Weekend Box Office: Conjuring on Top, Warcraft in Second

The box-office race over the weekend ended up almost exactly as expected, with horror sequel The Conjuring 2 easily wrapping up first place and video-game adaptation Warcraft taking second place. Caper sequel Now You See Me 2, the week's third new release, performed well, too, and should slip in right behind Warcraft for a close third place finish.

The Conjuring 2 lived up to expectations and then some, earning an estimated $38 million for the weekend. That's not quite as much as its predecessor took in on its own opening weekend, but it's close. Given that most recent sequels have fallen well short of the performance of their predecessors, The Conjuring finds itself in a good position if it hopes to hold on for a strong run over the summer.

Warcraft also performed a bit ahead of expectations for the weekend, taking in an estimated $27 million. That's not a very strong domestic opening for a big-budget movie, but Warcraft has been performing extremely well in international markets - its earned nearly $150 million over the weekend in China alone - so the relatively weak showing in the United States doesn't matter all that much.

It looks like Now You See Me 2 will fall into third place with gross earnings of about $24 million. That's pretty much on track with predictions, although there was some speculation that it would overtake Warcraft for second place. Like The Conjuring 2, Now You See Me 2 will fall short of its predecessor's opening, but not by a wide margin.