‘The Nun’ Opens to $54 Million at the Box Office

The Nun is taking over the box office this weekend.

The Nun is set to open to $54 million from 3,876 locations, surpassing earlier estimate of the film opening in the $36-45 million range.

The gives The Nun the biggest opening weekend ever for a movie in The Conjuring franchise. The Conjuring itself had previously set the high mark for opening weekends in the franchise. It opened in 2013 to $41.9 million on its way to a $137 million domestic box office total.

The Nun also earned $70 million overseas from 60 international markets.

The Nun is directed by Corin Hardy. The film is a spinoff of The Conjuring 2 that takes place in Romania in 1952. The film stars Taissa Farmiga as a young nun who is investigating the suicide of another nun at a convent. She’s joined by Demian Bichir, who plays a priest who is also investigating the mysterious death.

While The Nun is over-performing at the box office, the film has received a mixed reception from audiences and critics. The movie received a C CinemaScore and currently has just a 29 percent from RottenTomatoes and a 46 Metacritic score.

Jennifer Garner’s new vigilante thriller Peppermint had been battling for second place with previous chart-topper Crazy Rich Asians, but Crazy Rich Asians will just edge out Peppermint for second place. Crazy Rich Asians will earn $13.6 million this weekend while Peppermint will open to $13.3 million.

Jason Statham’s The Meg will earn another $6 million over the weekend, topping John Cho’s Searching for fourth place. The Meg has already earned $126.8 million domestic already, as well as $348.4 million international.

Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout falls into sixth place. Ewan McGregor’s live-action Winnie the Pooh movie Christopher Robin will land in seventh place. Other films still leading the box office include post-World War II historical drama Operation Finale, BlacKkKlansman, and dog origin story Alpha. Keep reading to see the full top 10 at this weekend’s box office.

1. The Nun

Opening Weekend
Friday: $21.1
Weekend: $54 million

When a young nun at a cloistered abbey in Romania takes her own life, a priest with a haunted past and a novitiate on the threshold of her final vows are sent by the Vatican to investigate. Together, they uncover the order’s unholy secret. Risking not only their lives but their faith and their very souls, they confront a malevolent force in the form of a demonic nun.

The Nun is directed by Corin Hardy and written by Gary Dauberman, based on a story by Dauberman and James Wan. The film stars Demián Bichir, Taissa Farmiga, and Jonas Bloquet.

2. Crazy Rich Asians

Week Four
Friday: $3.8 million
Weekend: $13.6 million
Total: $135.5 million

Rachel Chu is happy to accompany her longtime boyfriend, Nick, to his best friend’s wedding in Singapore. She’s also surprised to learn that Nick’s family is extremely wealthy and he’s considered one of the country’s most eligible bachelors. Thrust into the spotlight, Rachel must now contend with jealous socialites, quirky relatives and something far, far worse — Nick’s disapproving mother.

Crazy Rich Asians is adapted from the novel written by Kevin Kwan. The film is directed by Jon M. Chu and stars Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Gemma Chan, Awkwafina, Nico Santos, Lisa Lu, Ken Jeong, and Michelle Yeoh.

3. Peppermint

Opening Weekend
Friday: $3.8 million
Weekend: $13.3 million

Riley North awakens from a coma after surviving a brutal attack that killed her husband and daughter. When the system shields the murderers from justice, Riley sets out to transform herself from citizen to urban guerrilla. Channeling frustration into motivation, the young widow spends years in hiding — honing her mind, body and spirit to become an unstoppable force. Eluding the underworld, the police and the FBI, Riley embarks on a deadly quest to deliver her own personal brand of punishment.

Peppermint is directed by Pierre. The film stars Jennifer Garner, John Ortiz, John Gallagher Jr., Juan Pablo Raba, and Tyson Ritter,

4. The Meg

Week Five
Friday: $1.4 million
Weekend: $6 million
Total: $130.7 million

A massive creature attacks a deep-sea submersible, leaving it disabled and trapping the crew at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. With time running out, rescue diver Jonas Taylor must save the crew and the ocean itself from an unimaginable threat — a 75-foot-long prehistoric shark known as the Megalodon.

