Though Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema's '"The Conjuring 2" ghosted all of its competition at the weekend box office, all eyes are on the performance of Universal Pictures and Legendary Pictures' "Warcraft." Though the video game adaptation grossed only a modest sum in the U.S and Canada, given its hefty production budget, the picture's international numbers wildly make up for it. "Warcraft" grossed an estimated 24.4 million in ticket sales in the U.S., coming in just shy of analyst projections of 25 million and taking the second place spot. The film has a 160 million price tag attached to it, proving that film adaptations of massively popular video games (the multiplayer strategy game "World of Warcraft" is produced by Irvine-headquartered publisher Blizzard Entertainment) are still a tough sell in the U.S. Reviews have been decidedly negative for the picture. As of Sunday, only 27% of Rotten Tomatoes critics favored it, though up from the paltry 16% positive rating the film had just days before its release.

A sequel about married paranormal investigators, "The Conjuring 2," ascended to the top of the Friday box office, outperforming runners-up "Warcraft" and "Now You See Me 2." The three debuts supplanted last week's box-office leader "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows," which landed in the fourth spot, followed by the Warner Bros. romance "Me Before You." "The Conjuring 2" earned an estimated 16.4 million overnight. The New Line/Warner Bros. film exceeded expectations while on its way to a projected 40 million opening weekend. Though hardly a disappointment, the sequel has a steep climb to reach the tally of its predecessor, which ultimately earned nearly 320 million worldwide. Audiences liked the movie, which stars Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson as believers working to exorcise demons from a home in North London. Like its predecessor, the second installment earned an A- from the polling firm CinemaScore.