This weekend we finally had our first non-superhero movie of the summer pull off a $40 million + opening weekend with The Conjuring 2. Sequel after sequel has tanked over the past few weeks and I’m sure the folks over at Warner Bros are breathing a huge sigh of relief as the film pulled in a fantastic $40.3 million.
Since this thing only carries a $40 million budget, it’s already a big success having pulled in $90 million across the globe. I must be a Negative Nancy and comment that the domestic opening was in fact a bit below the original’s $41.8 million but that’s just me nitpicking at this point. The Conjuring 2 is clearly a solid investment on the part of Warner Bros. even though I personally didn’t find it to be a quality film.
Defying many expectations with a second place finish is Warcraft. The big budget video game adaptation pulled in $24.3 million despite many industry forecasts in the low teens.
This might not seem like a great number for a movie that carries a $160 million budget, but my fellow North Americans need to keep in mind that we’re not the primary audience for this one. The movie is smashing records in China with a staggering $144 million made since Wednesday bringing its worldwide total to an actually very good $286 million. If we get a sequel to thing, you can thank the moviegoers of China.
The Now You See Me sequel which for some reason is not called Now You Don’t underwhelmed in third place this weekend with $23 million. That’s below the original’s $29.3 million and considering the fact that sequels tend to have bigger second and third weekend drops than original films, it’s not looking too great for this one. Maybe this one will fool me and having staying power, but that would surprise me greatly considering the fact that it’s apparently not very good (35% on RottenTomatoes).
In fourth place, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows continues to bomb with an alarming 58% second weekend drop for a grand total of $61 million. It’s tracking over $55 million behind the last one at this point and has pretty much no chance of hitting $100 million. Sorry, fangirls. There probably won’t be any more of these TMNT movies for a while.
Source: BoxOfficeMojo
So, floor’s yours now! Were you surprised by the success of The Conjuring 2 or Warcraft? Do Now You See Me 2 and TMNT deserve better? Comment away!