Horror possesses box office in quiet end to summer

A late-summer horror tale has taken possession of the weekend box office.

"The Possession" debuted as the No. 1 movie with $21.3 million over the four-day Labor Day weekend. The fright flick stars Kyra Sedgwick and Jeffrey Dean Morgan as parents of a girl possession by a demon.

Opening in second-place with $13 million was the bootlegging drama "Lawless," with Shia LaBeouf and Guy Pearce in a story of moonshiners pursued by a corrupt lawman during Prohibition.

The movies opened as Hollywood quietly wound down a busy summer season that turned out to be not so busy.

Studio executives started the season with projections of record business, but revenues dropped 3 percent compared to summer 2011, while attendance was at its lowest in at least 20 years.