Critics disliked The Nun, which could muster only a 28% positive rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, but The Conjuring franchise has a strong appeal, and, as usual, Warner Bros. conducted an excellent ad campaign for the film across a variety of media platforms. The Nun’s $53.5 million bow is the second best September bow in history (even though it is less than half of It’s massive debut).
The Nun, which cost just $22 million to produce, also earned $77 million overseas for a $131 million global debut, which gives The Conjuring franchise a $1.33 billion global total, which makes it the biggest R-rated horror franchise so far, just nosing out The Alien movies ($1.32 billion, not adjusting for inflation or counting the “PG-13,” Alien vs. Predator).
Perhaps it will take a psychologist to figure out why The Nun is the first film in The Conjuring franchise in which males made up the majority of the opening weekend audience (51%), and why it’s also the youngest-skewing film in the franchise so far with 46% 25 or older. With its combination of jump scares, R-rated violence that stays well below the levels of torture-porn horror like The Saw, and gothic atmosphere, The Nun is more of a mainstream horror movie. Audiences gave The Nun a lowly “C” CinemaScore, though, as noted here before, horror movie audiences are notoriously tough graders. The Nun will face direct competition from The Predator next weekend and The House With a Clock in the Walls in two weeks, so it should be interesting to see if, after its dominant opening, The Nun will be able to repeat next week.
Second place went to another Warner Bros. release, the comedy Crazy Rich Asians, which dipped just 38.1% in its fourth weekend of release, earning an estimated $13.6 million to bring its domestic total to $136.2 million. Crazy Rich Asians is now the number 13 film of 2018 so far, with nearly two times the gross of the next biggest comedy, Game Night ($69 million).
Peppermint, the revenge thriller directed by Pierre Morel that stars Jennifer Garner, could only manage a 13% positive rating from the critics on Rotten Tomaotes, but the film earned an OK “B+” CinemaScore from opening weekend audiences that skewed female (56%) and older (78% over 25). Peppermint opened with an estimated$13.26 million, just a shade under the $14.4 million debut of John Wick. Will it have the ‘legs” of John Wick?
|
Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): September 7-9, 2018 |
||||||
|
Film |
Weekend Gross |
Screens |
Avg./Screen |
Total Gross |
Wk# |
|
|
1 |
The Nun |
$53,500,000 |
3,876 |
$13,803 |
$53,500,000 |
1 |
|
2 |
Crazy Rich Asians |
$13,600,000 |
3,865 |
$3,519 |
$136,222,165 |
4 |
|
3 |
Peppermint |
$13,260,000 |
2,980 |
$4,450 |
$13,260,000 |
1 |
|
4 |
The Meg |
$6,030,000 |
3,511 |
$1,717 |
$131,572,774 |
5 |
|
5 |
Searching |
$4,515,000 |
2,009 |
$2,247 |
$14,311,130 |
3 |
|
6 |
Mission: Impossible - Fallout |
$3,800,000 |
2,334 |
$1,628 |
$212,116,767 |
7 |
|
7 |
Disney's Christopher Robin |
$3,196,000 |
2,518 |
$1,269 |
$91,725,090 |
6 |
|
8 |
Operation Finale |
$3,043,000 |
1,818 |
$1,674 |
$14,107,446 |
2 |
|
9 |
Alpha |
$2,505,000 |
2,521 |
$994 |
$32,447,518 |
4 |
|
10 |
BlacKkKlansman |
$1,565,000 |
1,547 |
$1,012 |
$43,454,530 |
5 |
Elsewhere in the top five, Warner Bros.’ shark tale The Meg continued its strong run, dropping just 43% as it earned $6 million to drive its domestic total to $131.6 million, and the John Cho-starring cyber thriller Searching added 800 theaters and dropped just 25.6% as it earned $4.5 million to bring its cumulative to $14.3 million.
In its seventh weekend of release Mission: Impossible—Fallout earned $3.8 million to bring its domestic total to $212.1 million, just three million shy of the top North American performer in the series, Mission: Impossible II ($215.4 million in 2000, so it would be a heck of a lot more if adjusted). Overseas Fallout added $38.6 million to bring its global total to $726.6 million, a franchise record (not adjusted), and the highest grossing film in Tom Cruise’s career.
Disney’s Christopher Robin continues to display strong “legs” after a weak debut, running its domestic total to $91.8 million.
Just the opposite is the case for Finale, the Nazi-hunting thriller starring Oscar Isaacs, which slipped 50% from its inauspicious debut, as it earned $3 million to bring its North American total to $14 million.
Debuting quietly outside the top ten, the faith-themed God Bless the Broken Road, earned just $1.5 million from just under 1,300 theaters.
Next weekend Fox will release The Predator, the fourth film in the Predator series (sixth if you count the Alien vs. Predator flicks), in over 3,900 locations, while Lionsgate will drop the neo-noir comedy A Simple Favor into about 3,000 venues, Sony will unleash White Boy Rick into 2,400 theaters, and the faith-themed Unbroken: Path to Redemption will debut in 1,500.
