As a prime demonstration of a self-prophesising title, Warner Brothers supernatural thriller THE CONJURING has broken most of every record in its genre along the path to a debut posting of $41.5 million.

D’ya geddit? Because, like… conjuring money.

Despite having a budget less than ¼ of the week’s other new releases put together – and being 10 times cheaper to produce than Warner Brothers other summer offering Pacific Rim, this week falling 57% to post a disappointing $15.9 million for 6th place – THE CONJURING managed to claim a very strong top spot.

As well as breaking the record debut opening for an R-rated horror, it finished a full $16 million ahead of DESPICABLE ME 2 in 2nd place. It’s $25 million earning for the week has brought the animated sequel’s domestic gross to $276 million, showing that the DESPICABLE brand has very strong legs indeed.

In less rosy animated news, DreamWorks Animation’s latest caper – snail racing flick TURBO – only managed $21.5 million for the weekend, putting it in the 3rd place with the studio’s lowest debut since 2006’s FLUSHED AWAY.

Much like with WHITE HOUSE DOWN, TURBO is suffering from a majestically botched launch schedule. After opening within a month of MONSTERS UNIVERSITY and DESPICABLE ME 2 – which are set to combine for around $600 million – and with SMURFS 2 right around the corner, TURBO can expect a tough time beating $100 million.

In it’s sophomore week, Adam Sandler’s newest gurn fest GROWN UPS 2 took 4th spot with $20 million for a reduction of 52%. It’ll break $100 million by next week and will generally outpace the original… yay?

The third new release of the week, geriatric action sequel RED 2, claimed 5th spot with $18.5 million, slightly less than the original’s $21.8 million. The slight decline puts it on par with THE EXPENDABLES 2’s trajectory and is very likely suffering from a similar sense of déjà vu with cinemagoers. The first RED benefitted from strong world-of-mouth and a quiet release schedule… so it’s very unlikely its sequel will get similar treatment.

And finally on the new releases front comes the resident black sheep of the family: R.I.P.D. Finding itself slumped in 7th place, the sci-fi/buddy-cop flick pulled in just $12.8, easily giving it the lowest debut this year for a film costing over $100 million. With bad reviews and even worse word-of-mouth, R.I.P.D will likely be resting in peace sooner rather than later.

Domestic Top 10

1. The Conjuring

2. Despicable Me 2

3. Turbo

4. Grown Ups 2

5. Red 2

6. Pacific Rim

7. R.I.P.D.

8. The Heat

9. World War Z

10. Monster University

Share your comments below or on Twitter @STARBURST_MAG

Find your local Starburst Magazine stockist HERE, or buy direct from us HERE. Our issues are also available as fully interactive iPad editions, loaded with multimedia, and can be downloaded via Apple HERE.

Click Hit-Girl to buy our latest issue…

Recommended Posts

No comment yet, add your voice below!


Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *