On a typically quiet late-summer weekend dominated by holdovers, Sinister 2 has dragged itself to third place with a disappointing $10.6million opening in America.

James Ransone at the 2013 Film Independent Spirit AwardsSinister 2, starring James Ransone, has flopped

Expected to earn between $15-18million, the Blumhouse horror sequel debuted well below all three Insidious films, as well as the first Sinister movie, which took $18m on the weekend of October 12-14, 2012.

Opting for a late August release meant Sinister 2 missed out on the Halloween boost the first film enjoyed, and the scathing reviews (12% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) would have put a lot of Sinister fans off seeing this second instalment.

The Ciaran Foy-directed film stars James Ransone, reprising his role from the original, alongside Shannyn Sossamon as a mother whose sons are tormented by the ghostly children taken by Bughuul at their rural farmhouse.

More: Read our review of Sinister 2

Last week's number one, Straight Outta Compton, comfortably held onto the top spot, dropping a standard 56% and making $26.8m. The hip-hop biopic has now made a respectable $111m in America, according to Box Office Mojo.

In second place, Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation dropped just 32% for an $11.7m weekend, bringing its total to $157.7m.

Behind Sinister 2, Hitman: Agent 47 bombed at number four, making just $8.1m, That's 34.6% lower than the 2007 $13.1m opening of the original Hitman, which was released at a time when the video game series was more relevant.

More: Sinister 2: The challenges of making a sequel work

Another of this week's new releases, American Ultra, starring The Social Network's Jesse Eisenberg, took sixth place with a $5.5m opening. The action comedy tells the story of a stoner who is secretly a highly trained government agent.