The Campaign", "Marley (2D)" and "Joker".