‘Annabelle’ scares up $35M, lifts sleepy box office

Associated Press

NEW YORK — 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 shotin the arm.

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.

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. The summer altogether is down 12.4 percent from last year.

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.

Estimated ticket sales (in millions) for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters according to comScore.

1. “Annabelle: Creation” — $35.0 2. “Dunkirk” — $11.4 3. “Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature” — $8.9

4. “The Dark Tower” — $7.9

5. “The Emoji Movie” — $6.6 6. “Girls Trip” — $6.5 7. “Spider-Man: Homecoming” — $6.1 8. “Kidnap” — $5.2 9. “Glass Castle” — $4.9 10. “Atomic Blonde” — $4.6