New Line / Warner Bros.
After this somewhat disappointing summer, especially last weekend, things began to look up with the release of the second prequel to James Wan’s The Conjuring, as Annabelle: Creation opened in 3,502 theaters Friday with previews on Thursday night.
It started out well with $4 million from those Thursday previews, which was already higher than the $3.4 million Wan’s The Conjuring 2 made in Thursday previews last summer.
On Friday, Annabelle: Creation brought in $15 million (including that $4 million), and depending on how it holds up over the weekend — horror sequels tend to be frontloaded — it should be good for $36 to 37 million over the weekend. That would basically be the same amount the original Annabelle opened with in 2014, and still less than both Conjuring movies. (The movie’s “B” rating on CinemaScore is also the same as the original movie’s, despite the drastic difference in the reviews.)
Things weren’t as great for the other new offerings as Open Road’s animated sequel, The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature, a movie that was released into over 4,000 theaters without what seemed like an iota of marketing, is already bombing with just $3 million on Friday.
It probably won’t make more than $9 million for the weekend, so it will end up in third place behind Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, which took in $3.1 million on Friday on its way to a solid $11 million in its 4th weekend. Nolan’s movie will also cross $150 million by tomorrow.
It wouldn’t be too surprising that Sony’s The Dark Tower tanked in its second weekend with what looks like a 61% drop, but Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit is also having a similar drop in its second weekend.
Lastly, Lionsgate’s The Glass Castle, starring Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson and Naomi Watts, took in $1.6 million Friday and is shooting for $4.5 to 5 million for the weekend, which is about where it was expected. Not sure why Lionsgate only released this perfectly decent movie in just 1,400 theaters, but there clearly wasn’t much confidence there.
Check back on Monday for the full box office report.
(Source: BoxOffice.com)
Edward Douglas | East Coast Editor
