Weekend Forecast: Can the Devil Beat James Cameron?

It's the end of August -- a historically stolid climate both outdoors and at the movies. That was never really truer than this weekend, with the Biggest Movie Ever getting some cheese sprinkled on top before a reheat in the multiplex microwave and nothing really blowing anyone's mind (or pocketbooks) at the art house. But is it worth taking the weekend off entirely? Hardly! Let's check out the forecast:

NATIONAL OUTLOOK

· The Last Exorcism: So this one is what it is: Exorcist by way of shaky-cam, a PG-13 scare-job that actually has built a little bit of critical traction while deploying a sexy, demonic young thing to rouse the troops on ChatRoulette. The bottom line is that it's a genuine, low-budget independent horror flick plucked from the wilds by Lionsgate and rolled out on 2,800 screens in the pit of late summer -- there's no way this is anything but a moneymaker, and you might even go home happy as opposed to merely satisfied. Bonus! FORECAST: $16.3 million (Movieline's full review forthcoming today.)

· Takers: How many handsome, well-dressed B-listers does it take to screw in a light? We're about to find out whether we want to or not as Screen Gems offers Idris Elba, Paul Walker, Hayden Christensen, T.I., and Chris Brown (yes, that Chris Brown) as part of a heist gang plotting one last job as cop Matt Dillon hovers on their tails. The only guy these fellas are taking from is Sylvester Stallone, who will find The Expendables' inexorable march to $100 million slowed by this much prettier if highly temporary ensemble -- but not slowed by much. FORECAST: $12.5 million (See Movieline's full review here.)

· Avatar: Special Edition: I feel like I've spent half of the last year of my professional life doing nothing but observing the subculture around Avatar, and honestly, if I have to write another word about it, it will be too soon. So: 800 screens, nine extra minutes, will cross the $750 million threshold by lunch. You earned it, Jim. FORECAST: $4.7 million (See Movieline's original review here.)

REGIONAL OUTLOOK

· Baghdad, Texas (NYC): Saddam Hussein crash-lands in Texas en route to Cuba, which sets off a chain of events that can best be described as satiric social realism, which I know is a contradiction, but there you have it.

· Centurion (limited in major markets): It's the Romans vs. the Picts in Neil Marshall's desaturated, merciless second-century tableau, smeared with blood, dirt and vernacular. (See Movieline's full review here.)

· Change of Plans (NYC): Daniele Thompson invites you to dinner with 11 of her most dysfunctional friends. Don't be surprised to spend the next morning in the bathroom. (See Movieline's full review here.)

· Chasing 3000 (expanding to LA): Trevor Morgan and his disabled brother Rory Culkin drive from California to Pittsburgh to witness baseball legend Roberto Clemente's 3,000th hit. I feel like this one's been around forever.

· Daniel & Ana (NYC): A brother and sister from an affluent Mexican family are kidnapped and released. To say what happens in between is gruesome is a bit of an understatement.

· Flipped (expanding to NYC): Rob Reiner's feel-good first-love drama for all ages finally makes it east before disappearing from the face of the Earth.

· Highwater (NYC, LA, Maui): Dana Brown's nifty documentary about the surfing community on the North Shore of Oahu, and the world-renowned Triple Crown of competitions that has changed the sport for good.

· The Kid: Chamaco (expanding to LA): Mexican import about a boy harboring dreams of being a boxing champ.

· Louis (NYC and Chicago): Silent comic biopic about the ascendancy of Louis Armstrong, shot in old-fashioned over-cranked style by Vilmos Zsigmond and accompanied at the Apollo Theater by a live score by Wynton Marsalis and co.

· Make-Out with Violence (NYC): Micro-budget romance between a young man and his quasi-zombie girlfriend.

· Mesrine: Killer Instinct (LA, NY): First half of epic gangster saga featuring Vincent Cassel as the titular tough guy. (See Movieline's full review here.)

· The Milk of Sorrow (NYC): Oscar-nominated Peruvian import tracks the legacy of terrorism and tragedy in the life of one young woman.

(See Movieline's full review here.)

· The People I've Slept With (expanding to LA): A fun indie alternative to Eat, Pray, Love underscoring the virtues of self-discovery through abject promiscuity and accidental pregnancy. And the heroine doesn't even have to go India!