The Last Exorcism is a low budget, indie horror film that is being distributed by Lionsgate. The film has no stars to speak of and is similar to Blair Witch and Paranormal Activity in terms of its mockumentary style. Usually releasing a film with no box office stars is a deficit but it is a plus for this film. It helps sustain the believability of the subject matter making the film all the scarier. The trailer for the film has been getting great exposure running in front of The Expendables so awareness should be fairly high. Exorcism will also benefit from lack of competition for the horror audience. The only film playing to the same demographic is last weekend’s Piranha 3D and that film arrived dead in the water. In fact, Piranha may not have enough strength to stay in the top 10 this weekend.   Look for The Last Exorcism to scare up $20M this weekend.

Heist thriller Takers features a huge cast including Idris Elba, Paul Walker, Matt Dillon, Hayden Christiansen, Chris Brown and others. On their own, none of these actors have any real box office pull, but together… ah, who am I kidding? Together they still have no box office power. The film feels rather generic and will likely fail to generate any excitement this weekend. There truly isn’t much to say about this film other than that it will not be a hit. Look for Takers to take down about $14M this weekend.

Who wants to visit Pandora again? That’s the question James Cameron is asking as he rereleases his box office juggernaut Avatar with an additional 9 minutes of footage exclusively in 3D and IMAX venues. Normally opening a film again after it has been out on DVD would be a colossal failure, but I’m sure there are plenty of people (I’m one of them) who will gladly plunk down their hard earned cash to see Avatar in all its 3D glory again. Of course, many people will choose to skip it, so the numbers shouldn’t be all that big this weekend, especially when added to its huge $700M+ gross. Look for Avatar: Special Edition to bring in about $6M this weekend. 

To see the rest of my predictions, check out the chart below. 

Be sure and come back Monday for the results and follow me on Twitter for box office updates throughout the weekend.