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This weekend once again proves that, when you come right
down to it, it’s character and story that matter, not how many CGI effects you
can cram into a film.

The Conjuring,
the very modestly budgeted ($19 million)
horror film without big name stars, directed by James Wan (Insidious, Saw), was the No.1 film this weekend, with just over $41 million.

Warners evidently knew what they had after some incredibly
strong advance test screenings, and pushed the release of the film back from its originally planned February release
date, to this summer.

The R-rated film is also unusual in the fact that there’s
no gore or explicit violence in it, but got its rating because the MPAA
felt the film too “too intense and too scary.”

On the other hand, Universal’s
R.I.P.D. joins the ever growing list of big budget summer flops, opening with
a dismal $12.7 million, compared to the film’s $150+ million production cost. With
every disaster like this, Steven
Spielberg’s dire prediction of a film industry collapse because of  the steady stream of super expensive, big
budget flops crippling the film business looks closer to becoming a reality every week.

In the case of R.I.P.D 
the film went through several production and release delays and the advance
word was never good on the film. And the fact that the studio held
media screenings the day before the film’s release, is always a sign that the
studio knows it has a stinker on its hands.

Fortunately for Universal, Despicable Me 2 is still going strong, becoming the highest grossing
animated film domestically so far this year, and has already passed the half
billion dollar mark worldwide.

Pacific
Rim
took a huge drop this weekend and will limp to maybe a $100 million gross domestically. It’s going to take the
overseas B.O. figures to determine if the $180 million film eventually makes a profit.

As for Fruitvale
Station, the film expanded this weekend from 7 screens to 34 screens, with a weekend total of $742,000 
and has grossed, to date, $1,334,000.
With a per screen average of $21,824, the film still has the highest per screen average of any film currently playing.

1) The Conjuring WB $41,530,000 
2) Despicable Me 2 Uni. $25,059,000 Total: $276,159,000 
3) Turbo Fox $21,500,000 Total: $31,203,000 
4) Grown Ups 2 Sony $20,000,000 Total: $79,500,000 
5) Red 2 LG/S $18,500,000 
6) Pacific Rim WB $15,955,000 Total: $68,235,000 
7) R.I.P.D. Uni. $12,763,000 
8) The Heat Fox $9,325,000 Total: $129,292,000 
9)  World War Z Par. $5,200,000 Total: $186,941,000 
10) Monsters University BV $5,005,000 Total: $248,998,000 
11) The Lone Ranger BV $4,260,000 Total: $81,171,000 
12) White House Down Sony $2,400,000 Total: $68,453,000