(EW.com) -- Animated movies have topped the box office for the past four weekends, but this time around, audiences were ready to embrace something a bit edgier. As such, Warner Bros.' horror film "The Conjuring" easily topped a crowded weekend with an eye-popping $41.5 million. The $20 million James Wan-directed title garnered the best horror debut of the year, trumping The Purge's $34.1 million bow in May. It also had the second-best debut ever for an R-rated horror film, trailing only Paranormal Activity 3, which opened with $52.6 million in 2011. The film notched a powerful $14,306 per theater average, and if it receives strong word-of-mouth (which seems likely), it could become a $100 million smash. Audiences, which were 53 percent female and 59 percent above the age of 25, issued The Conjuring an excellent "A-" CinemaScore grade — an especially impressive rating given the fact that the horror genre that has seen its fair share of "D" and "F" grades.
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"The Conjuring" is the best debut by a horror film so far this year
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"Despicable Me 2" came in second place
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"Turbo" had a lackluster debut
In third place, @placeholder started its box office run at a snail's pace.