What movie won the weekend box office?

Did you hit the movie theater over the weekend? No? Well guess what: Lots of people apparently did. And the big winner at the weekend box office was not a mega-blockbuster at all. In fact, the film that came out on top cost just $3 million to make. Yes, I'm talking about the horror-thriller The Purge.

This summer, we're fortunate to have a number of blockbusters hitting theaters. Between Iron Man 3, Man of Steel and Star Trek Into Darkness, we've got a slew of other films all hoping to get a share of the box office pie. The Purge just took a huge slice of that pie, taking in an estimated $36.4 million in its opening weekend of release.

Sometimes, we just want to be scared out of our wits, it seems. Despite lukewarm to downright poor reviews, The Purge, which stars Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey, managed to dethrone Fast & Furious 6 from its perch. To say this movie outperformed would be a huge understatement. I suspected that The Purge would have a decent showing, but I honestly did not think it would win the box office race outright.

How did a low-budget horror movie manage to usurp some of the summer's biggest films? I think it's partly that horror is just a really, really solid genre. You've got a built-in audience of die-hard horror movie fans, and they turn out in droves if you market a movie the right way. The Purge also has a really interesting premise - and that was clearly enough to generate interest and, in turn, big ticket sales. My friends who love horror never, ever miss a movie in the theater if they can help it, and The Purge was no exception (they liked it, by the way).

Now, as for the rest of the box office winners, Fast & Furious 6 finished second ($19.8 million), followed by Now You See Me at number three ($19.5 million). And the Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson comedy The Internship only managed a fourth place finish in its debut weekend, taking in just over $18 million. That's not great, though did any of us really expect this one to do that well? Poor Vince Vaughn. He really needs a hit.

I think it's safe to say that The Purge probably won't be the number one movie next weekend, with the long-anticipated release of Man of Steel. At least, for now, this proved that audiences still crave a good scare.

Did you see any movies over the weekend? Let me know what you saw and what you thought. I skipped the theater, since we saw Now You See Me Last weekend and will see Man of Steel as soon as it opens here this week.

Photo courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter