'The Conjuring' Spooks the Summer Box Office
Welcome to the Box Office Report, where the movies will always be the best option when it's literally too hot for life.
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1. The Conjuring (Warner Bros.): $41.5 million in 2,903 theaters
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Did you know that it was really hot out this week? The heat was unbearable! (The temperature, we mean.) And so people flocked to the movies, and they chose a spooky tale from a reliable director to take their mind off the rest of the world. Why? Who knows, honestly. James Wan was the guy behind Saw and 2010's Insidious, which has been one of those "you should finally get around to seeing this" movies for The Box Office Report ever since it came out, so his pedigree helped things. But otherwise this was a sharp left turn from the big-stakes, big-destruction that's dominated the theater this summer. Maybe that's why.
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2. Despicable Me 2 (Universal): $25.1 million in 3,820 theaters [Week 3]
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This will go down as the summer of the minions. They cannot be stopped at this point. None of the kids movie challengers on the horizon pose any real threat to its place as king of the castle. Neither Disney's Planes or Sony's Smurfs 2 will come close Despicable's total domestic take, which is currently north of $275 million.
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3. Turbo (Fox): $21.5 million in 3,806 theaters
Because somehow a movie about a fast snail didn't light audiences on fire. This could have been Ryan Reynolds' second life as a children's movie star, injecting his career with a new energy doing voice work for every CGI kids movie on the block. Unfortunately that won't be the case. Poor kid.
4. Grown Ups 2 (Sony): $20 million in 3,491 theaters [Week 2]
5. Red 2 (Lionsgate): $18.5 million in 3,016 theaters
Old people shooting things was more popular with movie-goers than a movie about ghost-hunting dead policemen played by Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges. Poor Ryan Reynolds loses, again.
