In a surprise twist worthy of a horror flick, A Quiet Place Part II did not return to the number one position on its second weekend, as many predicted. Instead, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It topped the domestic box office.

In another weekend that bolstered hopes that moviegoers, long cooped up in their homes because of the pandemic, are indeed flocking back to their cineplexes in increasing numbers. Encouraged by diminishing COVID-19 cases, more people getting vaccinated and 75 percent of film theaters in North America now open, movie lovers – especially horror genre fans – boosted the ticket sales of The Conjuring 3 and A Quiet Place 2.

Director Michael Chaves’ serving of the latest The Conjuring installment, which sees the return of Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as the Warrens looking for a possible link between a murder and a demonic possession, drew $24.01 million. Those opening figures were enough for The Conjuring 3 to claim bragging rights as the biggest for an R-rated movie in the coronavirus pandemic era.

Although it fell to second place, John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place sequel still racked up huge numbers. The suspenseful film, led by Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe and Cillian Murphy, earned $19.5 million on its sophomore release. With the movie’s 10-day ticket revenues now at $88.61 million, the second installment is expected to beat the original’s earnings.

Cruella, directed by Craig Gillespie, also stayed solid in third place with $11.2 million. With Emma Stone as the puppy-hating villain in the origin story, the Disney movie has now collected $43.7 million so far.

Elaine Bogan and Ennio Torresan’s animated Spirit Untamed debuted in fourth spot with $6.2 million. The second installment of the Spirit franchise, with a voice cast that includes Isabela Merced, Jake Gyllenhaal, Julianne Moore, Marsai Martin, Walton Goggins, Eiza Gonzalez, Mckenna Grace and Lucian Perez, fills in the demand for kid-friendly family fare.

Don Hall, Carlos Lopez Estrada, and Paul Briggs’ Raya and the Last Dragon occupied the fifth berth with $1.31 million for a cumulative domestic total of $55.53 million.

Rounding out the rest of the top 10 were Guy Ritchie’s Wrath of Man ($1.2 million), Darren Lynn Bousman’s Spiral ($890,000), Adam Wingard’s Godzilla vs. Kong ($463,000), Euros Lyn’s Dream Horse ($230,000) and Mark Goodman’s Witnesses ($155,000).

Overseas, the third addition to The Conjuring series also lorded it over the box office race with $26.8 million. The horror-mystery-thriller premiered strongly in Korea, Mexico, Spain, Australia, Brazil, and Indonesia.

But in China, Justin Lin’s F9 held on to its top position with $11.03 million and added to its whopping overall earnings so far of $203.8 million. That qualifies Vin Diesel’s action flick as the biggest-grossing Hollywood release in China in the pandemic period.

Still in the world’s largest movie market, A Quiet Place Part II drew $19.2  million for a total of $50 million.

Back to the international tally, Cruella added $18.6 million to its overseas earnings of $43.4 million. Will Gluck’s Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway took in $2.6 million to increase its cumulative earnings to $45.8 million.