Box Office Results: July 19-21

Nobody was too sure what would happen at the box office this weekend as four new titles opened, Grown Ups 2 and Pacific Rim entered their sophomore frames, and the animated juggernaut Despicable Me 2 had its third weekend.

I was correct that the critically acclaimed horror title The Conjuring would take the top spot, but it ended up doing even better than my prediction. Warner Bros. has a huge hit on its hands as The Conjuring grossed $41.5 million, more than double its $20 million budget and above my $35.3M projection. This is a higher debut than other well-performing horror openings in 2013, like Mama and The Purge. Furthermore, The Conjuring earned a rock solid A- Cinemascore grade which means it may hold up better in subsequent weekends than other horror flicks.

Dreamworks animated Turbo had a fairly lackluster debut with $31.2 million over its five-day opening and $21.5 million over the Friday to Sunday frame. This is below my five-day projection of $42.8M and $27.1M over the traditional weekend. Turbo may experience small declines over the next several weeks, but a five-day opening of just over $30M for a high-profile animated flick isn’t too strong. This allowed Despicable Me 2 to remain #2 in its third weekend with $25.1 million, above my $22.3M estimate.

Grown Ups 2 held up slightly better in its second weekend with $20 million. I predicted $18.6 million. As mentioned last week, Adam Sandler needed a hit after a couple of flops and he’s got one.

Opening in fifth place with a weak debut is Red 2, which took in $18.5 million – below my $22.7M projection. The sequel failed to even gross what its predecessor opened at in 2010. In my prediction post earlier in the week, I asked whether audiences were really clamoring for a sequel. The answer, apparently, is no.

Pacific Rim dropped a bit further than I figured with $16 million in its sophomore frame (I projected $17.3M). With an enormous budget, Rim‘s domestic numbers have been unimpressive.

Finally, I correctly projected a disastrous opening for R.I.P.D. and that’s exactly what happened. The sci-fi comedy with Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds opened with a loud thud, opening in seventh with $12.8 million. This is slightly below my $13.6M projection. Universal Pictures did a terrible job marketing this flick (didn’t help that it looked terrible anyway) and they have a massive bomb before them (its budget was reportedly $130 million).

Whew! That’s all for now, folks! I’ll be back soon enough with my box office prediction for next weekend’s big opener, The Wolverine. Stay tuned!