Michael Chaves’ “The Nun II” Tops Weekend Box Office with $32.6 Million

Michael Chaves is celebrating a box office victory…

The 38-year-old Latino filmmaker’s The Nun II topped the box office charts, scaring up $32.6 million this weekend from 3,728 locations.

Michael ChavesThat was more than enough to unseat Sony’s The Equalizer 3, which features Denzel Washington as a mysterious avenging angel, from the first place perch it held last weekend.

The Equalizer 3 racked up over $12.1 million in its second weekend to push its domestic gross to $61.9 million. Globally, the action sequel crossed $100 million at worldwide box office, bringing its haul to $107.7 million.

Though impressive, The Nun II, which is the ninth chapter in Warner Bros.’ ongoing Conjuring series, couldn’t match the high-water mark set by its 2018 predecessor The Nun, which opened with $53.8 million.

The film sees Taissa Farmiga and Bonnie Aarons return as Sister Irene and the titular Nun, respectively, with newcomers to the franchise, Jonas Bloquet, Storm Reid and Anna Popplewell, rounding out the ensemble of frequently habit-wearing characters.

Chaves, who directed The Curse of La Llorona and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, slid behind the camera for this installment.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3, the weekend’s other new wide release, opened in third place with $10 million. The film was written and directed by Nia Vardalos, who also stars alongside John Corbett. Focus Features is distributing the film in the North America, while Universal Pictures International has foreign territories. The third chapter in the comedy series follows the eccentric Portokalos family as they travel to Greece for a family reunion.

Demian Bichir’s “The Nun” Becomes Highest-Grossing Title in “The Conjuring” Universe

Demian Bichir is conjuring up a massive haul at the box office…

New Line’s The Nun, starring the 55-year-old Mexican actor, has officially become the highest-grossing title in The Conjuring universe with a running global total of $330Mafter this weekend, besting the $320M worldwide haul of The Conjuring 2 which previously owned that record.

Demian Bichir

With a net production cost of $22M, The Nun is bound for at least a $100M-plus profit after all ancillaries when you consider that The Conjuring 2 minted close to that figure off a production cost that was close to double that plus $100M P&A costs.

Annabelle: Creation last year with a combined P&A and production cost of $115M saw $306.5M in global ticket sales which ultimately yielded $108.7M in black ink.

Much of The Nun‘s success has been driven by Spanish-speaking markets abroad with Mexico being the top with $21.5M followed by Brazil second with $17M. Spain is up in the top territories as well with $10.5M while Columbia has grossed $6.2M. In the U.S., Hispanic audiences have accounted for close to a third of Nun‘s $109M business where it was a key film for sending the September domestic B.O.  to its second-best level yet with $659.6M.

While the Corin Hardy-directed pic didn’t open in any new markets this weekend, it was the top title at the overseas box office this weekend with $16.2M in its fourth go-round in 80 overseas territories and 9,987 screens and running total of $221M; that’s also the best international take for a Conjuring movie ever. France was the top territory for Nun in weekend dos with $2.3M, the No. 1 film in the country with $7.4M running cume. Russia was the second-best market over the last three days with $1.7M in its second weekend at 1,795 screens for a running total of $7.2M.