SUNDAY AM WRITETHRU: New Line‘s Michael Chaves horror sequel The Nun 2 is meeting its opening weekend expectations with a $32.6M take. Even though that’s -39% off from Nun 1‘s $53.8M, it’s wonky times with the pic’s lead stars Taissa Farmiga and Storm Reid and the studio unable to truly splash this event-wise, etc due to the actors strike. The sequel cost $38.5M before P&A.
Note, the 3-day ease between the openings of the first and second Annabelle was -6% while it was -12% between Blumhouse’s first two Purge titles.
At the same time, Nun 2‘s opening isn’t that far from the first two Annabelles’ Friday-Sundays ($37.1M and $35M respectively) and higher than the threequel Annabelle Comes Home which posted a $20.2M 3-day in a $31.1M five-day.
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Still, thank you, Warner Bros. The result here for the marketplace is better than the doldrums we had a year ago when Disney opened 20th Century/Regency’s horror title Barbarian to $10.5M in what was an awful overall weekend box office of $43.1M. This weekend is on track for $88M, +104% over a year ago. Also at a time when the strikes have moved some big pics off the calendar like Dune: Part Two, Challengers and Kraven the Hunter, movie theaters will relish this opening particularly after the solid debut of Equalizer 3 last weekend at $42.8M over four days.
EntTelligence reports that Nun 2 clocked 2.3M admissions over three days repping over a third of the weekend’s foot traffic versus 13% for Equalizer 3 and 10% for Big Fat Greek Wedding 3. Nun 2 saw most of its action after 5PM whereby 74% of the audience showed up.
Social media analytics firm RelishMix noticed ahead of opening that the social media universe for Nun 2 were just under 150M across Facebook, YouTube, X, Instagram and TikTok, which is right in line with other horror sequels like Halloween Kills (147.3M, $49.4M opening) and ahead of Insidious: Red Door (114.7M, $33M opening).
The Nun 2 gets a C+, which is a tad better than the C the original movie received. It’s also an average trade for a horror film.
Deep dive into stats: Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak exits have the sequel at 64% positive, and a 47% recommend. Slightly female heavy at 52% for the R-rated movie, with 67%of the audience between18-34and the biggest demo being 18-24 at 38%. Diversity demos show Latino and Hispanic moviegoers leading at 43%, 26% Caucasian, 12% Black and 18% Asian/other. The Nun 2 played strong everywhere, I’m told, but the best in the South Central and West. PLF and Imax auditorium bookings are driving close to 40% of the weekend’s gross to date. As of EOD Friday, Adam Aron’s AMC Burbank is the highest grossing cinema in the nation for the sequel at $89K.
Top ten locations for Nun 2 are 1. AMC Burbank, 2. AMC Orange Los Angeles, 3. AMC
Ontario Mills Los Angeles, 4. AMC Puente Hills Los Angeles, 5. Harkins Estrella Falls Phoenix, 6. Cinemark Tinseltown El Paso, 7. Cinemark Rialto Los Angeles, 8. Harkins Cerritos Los Angeles, 9. AMC Mesquite Dallas, and 10. AMC Grove Los Angeles.
The top 10 DMA markets are: 1. Los Angeles, 2. New York, 3. Dallas, 4. Houston 5. San Francisco 6. Chicago 7. Phoenix 8. Toronto 9. Atlanta 10. Philadelphia.
Nia Vardalos’ second feature directorial, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 from Focus Features posted a $3.7M Friday (including previews) and was even on Saturday with the same amount of cash for a $10M opening at 3,650 for third behind the second weekend of Sony’s The Equalizer 3 ($12.1M, -65%). Pic gets a B on CinemaScore which is a downgrade from the previous pic’s A-. PostTrak audiences were harder on the threequel at 73% positive and a 55% recommend. Women came out at 72% with the largest demo being the over 55 bunch at 24%. Diversity demos showed 53% Caucasian, 28% Latino and Hispanic, 5% Black and 14% Asian/other. Greek Wedding 3 played strongest in the East, South and Midwest with The AMC Burbank now the best cinema so far in the nation for the pic at $22K.
