Weekend Box Office Report: One Sequel Conjures Big Win Over Others
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - It was a battle between debuting sequels for the box office crown over the weekend.
When the dust settled, it was the horror-thriller follow-up, The Conjuring 2, with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, that conjured up the biggest audience, earning an estimated $40-million on its debut weekend.
Finishing second was the new video game-inspired action fantasy, Warcraft, which totaled $24-million.
A close third place was claimed by the debuting caper-thriller sequel, Now You See Me 2, featuring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, and Mark Ruffalo. It took in $23-million.
That dropped last weekend's leader, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows – yep, another sequel --into fourth place with $15-million.
As the sequel landslide continued, overall industry-wide totals were higher than those of last weekend, but significantly lower than those of a year ago.