The Conjuring Manages To Scare It's Way To The Top Of The US Box Office

The Conjuring is Universal's re-telling of a 'true' story about a family who move to a rural old farmhouse in New England to live the good life, only problem is; they're not alone at their new place, as they soon find out over the course of the fright-fest. In a crowded box office market the Vera Farmiga-starring horror film managed to scare off competition and emerge as the top grossing film this weekend.

Watch the trailer for The Conjuring

The James Wan (Saw, Insidious) directed flick won many plaudits from critic who praised the film as one of the years most genuinely frightening movies and clearly America took notice of this praise as thousands flocked through the turnstiles to make it a clear box office winner. In a market that is usually dominated by family films or action movies at this time of year, Universal gambled when they released the horror, but clearly this was a gamble that has paid off for the Hollywood powerhouse who recouped over $40 million in the film's first week.

Providing a much needed antidote to the screams of The Conjuring, the next two spots were made up of much less menacing films, with Despicable Me 2 dropping one place to second after two weeks atop the box office with $25 mil, whilst Fox's new animation Turbo came a close third behind it with over $21 mil. Turbo, the Ryan Reynold-starring tale of a snail who becomes one of the fastest moving creatures on the planet, was followed closely by the ensemble comedy sequel Grown Ups 2, which drew in around $20 mil at the box office.

Ryan Reynolds had a mixed weekend at the box office

Not far behind was another newcomer to the box office and another sequel too, with Red 2 shooting it's way to the fifth spot in the box office with just under $20 mil in takings. Whilst his animated role saw a reasonable amount of success in it's first week, Ryan Reynold's other big screen release, R.I.P.D. struggled to find it's feet at the box office and only drew in a paltry $12.76 mil for Universal, a huge blow given the reported $130 million production. The film mixes action, the paranormal and comedy together in a film that few critics could agree on and looks to be one of this years biggest flops so far (although it might fare better than The Lone Ranger and After Earth).

The rest of the top ten (which you can see below) was made up of already released films, with the robots vs. aliens epic Pacific Rim, Brad Pitt's World War Z, the buddy cop comedy The Heat and Monster's University all still managing to draw in an audience.

The full box office top ten:
1) The Conjuring - $41.53 mil (Universal)
2) Despicable Me 2 - $25.0 mil (Universal)
3) Turbo - $21.5 mil (Fox)
4) Grown Ups 2 - $20.0 mil (Sony)
5) Red 2 - $18.5 mil (Lionsgate)
6) Pacific Rim - $15.95 mil (Warner Bros.)
7) R.I.P.D. - $12.76 mil (Universal)
8) The Heat - $9.32 mil (Fox)
9) World War Z - $5.2 mil (Paramount)
10) Monsters University - $5.0 mil (Disney)

The Steve Carell-starring Despicable Me 2 is still performing well in cinemas