Atlee’s action thriller Jawan is owning fourth with an estimated $1.7M on Friday, $2.4M on Saturday for a $6.1M 3-day, $7.5M four day. The Yash Raj Films title is booked at 827 locations with strong ticket sales in NYC, Toronto, Dallas, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, DC and Austin. Starring Shah Rukh Khan, the pic’s blurb reads: An emotional journey of a man who is set to rectify the wrongs in the society,in an attempt toget even with his past, driven by a personal vendetta while keeping up to a promise made years ago. A high-octane action thriller where he is up against a dreadful monstrous outlaw who knows no fear and has caused extreme suffering to many. In the journey he will cross paths with a high-minded seasoned lady officer whose emotions might get the better of her as she gets involved in this battle. As his past catches up with him, to overcome the challenges and restore the harmony in their world, he will need all the firepower and intelligence to do so.
Trailer is below:
Studio reported figures as of Sunday
1.) The Nun 2 (NL) 3,728 theaters, Fri $13.1M Sat $11.8M Sun $7.7M Sun 3-day $32.6M/Wk 1
2.) Equalizer 3 (Sony) 3,965 theaters Fri $3.4M Sat $5.2M Sun $3.4M 3-day $12.1M (-65%), Total: $61.9M/Wk 2
Global gross on the Denzel Washington threequel is $107.7M. Previous Equalizer movies finished in the $190M-$192M worldwide range.
3.) My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 (Uni) 3,650 theaters Fri $3.7M Sat $3.7M Sun $2.56M 3-day $10M/Wk 1
4.) Jawan (Yash Raj) 813 theaters, Fri $1.7M Sat $2.4M Sun $2M 3-day $6.1M, Total $7.5M/Wk 1
5.) Barbie (WB) 3,281 (-305) theaters, Fri $1.4M Sat $2.5M Sun $1.9M 3-day $5.9M (-42%) Total $620.4M/Wk 8
6.) Blue Beetle 2,786 (-530) theaters, Fri $850K Sat $1.7M Sun $1.1M 3-day $3.77M (-47%), Total $63.7M/Wk 4
The DC Latino superhero movie has outstripped Shazam Fury of the Gods stateside’s take of $57.6M, and has also minted a global take of $100M.
7.) Gran Turismo (Sony) 2,765 (-1,091) theaters, Fri $900K Sat $1.5M Sun $945K 3-day $3.37M (-61%), total $35.7M/Total Wk 3
8.) Oppenheimer (Uni) 2,091 (-452) theaters Fri $800K Sat $1.36M Sun $840K 3-day $3M (-48%)/Total $315.1M/Wk 8
9.) Teenage Mutanta Ninja Turtles…(Par) 2,500 (-455) theaters Fri $570M Sat $1.3M Sun $730K 3-day $2.6M (-44%) Total $111.3M/Wk 6
10.) Bottoms (MGM) 1,265 (+550) theaters, Fri $631K Sat $811K Sun $609K 3-day $2.05M (-33%) Total $7.6M/Wk 3
FRIDAY AM: The Nun 2 made $3.1M last night at 3,200 locations.
New Line’s Conjuring universe sequel, though expected to open lower than the original movie’s franchise record breaker of $53.8M, will keep what’s been a summer clock going with a projected $30M+ start.
The first Nun back in 2018 made $5.4M previews before booming to a $22M first Friday. There was a lot of walk-up business from Latino and Hispanic moviegoers, and a similar halo could occur here with the sequel. Michael Chaves, the director of The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and The Curse of La Llorona, takes over helming here on The Nun 2 from Corin Hardy.
Critics like the sequel a bit more than the first installment, 51% to 24% on Rotten Tomatoes. Sour reviews never cursed the Nun‘s business at the box office.
The Nun 2 returns Warners back to the post Labor Day horror frame they made golden with the first It back in 2017 with a $123.4M. Last September at this time, New Line was scheduled to release the feature take of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot, but they pushed that indefinitely on the release schedule.
Also previewing last night, and opening this weekend, is Focus Features’ My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 at 2,500 theaters which made $550K. Critics loathe the threequel as much as the sequel at 27% Rotten on Rotten Tomatoes. The first movie back in 2002–still a box office anomaly that started as a weeks on end limited release before it finally found a massive audience grossing $241.4M–was embraced by critics at 76% positive.
Nia Vardalos, who has written the franchise, finally takes over here as director. Pic is expected to open to the mid-to-high single digits. The sequel arrived 14 years after the original and managed to open to $17.8M and final at $59.6M domestic.
Sony’s The Equalizer 3 ends its first week with $49.7M, which is higher than the first week of the first film ($45.4M), but 1% behind Equalizer 2. The first Equalizer had a 45% ease in weekend 2, while Equalizer 2 declined -61%.
