BOX OFFICE REPORT (JULY 19-21): 'The Conjuring' Scares Up a Weekend Win, While 'Turbo,' 'Red 2' and 'RIPD' Fail

As always, I don't see scary movies, so I don't have any personal to add when talking about The Conjuring. That said, I've only heard good things about the film, with people telling me that it's actually really scary and avoids the worn-out scary movie tropes that we've become more than familiar with. I have to applaud a movie that more than doubled its budget in its opening weekend, which is exactly what The Conjuring did, pulling in $41.53 million in comparison to a $20 million budget.

While The Conjuring did great business, the rest of the weekend box office pretty much stunk. New releases Turbo, Red 2 and RIPD couldn't make a mark, with Turbo failing to beat fellow animated movie Despicable Me 2 and RIPD's $12.76 million not being enough to crack the top five. The weekend also made it look like both Monsters University and Man of Steel are going to come up short of crossing $300 million, which is a shocker as the two movies both appeared to be locks for the milestone a few weeks ago.

1. The Conjuring (N)
Weekend gross: $41.53 million / Total domestic gross: $41.43 million / Percent change: NA
When it comes to recent horror movies, The Conjuring trumped The Purge's $34.06 million opening weekend. Of course, The Purge plummeted in its second weekend, falling more than 75 percent. Based on the positive reaction moviegoers have had to The Conjuring, I wouldn't expect that to happen here.

2. Despicable Me 2 (1)

Weekend gross: $25.06 million / Total domestic gross: $276.16 million / Percent change: -42.9
Over just three weekends, Despicable Me 2 has passed the first Despicable Me at the domestic box office, passing the original's $251.51 million. This movie has also impacted other animated movies, keeping fans from seeing Turbo during its opening weekend and siphoning potential ticket buyers from Monsters University.

3. Turbo (N)

Weekend gross: $21.50 million / Total domestic gross: $31.20 million / Percent change: NA
Turbo is one of the laziest looking animated movies in the history of lazy animated movies. DreamWorks Animation couldn't even be bothered to come up with original storylines, instead borrowing heavily from almost every Pixar hit. On top of that, isn't the basic message of Turbo that if you use a performance enhancer and win, it's OK?

4. Grown Ups 2 (2)

Weekend gross: $20.00 million / Total domestic gross: $79.50 million / Percent change: -51.8
Over its first two weekends, Grown Ups 2 continues to run in tandem with 2010's Grown Ups. It's nice to see the movie drop more than 50 percent from last weekend, but $79.5 million is still too much money for this movie.

5. Red 2 (N)

Weekend gross: $18.50 million / Total domestic gross: $18.50 million / Percent change: NA

The first Red made just $21.76 million its opening weekend, roughly the same as the sequel. The difference between the two is that Red became a surprise success with enough box office stamina to eventually gross over $98 million domestically. It doesn't appear that Red 2 has any chance of duplicating that feat.

Next week's predictions

1. The Wolverine

2. The Conjuring

3. Despicable Me 2

4. Turbo

5. Grown Ups 2

SOURCE: Box Office Mojo