Summary
- The Nun II remains the top movie domestically for the second weekend in a row, but its box office earnings had a sharp decline of 54.8% from its opening weekend.
- A Haunting in Venice came close to taking the No. 1 spot, but had to settle for second place with $14.5 million.
- The Nun II continues to perform well internationally, with a total worldwide earnings of $158.8 million, making it a successful horror film at the box office.
Toe to toe, detective Hercule Poirot wouldn’t stand a chance against Valak — and that was mirrored in the horror films’ theatrical matchup. Director Kenneth Branagh also portrays the lead role of detective Hercule Poirot in A Haunting in Venice, but the new movie didn’t have the fight or frights to surpass The Nun II. Yes, for the second weekend in a row, the ninth installment in The Conjuring Universe is the top dog at the domestic box office.
The Nun II just edged out A Haunting in Venice for the No. 1 spot with $14.7 million (per Box Office Mojo). The third installment in Branagh’s Agatha Christie series of films came close, but had to settle for the No. 2 slot with $14.5 million. The Equalizer 3 finished No. 3 with $7.2 million, while My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 settled for fourth place with $4.7 million. Barbie rounds out the Top 5 with $4 million.
A Haunting in Venice did better business overseas during its opening weekend with a $22.7 million haul, which gives the film a worldwide take of $37.2 million. In comparison to the other two installments in what is an Agatha Christie trilogy, at this point, A Haunting in Venice slightly improved over Death on the Nile’s $12.9 million opening weekend back in 2022. But Murder on the Orient Express’ $28.7 million remains the benchmark to try and match if a fourth film is greenlit.
The Nun II Wins the Weekend
The Nun II is the No. 1 movie domestically for the second weekend in a row, but its $14.7 million haul is a sharp 54.8% decline from its $32.6 million take to start its theatrical run in the United States. By comparison, The Nun outperformed its sequel during its first two weekends back in 2018 with $53.8 million and $18.2 million respectively.
However, with an estimated budget of $35 million to $40 million (per Screen Rant), The Nun II is a bona fide box office hit. The Conjuring spin-off has done even better business overseas with an international tally of $102.3 million over its first two weekends, and the horror flick has accumulated a worldwide take of $158.8 million thus far.
Next weekend will be an intriguing one as Barbie makes its IMAX debut, with special previews already scheduled for Thursday, September 21. Expend4bles also makes its way into theaters, but, at the time of this writing, the fourth film in the action-packed series is only tracking to make between $13 million and $18 million, which could lead to the worst opening in The Expendables franchise’s history.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
