"The Conjuring" conjures first place

Writer: Elaine Ewe

Vera Farmiga plays Lorraine Warren, a psychic.

24 Jul – Among the four new movies that opened in the weekend from 18 to 21 July, James Wan's "The Conjuring" easily came out on top in the U.S. box office charts. The supernatural horror film made a tidy profit of USD 41.9 million, which is a new record for an original R-rated horror movie, as it is higher than the opening for "Pacific Rim" last weekend, given that the latter had a budget nearly 10 times of "The Conjuring".

The film tells the story of the Perron family, who are experiencing increasingly disturbing events in their farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island in 1971, leading them to enlist the assistance of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga).

In second place is the Minion vehicle "Despicable Me 2", while newcomer "Turbo" failed to speed past its competitors and opened in third place. The other two new movies are "Red 2" and "R.I.P.D.", which charted fifth and seventh places respectively.

Rinko Kikuchi in "Pacific Rim".

"Pacific Rim" is still number one in Malaysia, followed by "Turbo" and "Red 2". "Red 2" continues the adventures of retired CIA agent Frank Moses (Bruce Willis), Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich), Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker) and Victoria (Helen Mirren), joined by new cast members Katya (Catherine Zeta-Jones), Han Jo-bae (Lee Byung-hun) and Dr. Edward Bailey (Anthony Hopkins).

In Singapore, "Pacific Rim" also remained at first place, followed by "Despicable Me 2" and "Grown Ups 2". Much like "Red 2", "Grown Ups 2" continues the story of the original cast led by Adam Sandler, with the childish adults learning that their children are growing up faster than they can handle it.

Other new movies that opened over the weekend in Malaysia are "Man Of Tai Chi", "Olipathivu", "Ramaiya Vastavaiya" and "Mariyaan".

Other new movies that opened over the weekend in Singapore are "Secretly Greatly", "Welcome To The Punch", "Tales From The Dark Part 1", "Jan Dara: The Finale", "D-Day" and "Mariyaan".