LOS ANGELES, Sept. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" bedeviled the competition at the weekend box office in North America, grossing about 30.2 million dollars in its debut to take first place, according to estimates out Sunsay.

    The film, released by Sony's Screen Gems, was based a true casein Germany some three decades ago to follow a Catholic priest's trial for negligent homicide following the death of a satanically possessed 19-year-old college girl.

    And its surprising high box office income made the courtroom drama-horror flick the third biggest opening ever in the month of September -- behind "Sweet Home Alabama's" 35.6 million dollars bow in 2002 and "Rush Hour's" 33 million dollars in 1998.

    "The 40-Year-Old Virgin'' remained in second place with 7.9 million dollars, while last week's leader "Transporter 2'' dropped to third, raking in about 7.2 million dollars.

    "The Constant Gardener" was fourth and "Red Eye" ranked fifth, with reveues of 4.8 million and 4.6 million dollars respectively.

    According to the Los Angeles-based box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations, the overall revenue of the top 12 films over the weekend was 16 percent more than that in the same period last year, however, overall revenues for the year has been down about 6 percent so far and attendance down about 9 percent. Enditem