It was another good weekend for Warner Bros. horror sequel. Pictures set in “The Conjuring” universe.Life II.” The film terrified audiences again this weekend, topping the box office for the second weekend in a row and earning about $14.7 million, just slightly better than the recently released “A Haunting in Venice,” according to reports figures from Box Office Mojo.
Meanwhile, Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ has surpassed $912 million worldwide, and it appears the film could potentially reach $1 billion at the global box office.
‘The Nun II’s’ makes you jump with joy
‘The Nun II’ is doing very well at a time when Warner Bros. Discovery desperately needs hits. The film has now reached $56 million at the domestic box office and $158 million worldwide. That means the film has already made a profit for the studio. The first episode of “The Nun” reached $117 million domestically and $365 million worldwide. It doesn’t look like “The Nun II” will hit these numbers, but with a reported budget of around $38-$40 million, the horror sequel’s profitability threshold is much lower than, say, a recent Warner Bros. release like “The Flash”. or ‘Blue Beetle’.
“The Conjuring” franchise has been a consistent winner for the studio, including spinoffs and offshoots like “Annabelle” and “The Nun.” The franchise has a combined gross of $2.2 billion worldwide, against a combined budget of approximately $217 million. Reviews of the franchise are generally mixed to negative. “The Nun II” scored a 49% Rotten score with critics on Rotten Tomatoes. However, the films remain fan favorites among audiences.
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“The Nun II” is directed by Michael Chaves, with Taissa Farmiga returning from the first film and reprising her lead role. She is joined by Storm Reid and Bonnie Aarons, who reprises her role as the demonic nun ghost. James Wan, who directed “The Conjuring” and “The Conjuring 2,” serves as producer on the film.
In second place with a photo finish was the latest installment of the Agatha Christie Hercule Poirot mystery series from Oscar-winning filmmaker Kenneth Branagh (“Belfast”), “A Haunting in Venice.” Branagh returns once again to direct the feature film and stars as famed detective Poirot for his third appearance. The film came in just behind “The Nun II” at $14.5 million. The sequel opened slightly higher than 2022’s previous installment, “Death on the Nile,” which opened to just over $12 million in February of that year.
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“A Haunting in Venice” scored strong reviews from critics with a 79% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film didn’t have the best release windows, as it really kicked off after the summer movie season and before the fall release season. In 2017, Branagh’s first Hercule Poirot film opened much better with around $28 million in November of that year. It went on to earn $102 million domestically and $352 million worldwide. “Death on the Nile” fared significantly worse, earning just $45 million domestically and $137 million worldwide.
“A Haunting in Venice” has a reported budget of around $60 million, so it’s not the studio’s most expensive release, but they’ll probably still want to see some return on that investment. The film could potentially earn even more box office in the coming weeks as there is an audience that likes the Christie stories and Branagh’s portrayal, but “A Haunting in Venice” will likely need its overseas box office to do better level. level 0f profitability and breakeven.
‘Oppenheimer’ reaches a potentially huge milestone
At the bottom of this week’s top 10 was Christopher Nolan’s critically acclaimed film, “Oppenheimer,” which grossed another $2.1 million and grossed $318 million domestically. More importantly, the film grossed another $10.8 million overseas this weekend, and has now reached $912.7 million worldwide, according to figures from Box Office Report.
Now that the film has reached over $900 million worldwide, the question becomes whether it can reach $1 billion. The film is likely to receive many awards next year. With award-winning re-releases, the film will certainly achieve that goal. However, it looks like it can still reach $1 billion globally with the help of foreign revenues, even if domestic totals are starting to get very low.
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Only two other films crossed the $1 billion mark at the box office this year: the global phenomenon “Barbie” and “The Super Mario Bros.” Movie’. “Barbie has now reached $626 million and $1.416 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of the year both domestically and globally. “Oppenheimer” is now only the third film of the year after the aforementioned films. However, if “Oppenheimer” were to reach $1 billion this year, Universal Pictures would get two of the three releases that topped $1 billion at the global box office in 2023.
Even if “Oppenheimer” doesn’t reach $1 billion worldwide for its current run, it will certainly reach at least $950 million. And come awards season, theatrical rereleases should easily achieve this, especially when the appeal of watching “Oppenheimer” is in premium formats like IMAX. It will be interesting to see where “Oppenheimer” ends up at the end of its first theatrical run.