‘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)