The Meg is directed by Jon Turteltaub from a screenplay by Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber, and Erich Hoeber, based on the book Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror by Steve Alten. The film stars Jason Statham, Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose, Winston Chao, and Cliff Curtis.

5. Searching

Week Three
Friday: $1.4 million
Weekend: $4.5 million
Total: $14.3 million

After David Kim (John Cho)’s 16-year-old daughter goes missing, a local investigation is opened and a detective is assigned to the case. But 37 hours later and without a single lead, David decides to search the one place no one has looked yet, where all secrets are kept today: his daughter’s laptop. In a hyper-modern thriller told via the technology devices we use every day to communicate, David must trace his daughter’s digital footprints before she disappears forever.

Searching is directed by Aneesh Chaganty from a script by Chaganty and Sev Ohanian. The film stars John Cho and Debra Messing.

6. Mission: Impossible – Fallout

Week Seven
Friday: $1 million
Weekend: $3.7 million
Total: $212 million

Ethan Hunt and the IMF team join forces with CIA assassin August Walker to prevent a disaster of epic proportions. Arms dealer John Lark and a group of terrorists known as the Apostles plan to use three plutonium cores for a simultaneous nuclear attack on the Vatican, Jerusalem and Mecca, Saudi Arabia. When the weapons go missing, Ethan and his crew find themselves in a desperate race against time to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout stars Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Michelle Monaghan, Alec Baldwin, Henry Cavill, Angela Bassett and Vanessa Kirby.

7. Christopher Robin

Week Six
Friday: $813,000 million
Weekend: $3.1 million
Total: $91.6 million

Christopher Robin — now a family man living in London — receives a surprise visit from his old childhood pal, Winnie-the-Pooh. With Christopher’s help, Pooh embarks on a journey to find his friends — Tigger, Eeyore, Owl, Piglet, Rabbit, Kanga and Roo. Once reunited, the lovable bear and the gang travel to the big city to help Christopher rediscover the joy of life.

Christopher Robin is a live-action film inspired by Disney’s Winnie the Pooh franchise. The film stars Ewan McGregor as the titular character alongside Hayley Atwell, as well as the voices of Jim Cummings and Brad Garrett.

8. Operation Finale

Week Two
Friday: $864,000 million
Weekend: $3 million
Total: $14.1 million

Fifteen years after the end of World War II, a team of top-secret Israeli agents travels to Argentina to track down Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi officer who masterminded the transportation logistics that brought millions of innocent Jews to their deaths in concentration camps. Hoping to sneak him out of the country to stand trial, agent Peter Malkin soon finds himself playing a deadly game of cat and mouse with the notorious war criminal.

Operation Finale is directed by Chris Weitz and written by Matthew Orton. The film stars Oscar Isaac, Ben Kingsley, Lior Raz, Mélanie Laurent, Nick Kroll, and Joe Alwyn.

9. BlacKkKlansman

Week Five
Friday: $761,000
Weekend: $2.4 million
Total: $32.3 million

From visionary filmmaker Spike Lee comes the incredible true story of an American hero. It’s the early 1970s, and Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) is the first African-American detective to serve in the Colorado Springs Police Department. Determined to make a name for himself, Stallworth bravely sets out on a dangerous mission: infiltrate and expose the Ku Klux Klan. The young detective soon recruits a more seasoned colleague, Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), into the undercover investigation of a lifetime. Together, they team up to take down the extremist hate group as the organization aims to sanitize its violent rhetoric to appeal to the mainstream. Produced by the team behind the Academy-Award winning Get Out.

10. Alpha

Week Four
Friday: $557,000 million
Weekend: $2.4 million
Total: $32.3 million

Young Keda tries to survive alone in the wilderness after he’s left for dead during his first hunt with his Cro-Magnon tribe. He soon forms an unlikely alliance with a lone wolf that was abandoned by its pack. Facing overwhelming odds and nonstop danger, Keda and the wolf must now trek through a harsh and unforgiving landscape to make it home before winter.

Alpha is directed by Albert Hughes from a screenplay by Daniele Sebastian Wiedenhaupt, based on a story by Hughes. The film stars Kodi Smit-McPhee, Leonor Varela, and Jens Hultén.