Weekend Box Office July 19-21: 'The Conjuring' Delivers Magic, 'R.I.P.D.' Crashes and Burns
by EG
Just as we predicted last week,"The Conjuring" turned out to be the big winner at this weekend's box office, as the carnage surrounding big-budget action flicks continued through yet another week. Of the four movies released widely this week, the relatively small-budget horror film easily outperformed the much more costly "R.I.P.D.," "Turbo" and "RED 2."
Weekend box office estimates had "The Conjuring" pulling in about $41.5 million by the end of the day on Sunday, a total that was a bit more than twice the film's production budget. It was easily enough to put the film in first place for the weekend, ahead of "Despicable Me 2," which was still strong, taking in $25 million in its third week of release.
Of the new releases, "Turbo" was next in line with $21.5 million. It was a major disappointment for the Dreamworks animated film; it not only failed to draw the family audience away from "Despicable Me 2," its anemic take was only a fraction of its $135-million production budget.
Adam Sandler's poorly reviewed "Grown Ups 2" came in fourth with $20 million, ahead of the third new release, "Red 2." The action film with an over-the-hill cast led by Bruce Willis brought in $18 million; its production budget was $84 million.
By far the week's biggest bomb was "R.I.P.D.," which placed seventh, behind last week's bomb, "Pacific Rim." "R.I.P.D." took in a dismal $12.7 million, and the film looks to have no chance to make back its $130-million budget. It was the weekend's second dose of bad news for actor Ryan Reynolds, who also provides the voice of the lead character in "Turbo."
The failures of "R.I.P.D." and "RED 2" are the latest poor performances in a summer full of poor performances by big-budgets, effects-laden action movies. The success of "The Conjuring," though, echoes the surprise success of "The Purge," another low-budget thriller, that provided a substantial return on its studio's investment earlier in the summer.
Weekend Box Office, Box Office Mojo