Box office: Kenneth Branagh’s ‘A Haunting in Venice’ fails to beat ‘Nun II’ in tight race for first place
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Kenneth Branagh returned both behind and in front of the camera as Inspector Hercule Poirot for “A Haunting in Venice,” the third threequel of September, which only did slightly better than its predecessor. Read on for the weekend box office report.
Despite “Venice” receiving better reviews than the previous two installments with 79% on Rotten Tomatoes, it still got caught up in a horse race for first place as Warner Bros. claimed victory with its own horror sequel, “The Nun II,” over Branagh’s third adaptation of an Agatha Christie murder mystery. Warners is estimating that “The Nun II” made $14.7 million this weekend, down 55% from its opening weekend, but if that number holds, it will indeed score a second weekend at #1. It has grossed $56.5 million in its first two weekends, just a little bit more than the original “The Nun” opened with in 2018.
More from GoldDerby
By comparison, “A Haunting in Venice” – co-starring Tina Fey, Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Dornan, and more – is estimated to have made just $14.5 million in 3,305 theaters – including $1.2 million in Thursday previews – which is slightly better than 2022’s “Death on the Nile,” which opened with $12.9 million after numerous delays due to COVID. Audiences gave the movie a “B” via CinemaScore, actually the same score received by the previous two installments. It added another $22.7 million overseas for a global opening of $37.2 million. Either way, it looks like this franchise is dead in the Venetian waters, and whoever at Disney greenlit “Haunting” may be regretting that decision.
Denzel Washington‘s “The Equalizer 3” took third place this weekend with $7.2 million, down 40% in its third weekend, to bring its domestic total to $73.7 million. It still has some ways to go to match the $100 million plus take of the previous two installments.
“My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3” took fourth place with $4.7 million, down 53% from its opening weekend with $18.6 million grossed so far, another sequel that no one seemed to want.
SEE Meryl Streep says she’d come back for another ‘Mamma Mia’ movie: ‘I’m up for anything’
Over the weekend, Greta Gerwig‘s “Barbie” passed “Marvel’s The Avengers” to enter the top 11 all-time domestic blockbusters with $626.1 million grossed domestically. It took fifth place this weekend with just under $4 million, down 30% from last weekend. After nearly two months in theaters, “Barbie” will get its first global release on IMAX screens in 41 worldwide markets next weekend, so we’ll have to see what kind of impact that has.
Yash Raj Films’ action-thriller “Jawan,” starring Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, dropped to sixth place with $2.5 million, down 59% from its opening weekend with $12.2 million grossed domestically so far.
Warners’ superhero movie, “Blue Beetle,” took seventh place with $2.5 million (down 35%) and $67.3 million grossed in North America, as it tries to make up for a lower-than-expected opening. It has already surpassed the $57.6 million made domestically by the sequel, “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” earlier this year. Neither of them have been helped by new DC Entertainment co-leader James Gunn throwing the current DCEU under the bus earlier this year.
Sony’s racing movie, “Gran Turismo,” a true story based on a video game, took in another $2.4 million this weekend, down 33% from last weekend, although it has only grossed $39.4 million so far. This weekend, it crossed the $100 million mark worldwide with $3.5 million from 63 markets, $1.2 million of that coming from its Japan opening on 837 screens. It has made $102.9 million worldwide, with almost twice its domestic gross made overseas.
SEE Tim Burton says ‘Beetlejuice 2’ is ‘99 percent done’
Christopher Nolan‘s “Oppenheimer” made $2.1 million this weekend to take ninth place, but more importantly, it passed “Bohemian Rhapsody” globally to become the highest-grossing biopic of all time, both domestically and abroad. It has grossed $318.6 million domestically and another $594 million overseas, for a global total of $912.7 million. That’s compared to the $878 million made by the Oscar-winning “Bohemian” globally in 2018. $179 million of “Oppenheimer’s” global gross has come from IMAX screens, with $87 million of that from domestic IMAX.
A week after its TIFF premiere, Craig Gillespie‘s “Dumb Money,” starring Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, Seth Rogen, America Ferrara, Shailene Woodley, and more, opened in eight theaters in six cities where it grossed $217,000 or $24,111 per theater. It will slowly expand until
It fared better than Blue Fox Entertainment’s animated “The Inventor,” which tanked with just $201,000 in an estimated 700 theaters, which averages to $287 per theater.
This week’s winners in Gold Derby’s box office prediction game may be too close to call, since numbers are so close between the top two movies, although a majority of players did have the winning movie making less than $25 million. Picks for fourth and fifth place might help slightly, since that’s also split between “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and “Barbie.” (Check back on Monday afternoon to see how things pan out between this weekend’s top two movies.)
Not to toot my own horn, but I was one of only two players in the Sept. 8 game to pick “Jawan” to take fourth place, which was enough for me to also be the only player to go 6 for 6 for a rare win. (Big congrats to “DLBartlett127” who only got 4 picks right but still killed it with a point score of 121,200.)
On Friday, Lionsgate will release “Expend4bles,” starring Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham, so check back on Wednesday for the weekend preview to see how that might do and what else is coming out.
PREDICTthe 2024 Oscar nominations
Make your predictions at Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Don’t miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?
Best of GoldDerby
Golden Globes 2024: Who will receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award? [POLL]
Who has starred in the most Best Picture Oscar nominees? [PHOTOS]
Sign up for Gold Derby's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
