Always trust the nuns.
Warner Bros. and New Line movie The Nun II kicked off the fall box office with a pleasing $32.6 million opening from 3,726 theaters in North America, which was more than enough to wrest the crown from The Equalizer 3 and win the weekend.
Moviegoers between ages 18 and 34 made up a whopping 67 percent of ticket buyers, while the pic skewed slightly female (52 percent).
In 2018, The Nun opened to $53.8 million domestically on its way to grossing a stellar $365.6 million at the worldwide box office — the top showing for any title in The Conjuring horror franchise, not adjusted for inflation.
Set in 1956, the sequel sees Taissa Farmiga — the real-life sister of Conjuring star Vera Farmiga — return as Sister Irene, who, despite her gentle demeanor, can handle any demonic challenge. Also returning is Jonas Bloquet, with newcomer Storm Reid (Euphoria) joining the cast as a young nun. Audiences gave the film a C+ CinemaScore, which isn’t unusual for a horror film. (The last Nun received a C).
Michael Chaves directed the pic after previously helming Conjuring installments The Curse of La Llorona and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.
The weekend’s other high-profile nationwide entry is romantic-comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3, written and directed by franchise creator Nia Vardalos. In addition to helming duties, she stars opposite John Corbett. Focus Features is handling the film domestically, while Universal Pictures International has overseas duties.
The film opened to a modest $10 million from 3,965 theaters, in line with expectations.
The threequel, which follows the eccentric Portokalas family as they travel to Greece, is a follow-up to the wildly popular 2002 film and the not-so-successful 2016 sequel. My Big Fat Greek Wedding is once again produced by Rita Wilson, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman. The threequel earned a B CinemaScore, versus an A- for the sequel.
The cast also includes Louis Mandylor, Elena Kampouris, Gia Carides, Joey Fatone, Lainie Kazan and Andrea Martin.
My Big Greek Wedding 3 is pacing to open in third place behind The Nun II and Denzel Washington’s holdover The Equalizer 3, which came in No. 2 with a sturdy $11.7 million from 3,650 cinemas.
Hindi-language drama-thriller Jawan, backed by Yash Raj Films, came in No. 4 with an impressive $6.2 million for an early cume of $7.6 million (the film opened Thursday).
More to come.
A version of this story was originally published Sept. 9 at 8:42 a.m.
