Although early reports had The Last Exorcism in first place this weekend, the final numbers told a different story. When the dust finally settled on Monday, Lionsgate’s Takers had squeaked out a slim lead. (Less than $200,000 separated the two films.)

Exorcism, though, did not walk away a loser. The movie “documenting” a priest’s final exorcism earned just over $20 million—and it only cost $1.8 million to produce. The PG-13 flick also surpassed The Unborn‘s 2009 debut ($19.8 million), though it did fall short of The Exorcism of Emily Rose. (That 2005 release opened to $30 million.)

Further down the charts, two theatrical vets were also generating box office news. After 11 weeks in release, Toy Story 3 finally crossed the $1 billion mark internationally. That’s a mark never achieved by an animated feature. The sequel also gave Disney two billion-dollar earners this year. (Alice in Wonderland was the first.)

Meanwhile, Avatar – which was re-released with bonus footage – landed in 11th place this week. The Fox feature – which is already available on DVD – tacked on another $4 million to its grand total.

1. Takers, Sony, $20,512,304 (avg. $9298)
2. The Last Exorcism, Lionsgate, $20,366,613 (avg. $7087)
3. The Expendables, Lionsgate, $9,527,937 (avg. $2804)
4. Eat Pray Love, Sony, $6,815,555 (avg. $2193)
5. The Other Guys, Sony, $6,285,712 (avg. $1976)
6. Vampires Suck, 20th Century Fox, $5,221,780 (avg. $1615)
7. Inception, Warner Bros., $4,876,356 (avg. $2356)
8. Nanny McPhee Returns, Universal, $4,714,215 (avg. $1685)
9. The Switch, Miramax, $4,583,481 (avg. $2272)
10. Piranha 3D, Dimension, $4,302,878 (avg. $1727)

(You can review last week’s numbers here.)