Despite middling reviews (I actually didn’t think it as all that bad), The Nun scored big on Friday and looks to be headed for a franchise-best opening for The Conjuring universe.
The Nun grossed an estimated $21.7 million on Friday which includes the $5.4 million from Thursday night previews. If it doesn’t completely fall off today, it should be able to hit $50 million for its opening weekend, which would be a series best for the franchise. Let’s just say it does fall off, the least it could do over the weekend is $45-47 million which would still give it bragging rights for the biggest opening of the franchise. It only needed to top the $41.8 million opening for The Conjuring 2 to claim the title and that’s certainly going to happen.
The opening is even more impressive because the odds seemed against The Nun headed into the weekend and after its opening day. Not only is it the second Conjuring film next to Annabelle to earn some of the worst reviews in the series at 29% rotten on Rotten Tomatoes, but CinemaScore audiences at 51% males/49% females (Annabelle was 51% females/49% men) gave the film a “C”, the lowest ever in the franchise below the “Bs” earned the Annabelle movies.
A “C” CinemaScore is a bit of the norm for horror unless the film is REALLY good. The two Conjuring films earned an A- while last year’s horror box office smash, It, earned a B+. A good comparison for The Nun is Paranormal Activity 3 which opened to a massive $52.5 million and earned a “C+” CinemaScore.
Elsewhere, Peppermint also seems to be connecting with moviegoers despite terrible reviews. The film opened to a decent $4.6 million on Friday which includes $800,000 from Thursday night previews. An opening in the $12-14 milion range seems likely and it shows, yet again, the disconnect between critics and moviegoers. The talk on social media is that the film isn’t as bad as the critics are saying and they’re happy to see Jennifer Garner back in a kickass role. The film earned a healthy “B+” CinemaScore and with a $25 million budget, I think this will be a decent investment once it’s all said and done after hits home video.
Check back on Monday for the full box office results!
