The sister strikes as she cometh atop the box office, and no amount of Denzel Washington or the ‘Barbenheimer’ trend can put a stop to our entry into the fall season, leading to the spooky nights inevitably lashing their way out with jumpscares galore.
That bizarre soliloquy aside, The Nun 2 took over the domestic charts with $32.6 million this weekend, displacing The Equalizer 3 in its second weekend. Yes, it was nowhere close to the demolition its predecessor brought with $53.8 million when its scare tactics online were so persistent that it once caused YouTube to take them down for terrifying audiences. But, for the ninth entry into the Conjuring series, the lord will say this shall suffice. A C+ from CinemaScore and mediocre reviews may not derail its legs enough, as it’s already at $85.3 million worldwide. Compared to the legs of its predecessor, it should (comfortably) make it to $300 million worldwide, another win for horror in another string of them.
Meanwhile, Denzel Washington’s third outing earned $12.1 million in its second weekend (a 65% drop) but has passed $100 million worldwide. Still legging out decently, we can expect this to reach $180-200 million when all is said and done (very similar to its predecessors). Whether this is the trilogy capper or pushes out for another sequel/prequel, Washington and Antoine Fuqua have gotten their dividends for putting together a quiet trilogy of thrills. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 opened to $10 million, where the Portokalos family travels to Greece for a family reunion. Unfortunately, the romantic comedy disappoints for its repeat outing and may not have enough legs to surpass $70 million worldwide.
Jawan opened in 813 theaters to land fourth place to earn $6.19 million, Barbie took fifth place this weekend with $5.9 million ($620.5 million domestically and past $1.4 billion worldwide), and Blue Beetle has become another DC outing to crumble as it will not break even with $114 million on a $104 million budget in its fourth weekend. How James Gunn and Peter Safran launch Aquaman 2 will be in their hands, as we still have yet to receive any form of marketing, and it could be indicative of how atrocious things are getting for Warner Brothers’ spending.
Oppenheimer just missed $900 million worldwide, but this will be the next milestone Christopher Nolan passes sometime this week. And Meg 2: The Trench shall also be passing $400 million worldwide by next weekend. Haunted Mansion will finish out its run with less than $105 million worldwide and jumps to Disney+ with no other option as it bombed Disney’s portfolio further this year.
Next weekend sees the release of A Haunting in Venice and Dumb Money.
