The top movies at the North American box office

LOS ANGELES, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Following are the top 10
movies at the North American box office for the first three
days of the Labor Day holiday weekend beginning on Sept. 3, led
by the new release "The American," according to studio
estimates compiled on Sunday by Reuters.

1 (*) The American .. $ 13.0 million

2 (1) Takers ........ $ 11.5 million

3 (*) Machete ....... $ 11.3 million

4 (2) The Last Exorcism ............ $ 7.6 million

5 (*) Going the Distance ........... $ 6.9 million

6 (3) The Expendables .............. $ 6.8 million

7 (5) The Other Guys ............... $ 5.4 million

8 (4) Eat Pray Love . $ 4.9 million

9 (7) Inception ..... $ 4.5 million

10 (8) Nanny McPhee Returns ......... $ 3.6 million

NOTE: Last weekend's rankings in parenthesis; (*) denotes
new release. "The American" opened on Wednesday, "Machete" and
"Going the Distance" on Friday.

Inception ....... $ 277.1 million

The Other Guys .. $ 106.9 million

The Expendables . $ 92.3 million

Eat Pray Love ... $ 69.0 million

Takers .......... $ 37.9 million

The Last Exorcism .............. $ 32.3 million

Nanny McPhee Returns ........... $ 22.4 million

The American .... $ 16.1 million

Machete ......... $ 11.3 million

Going the Distance ............. $ 6.9 million

"The American" was released by Focus Features, and "Nanny
McPhee" by Universal Pictures. Both are units of General
Electric Co's (GE.N) NBC Universal.

"Takers," "Eat Pray Love" and "The Other Guys" were
released by Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp (6758.T)
(SNE.N).

"Machete" was released by 20th Century Fox, a unit of News
Corp (NWSA.O).

"The Last Exorcism" and "The Expendables" were released by
Lionsgate, a unit of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp (LGF.N).

"Going the Distance" and "Inception" were released by
Warner Bros. Pictures, a unit of Time Warner Inc (TWX.N).
(Reporting by Dean Goodman; editing by Mohammad Zargham)