Jeremy Renner and Rachel Weisz play Aaron Cross and Dr. Marta Shearing in "The Bourne Legacy".

14 Aug – Tony Gilroy's "The Bourne Legacy" may have incurred the wrath of fans of the "Bourne" film franchise and moviegoers alike, but nevertheless, the fact remains that many flocked to the cinema in its opening week (9 – 12 Aug) despite the lack of Matt Damon. The fourth instalment of the action thriller film has Jeremy Renner replacing Damon as another CIA agent known as Aaron Cross, whose life-and-death stakes have been triggered by the events of the first three films. While it did not break any records, the total weekend gross for "The Bourne Legacy" amounted to US$38.1, which is a competent debut for a film with a lot of pressure, as many considered Damon to be the one and only "Bourne" hero. In second place comes Jay Roach's political comedy "The Campaign", starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis as two Southerners vying for a seat in Congress to represent their small district. Meanwhile, after leading for three-straight weeks, Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises" fell to third place.

However, in Malaysia, many preferred to feast their eyes on the impressive visuals of "Total Recall" as opposed to the grittier mano-a-mano fights in "The Bourne Legacy", which led the former to maintain its spot at the top of the box office chart while the latter opened in fourth place. The fourth instalment of the "Step Up" dance films, "Step Up Revolution", also managed to keep its second place while "The Dark Knight Rises" was unseated by Namewee's second directorial feature, "Hantu Gangster". The horror comedy tells the story of a thief named Te Sai (Namewee), who accidentally comes into possession of a ring haunted by the three ghosts of former gangster leaders. He is then forced to help the ghosts stop the racial war that taking place in order to for them to rest in peace.

Malaysia seems to be the only exception because in Singapore, "The Bourne Legacy" also debuted in first place followed by Pixar's "Brave". Compared to Malaysia, "Brave" was to see a much later release in Singapore, and its debut caused "Ice Age 4: Continental Drift" to plummet from the top three, while Len Wiseman's "Total Recall" took its place.

Jeremy Renner in a scene from "The Bourne Legacy".

For Malaysia, new movies that opened last week were "The Bourne Legacy", "The Three Stooges", "The Silent War", "Panithuli" and "Eppadi Manasukkul Vandhai".

For Singapore, new movies that opened last week were "Jism 2", "Life During Wartime" and "Magic Mike".