Warner/New Line’s Annabelle: Creation was the sole bright new spot at an otherwise dismal North America box office this weekend. The low-budget prequel crushed fellow new arrivals The Nut Job 2 –which saw its box office nuts crushed in third place- and Lionsgate’s The Glass Castle, which shattered into pieces down in eighth. This weekend’s top ten was down more than 30% from last year at this time when Suicide Squad led with $43.5 million and Sausage Party opened to $34 million.
Annabelle -the demonic doll first introduced in 2013’s The Conjuring and was the main character of the 2014 spinoff, Annabelle– returned to movie screens with a vengeance Friday with Annabelle: Creation, which scared up a bloody good $35 million from 3,502 theaters. The opening for the new Creation came very close to matching the $37 million earned by the first Annabelle, which went on to earn $84.2 million Stateside.
Feedback on the $15 million prequel was largely on the positive side, far stronger than notices for the 2014 original. Annabelle: Creation scored a 68% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 62/100 from Metacritic while viewers gave it a “B” on CinemaScore. Creation is also off to a fast start overseas where it conjured up $36.7 million so far.
Warner’s good fortune continued with the number two film in the country, the Christopher Nolan hit Dunkirk. The World War II drama held well in its fourth week on 3,762 screens, where it targeted an estimated $11.4 million. Off 34%, Dunkirk has brought in an award-worthy $153.7 million so far and could finish around the $190 million mark. International markets have contributed $210 million so far.
Opening quietly in third with $8.9 million from 4,003 screens was the Open Road Films cartoon The Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature. Reviews for the sequel to 2014’s The Nut Job were pretty dismal. Nutty By Nature scored an 11% Rotten Tomatoes approval, a 38/100 on Metacritic and a “B+” from ticket buyers on Rotten Tomatoes.
Word-of-mouth torpedoed The Dark Tower, which saw the Sony release fall from first to fourth place. The troubled film adaptation of the Stephen King book series fell a steep 59% in its sophomore session on 3,451 screens to earn $8 million. After ten days of release, The Dark Tower has earned an anemic $34.3 million so far. The Gunslinger should call it a day with close to $50 million in domestic ticket sales. The Dark Tower has brought in $19 million so far from overseas markets.
Rounding out the top five is Sony’s The Emoji Movie with $6.58 million from 3,219 theaters. Off 45%, The Emoji Movie has earned $63.5 million so far.
6. Girls Trip (Universal) $6.52 million (-43%); $97 million
7. Spider-Man: Homecoming (Sony/Marvel) $6.1 million (-31%); $306.4 million
8. Kidnap (Aviron) $5.22 million (-48%); $19.3 million
9. The Glass Castle (Lionsgate) $4.9 million; NEW
The Lionsgate release opened on 1,461 screens and was met with critical indifference -50% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 56/100 on Metacritic- and lack of interest from ticket buyers. Those who did venture out to see the movie version of the Jeannette Walls’ novel were a little kinder to the Brie Larson drama. They gave the film an “A” on CinemaScore, which may help it stay in theaters until Labor Day.
10. Atomic Blonde (Focus) $4.57 million (-44%); $43 million
Next weekend sees the arrival of two new films: Logan Lucky and The Hitman’s Bodyguard. The early reviews for Steven Soderbergh’s Logan Lucky have been stellar. Time will tell if they will be strong enough to help the film push aside the creepy doll.
