‘The Nun’ tops North America box office

LOS ANGELES: Horror movie ‘ The Nun’ was the top draw in North American movie theatres this weekend, extending a remarkable string of recent successes by Warner Bros., industry watchers said.

‘ The Nun’, the latest scary feature in the popular ‘Conjuring’ series, took in an estimated US$ 53.5 million for the three- day weekend, box office tracker Exhibitor Relations said. British director Corin Hardy had made his name with 2015 horror film ‘ The Hallow’.

‘Nun’ stars Demian Bichir, Taissa Farmiga and Jonas Bloquet in a story about a young nun, an exorcist and a guide stumbling onto a dark secret deep in Dracula country: the Romania of 1952 -- Transylvania, no less.

‘Nun’ bumped another Warner product, ‘Crazy Rich Asians’, to second place after three strong weekends at the top. The glitzy rom- com, with its nearly all-Asian cast led by Henry Golding and Constance Wu, took in US$ 13.6 million.

Taken together with another Warner film, ‘ The Meg’, the studio has now claimed the top two spots on the North American box office for four consecutive weekends, a feat no movie studio had accomplished in 25 years, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

‘ The Meg’, starring Jason Statham as a rescue diver confronting a huge, prehistoric shark, placed fourth this weekend, taking in US$ 6 million, behind new vigilante action film ‘ Peppermint’, which grossed US$ 13.3 million.

‘Peppermint’, from STX Films, stars Jennifer Garner as a mother seeking revenge against the drug cartel she blames for killing her husband and daughter.

And in fifth spot was Sony thriller ‘Searching’, starring John Cho as a man desperate to find his missing teenage daughter. It took in US$ 4.5 million.

Rounding out this weekend’s top 10 were:

‘Mission Impossible -- Fallout’ ( US$ 3.8 million)

‘Christopher Robin’ ( US$ 3.2 million)

‘Operation Finale’ ( US$ 3 million) ‘Alpha’ ( US$ 2.5 million) ‘BlackkKlansman’ ( US$ 1.6 million)

Jennifer Garner stars as a mother seeking revenge against the drug cartel she blames for killing her husband and daughter in ‘Peppermint', which places third at box office.

Taissa Farmiga in 'The Nun' as Sister Irene, a novitiate who, just before her vows, is dispatched by the Vatican, along with Father Burke (Demian Bichir), an expert in unexplained phenomena, to a remote Romanian abbey where a young nun has just hung herself.