'The Nun' Rises to Box Office Record for 'Conjuring' Franchise

Warner Bros.’ is looking at another strong weekend at the box office thanks to their new “Conjuring” universe entry “The Nun,” which is currently estimated to set a new franchise opening weekend record with $50 million from 3,876 screens.

This estimate comes in spite of very weak critical and audience reception, with reviewers giving the film about a demonic woman of the cloth just 28 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and opening night audiences stamping it with a C on CinemaScore.

Also Read: How Warner Bros. Defied the August Box Office Slump and Found Hits Without DC

It remains to be seen how much of an impact this will have on Saturday and Sunday ticket sales, but industry estimates are still confident that the final weekend number will be higher than the $41.8 million opening for “The Conjuring 2.” Friday totals for “The Nun” clocked in at $22.3 million, including $5.4 million from Thursday previews.

WB has found big business in what is usually considered a slower period at the box office with families heading back to school. Last month, the studio successfully marketed “Crazy Rich Asians” to Asian-American audiences hungry for representation and “The Meg” to fans of campy monster flicks, and now it looks like they’ve gotten the word out on “The Nun” to the fanbase of “The Conjuring.”

The result? All three WB titles are in the top five this weekend. Below “The Nun,” “Crazy Rich Asians” is in second with an estimated $13 million in its fourth weekend. That total will push the rom-com’s domestic total to $135 million, putting it in position next week to become WB’s top domestic grosser of 2018 so far. “The Meg,” meanwhile, is looking at a third weekend of $5.2 million, putting it in fourth on the charts after a 51 percent drop-off. It now has an estimated domestic total of $130 million.

Also Read: How This Summer Broke Box Office Records by Breaking All the Rules

Sitting between the two WB holdovers in third place is the STX revenge film “Peppermint,” which is hitting tracker expectations with an estimated $12 million opening against a reported net production budget of around $25 million. That’s just a step below the $13.7 million opening for STX’s last action release, “Mile 22,” last month. While critics panned the film with a 14 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, audiences gave the Jennifer Garner film a better CinemaScore grade than “The Nun” with a B+.

Sony/Screen Gems’ “Searching” completes the top five with a $4.4 million third weekend after expanding to 2,009 screens. Outside the top five, Entertainment Studios’ faith-based drama “God Bless the Broken Road” has fallen below tracker expectations with an opening of just $1.2 million from 1,235 screens.

'A Star Is Born' vs 'Venom' and 5 More of Fall's 6 Biggest Box Office Showdowns (Photos)

“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” “Aquaman” and “Mary Poppins Returns” are expected to dominate the box office this fall. But there are other films vying for moviegoers' attention -- ones that are set to debut to some steep competition. Here are six head-to-head box office showdowns to look out for this fall.
MGM/Disney/Paramount/Twentieth Century Fox
Oct. 5: "A Star Is Born" vs. "Venom"

Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga facing off against a superhero entry is going to be an interesting battle -- while the former is an indie with A-list stars atop the bill, the latter is a highly-anticipated comic book character debut from a major studio.
MGM/Sony
Oct. 12: "First Man" vs. "Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween"

Everyone is anticipating Damien Chazelle’s followup to “La La Land,” especially now that film that puts Ryan Gosling in space is generating early buzz. “Goosebumps,” of course, is already an established franchise based on the children’s book series of the same name by R.L. Stine. The first film, which was released in 2015, had a $23 million opening.
DreamWorks/Columbia Pictures Corporation
Nov. 2: "Bohemian Rhapsody" vs. "Nobody’s Fool" vs. "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms"

“Bohemian Rhapsody” is quickly shaping up to be many people’s most anticipated fall movie, as it chronicles the life of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury (played by Rami Malek). The film hit some road bumps when Sacha Baron Cohen, originally cast as Mercury, exited the project. Director Joss Whedon also departed the rocker biopic. Now, it's set to face off against Disney’s big-budget film “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” along with Tyler Perry’s “Nobody’s Fool.”
New Regency/Paramount Players/Disney
Nov. 9: "Overlord" vs. "The Girl in the Spider’s Web" vs. "The Grinch"

“The Girl in the Spider’s Web” is a long-awaited sequel to “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” which starred Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander. That one grossed $232 million at the global box office. Claire Foy is taking over seven years later. But fans love their “Grinch” (2000's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" earned $345.1 million worldwide) and J.J. Abrams has established a “Cloverfield” fandom as well (although he has said “Overlord” is not part of the “Cloverfield” franchise). "Cloverfield" and "10 Cloverfield Lane" earned $170.8 million and $110.2 million worldwide, respectively.
Paramount/Universal/MGM
Nov. 22: "Creed II" vs. "Ralph Breaks the Internet"

"Creed" came out punching at the box office in 2015, earning $173 million worldwide. So, naturally, the sequel could prove a worthy adversary for "Ralph Breaks the Internet." Its predecessor, "Wreck-It Ralph" grossed $471 million globally, and was nominated for an Oscar.
MGM/Disney
Dec. 21: "Aquaman" vs. "Bumblebee" vs. "Alita: Battle Angel"

“Aquaman” has the backing of extremely devout DC fans, but “Bumblebee” will attract “Transformers” fans, who have brought the whole franchise up to $1.4 billion domestically. Both films are set to make some serious cash. “Alita: Battle Angel” is based on Yukito’s Kishiro’s manga “Battle Angel Alita,” is produced by James Cameron, and has a stellar cast.
Warner Bros./Paramount/Twentieth Century Fox

1 of 7

Fall Movie Preview 2018: These 15 films have a tough battle to box office glory

“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” “Aquaman” and “Mary Poppins Returns” are expected to dominate the box office this fall. But there are other films vying for moviegoers' attention -- ones that are set to debut to some steep competition. Here are six head-to-head box office showdowns to look out for this fall.

View In Gallery

'A Star Is Born' vs 'Venom' and 5 More of Fall's 6 Biggest Box Office Showdowns (Photos)

7DAYFREETRIAL

7
DAY
FREE
TRIAL