Three new movies are out in force at the Labor Day weekend in a bid to take the top spot of the North America box office, with one of them, "The American," expected to walk away with the title.

The winner is projected to garner 13 million dollars in movie ticket receipts. Among the other two contenders, blood-filled romp "Machete" ended up at the third place, while the love story "Going The Distance" was fifth.

"The American," a Focus Features suspense thriller starring Academy Award winner George Cloony, is on track to sell an estimated 13 million dollars in ticket sales in the United States and Canada over the first three days of the Labor Day weekend, the North America box office authority said.

The movie, which is more of a European-style character study than a Hollywood-style hero tale, opened on Wednesday on about 3, 200 screens at 2,823 locations. It has a five-day running gate of 16.1 million dollars.

"Takers" took second with an estimated 11.5 million dollars. It is on track for a 37.9 million dollars gross over two weeks for Sony/Screen Gems.

Fox's "Machete," a star-studded flick which stars Robert DeNiro, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Lindsay Lohan, Don Johnson and Steven Seagal, was projected to debut in third place, taking in 11. 3 million dollars. The thriller opened on around 3,400 screens at 2,670 locations.

Rounding out the top 10 most popular films are:

-- No.4: "The Last Exorcism," Lionsgate, 7.6 million dollars this weekend, 32.3 million dollars over two weeks;

-- No.5: "Going The Distance," Warner Bros., debuting with 6.9 million dollars this weekend;

-- No.6: "The Expendables," Lionsgate, 6.8 million dollars this weekend, 92.3 million dollars over four weeks;

-- No.7: "The Other Guys," Sony/Columbia, 5.4 million dollars this weekend, 106.9 million dollars over five weeks;

-- No.8: "Eat Pray Love," Sony, 4.9 million dollars this weekend, 69 million dollars over four weeks;

-- No.9: "Inception," Warner Bros., 4.5 million dollars this weekend, 277.1 million dollars over eight weeks;

-- No.10: "Nanny McPhee Returns," Universal, 3.6 million dollars this weekend, 22.4 million dollars over three weeks.

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