
This year, James Wan found himself in unfamiliar waters. He was releasing a film in the middle of summer, an environment choked with sequels, prequels and remakes. When everything else had budgets that ranged into the hundreds of millions of dollars, his cost a mere $20 million. Instead of movie stars, he had Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga — excellent actors but nowhere near the A-list. And yet Wan’s horror film The Conjuring opened July 19 at No. 1, pulling down $41.8 million in its first weekend. Then Wan did it again: Two months later, his shock-sequel Insidious Chapter 2 — starring Wilson and Rose Byrne — opened at No. 1, grossing $40.2 million out of the gate.
Nathan Stoan