PREDICTED WEEKEND BOX OFFICE

There were some big surprises at the box office last weekend as the George Clooney thriller The American did better than expected and beat out both Robert Rodriguez's Machete and the Drew Barrymore romantic comedy Going the Distance for the number one spot on the charts. But with the highly anticipated fourth chapter of the popular Resident Evil series, Resident Evil: Afterlife opening this weekend, Clooney and company may have their hands full defending their number one position.

Predicted to debut at number one this week is in fact the long awaited fourth chapter of the Resident Evil series, Resident Evil: Afterlife, based on the popular video game. Milla Jovovich (The Fifth Element) returns in the lead role and is accompanied by a talented cast of actors, which includes Ali Larter (Heroes), Wentworth Miller (Prison Break), Boris Kodjoe (Surrogates) and Kim Coates (Sons of Anarchy). Currently the movie has an average rating of a 4.5 on our site. Out of the forty-six people who have rated the film thirty-three of them have given it five stars while the trailer for the movie has had over 74,000 views. Here is what our Official Reviewer had to say about the new movie: "When it is all said and done Resident Evil: Afterlife is a decent action movie and an adequate addition to the Resident Evil franchise of films. I think any fan of the series will be pleased with this addition even if it is not quite as good as the others movies in the series."

Predicted to fall one place from last week to number two is the international espionage thriller starring Oscar winner George Clooney (Syriana), entitled The American. Last week the movie made $4,594 on each of its 2,823 screens for an opening weekend total of $12.9 million, which was still not enough to earn back its $20 million production budget. But the movie is predicted to break even this weekend by earning an additional $9.3 million at the box office.

Predicted to hold strong at number three this week, for a second week in a row, is the hip-hop heist film Takers. The movie boasts an all-star cast, which includes Paul Walker (Fast & Furious), Idris Elba(The Losers), Matt Dillon (Armored), Hayden Christensen (Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith), Michael Ealy (Miracle at St. Anna), Jay Hernandez (Quarantine), Chris Brown (Stomp the Yard), T.I. (American Gangster), and Zoe Saldana (Avatar). While the movie dropped almost 44.2% last week from the previous week, it earned roughly $5,190 on each of its 2,206 screens for a weekend total of $11.4 million. Now in just two weeks the movie has grossed over $37 million, earning back its entire $32 million production budget and is predicted to earn an additional $6.7 million this weekend.

Predicted to fall back two places this week to number four is the long-awaited motion picture from visionary director Robert Rodriguez called Machete, which is based on the short film that was featured in his and Quentin Tarantino's movie Grindhouse. The film stars PEwKBywCY6r6Aw||Danny Trejo} (Heat) in the title role and also features a colorful cast of accomplished actors including Jessica Alba (Fantastic Four), Michelle Rodriguez (Avatar), Jeff Fahey (Lost), Cheech Marin (The Perfect Game), Don Johnson (Miami Vice), Steven Seagal (Half Past Dead), Lindsay Lohan (Mean Girls) and Oscar winner Robert De Niro (Raging Bull). The movie didn't do as well as expected last week only earning $4,232 on each of its 2,670 screens for an opening weekend total of $11.3 million, which was not enough to earn back its entire $25 million production budget. The film is predicted to earn an additional $6.5 million this weekend but will still fall short of breaking even for now.

Rounding off the top five this week and actually predicted to move up one place from last week is the action-packed hit, The Expendables from writer/director and star Sylvester Stallone. Besides Stallone, the film stars an array of the toughest action stars from several different decades including Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, Oscar nominee Mickey Rourke, Emmy winner Bruce Willis and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. While the film dropped 30.5% last week from the previous week, it earned roughly $1,948 in each of its 3,398 theaters for an additional $6.6 million. Now in just over a month the movie has made about $92.1 million earning back its entire $80 million production budget. The film is predicted to earn an additional $4.8 million this weekend at the box office.

The rest of the top ten films at the box office this weekend are predicted to look like this:

Predicted to fall one place back from last week to number six is the romantic comedy Going the Distance, which is about long distance relationships. The movie boasts an all-star cast of comedic actors including Drew Barrymore (The Wedding Singer), Justin Long (Live Free or Die Hard), Christina Applegate (Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore), Ron Livingston (Office Space), Charlie Day (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia), Rob Riggle (The Hangover) and Jason Sudeikis (Saturday Night Live). Last week the film had a disappointing debut earning only $2,272 on each of its 3,030 screens for an opening weekend total of $6.8 million, which was not even close to earning back its entire $32 million production budget. The film is predicted to earn an additional $3.6 million this weekend at the box office.

Predicted to fall back three places from last week to number seven is the Eli Roth produced scare-fest The Last Exorcism, which stars Patrick Fabian (Must Love Dogs), Louis Herthum (I Love You Phillip Morris) and Ashley Bell (State of Play). While the movie dropped almost 62.5% last week from the previous week, it earned roughly $2,660 on each of its 2,874 screens for a weekend total of $7.6 million. Now in just two weeks the movie has made over $32 million, earning back its entire $1.8 million production budget and then some. The film is predicted to earn an additional $3.4 million this weekend at the box office.

Predicted to fall one spot back from last week to number eight is the buddy-cop action/comedy The Other Guys starring Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Samuel L. Jackson, Dwayne Johnson, Michael Keaton and Eva Mendes. While the movie dropped 15.9% last week from the previous week, it was shown on 574 less screens for a total of 2,607 and earned almost $2,028 on each for a weekend tally of $5.2 million. Now in just over a month the movie has done extremely well grossing over $106.7 million and earning back its entire $100 million production budget. The film is predicted to earn an additional $3.2 million this weekend at the box office.

Predicted to hold strong at number nine this week for a second week in a row is unarguably one of the biggest hits of the summer, Inception, the extremely popular sci-fi action thriller from director Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight). The film stars an incredible cast of actors including Oscar nominees Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page and Ken Watanabe, Oscar winners Marion Cotillard and Michael Caine, as well as Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, and Lukas Haas. While the film dropped only 6.2% last week, it was still seen on 366 less screens than the week before and earned roughly $2,683 in each of its 1,704 theaters for a weekend total of $4.5 million. Now in almost two months of release the film has earned $277 million, which surpasses its purported $160 million production budget. The film is predicted to earn an additional $2.9 million this weekend.

Finally, predicted to fall two places back from last week to number ten is Eat, Pray, Love directed by Ryan Murphy (Glee) and based on the internationally popular novel by author Elizabeth Gilbert. The film stars Oscar winners Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem, as well as Oscar nominee Richard Jenkins, Golden Globe winner James Franco and veteran actor Billy Crudup. While the film dropped 29.6% and was seen in 445 less theaters then the week before, it still managed to earn about $1,803 on each of its 2,663 screens for a weekend total of around $4.8 million. Now in just over a month of release the movie has become a solid hit making about $68.9 million so far and earning back its entire $60 million production budget. The film is predicted to earn an additional $5.1 million this weekend at the box office. Be sure to check out Box Office Beat Down this Sunday to see who is crowned the King of the box office this week and check back here next week for more box office predictions!