'Annabelle' scares up $35M, jolting sleepy box office

NEW YORK (AP) — The "Conjuring" spinoff "Annabelle: Creation" scared up an estimated $35 million in North American theaters over the weekend, making it easily the top film and giving the lagging August box office a shot in the arm.

The opening came close to matching the film's predecessor, "Annabelle," which opened with $37.1 million in October 2014. Warner Bros. could celebrate not only the month's biggest debut but also having the week's top two films. Christopher Nolan's "Dunkirk" followed in second with $11.4 million in its fourth weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Even amid an especially weak August, the well-reviewed horror sequel and modestly budgeted "Annabelle: Creation" found eager audiences.

The film, the third to spiral out of 2013's "The Conjuring," cost only about $15 million to make. More sequels and spinoffs are being developed in what has become for Warner Bros. a steadily profitable horror franchise bent on old-school frights. The "Annabelle" offshoot centers on a possessed doll.

Last week's top film, the poorly received Stephen King adaptation "The Dark Tower," slid dramatically. The Sony Pictures release, starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey, toppled nearly 60 percent on its second weekend with an estimated $7.9 million.

The week's other new entry, the Open Road animated release "Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature," edged just above "The Dark Tower" with $8.9 million. That was well below the 2014 debut of the original, "The Nut Job," which opened with $19.4 million.

But the solid returns for "Annabelle: Creation" did little to counter the box-office slide. The box office was down 31.6 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Suicide Squad" was No. 1 despite brutal reviews and Seth Rogen's "Sausage Party" opened. The summer altogether is down 12.4 percent from last year, according to comScore.

Some of July's bright spots, however, have continued into August. The summer's top comedy, "Girls Trip," will soon surpass $100 million domestically. The movie, starring Jada Pinkett Smith and Queen Latifah, took in $6.5 million in its fourth week to bring its cumulative total to $97.2 million. It may end up doubling the gross of its closest summer comedy competition: the starrier and pricey "Baywatch" ($58.1 million in its entire run).