Warner Bros. looks to extend its domination at the box office with The Nun [THNUN], a prequel spin-off of The Conjuring 2. The R-rated horror is set at a Romanian abbey haunted by a demonic nun. Warner Bros. primed moviegoers for horror this weekend when It banked a $123.4 million opening last year. The Nun is tracking to open ahead of all four films in The Conjuring-Annabelle universe, which is led by The Conjuring’s $41.8 million in 2013. Advance ticket sales is actually outpacing all previous Conjuring films combined as well as A Quiet Place, which opened at $50.2 million. As a prequel, The Nun is likely to be front-loaded and open around $44 million from 3876 theaters.
Crazy Rich Asians [CRASN] will continue to hold strong in its fourth weekend at about $15 million.
Jennifer Garner [JEGAR] returns to the action genre with Peppermint [PPRMN]. Unforunately, the R-rating film has earned poor reviews and may do no better than STX’s prior release, Mile 22, which debuted at $13.7 million. Unwrapping in 2980 theaters, Peppermint may bite $13 million.
Searching [SARCH] continues to expand to 2009 theaters and looks to uncover $4.5 million in its second weekend of wide release. Operation Finale [OPFIN] should be able to hold nearly 60% of its opening with about $3.5 million.
Targeting Christian moviegoers, God Bless the Broken Road [GBTBR] may secure $2 million from 1235 theaters.
That’s the whisper on the virtual trading floor.
Tag(s): THNUN, CRASN, JEGAR, PPRMN, SARCH, OPFIN, GBTBR