Sly Stallone's 'Expendables 4' belly flops with $8.3M, while 'Nun 2' threepeats at No. 1

LOS ANGELES − Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham weren't enough to save "Expendables 4" from a debut box-office flop. The fourth installment suffered the action-packed franchise's worst opening weekend while "The Nun 2" took home the top spot for a third straight week, Comscore reported on Sunday.

The latest "Expendables" pulled in a mediocre $8.3 million for a big-budget project. It starred several popular names, including Stallone, Statham, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, Megan Fox and Dolph Lundgren. It's been nearly a decade since the franchise released a film, which opened with $15.8 million and eventually grossed $214 million globally.

But times have certainly changed, as the film barely placed second behind "The Nun 2," a horror movie that earned $8.4 million in its first week. It's been a solid start for the spinoff from the lucrative "Conjuring" franchise. So far, the Michael Chaves-directed sequel has grossed more than $69 million.

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In third, "A Haunting in Venice" earned $6.3 million. Kenneth Branagh's third Agatha Christie adaptation, following 2017's "Murder on the Orient Express" and 2022's "Death on the Nile," has drawn in $25.3 million after two weeks.

"The Equalizer 3," starring Denzel Washington, only dropped to fourth place with $4.7 million. In four weeks, it has grossed $81.1 million domestically.

"Barbie," the biggest movie of 2023, is still carrying some momentum from the summer into the fall season. The Greta Gerwig box-office smash ranked in the top five, earning $3.2 million this week and a domestic total of more than $630 million after a 10-week period.

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Sixth place went to "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3," with $3 million, while "It Lives Inside" opened its first week with $2.6 million. "Dumb Money," a dramatization of the GameStop stock frenzy, stayed put in the eighth position for a second week in a row with $2.5 million.

"Blue Beetle" fell to ninth, with $1.8 million, and "Oppenheimer" rounded out the top 10 with $1.6 million. The Christopher Nolan film has garnered $321 million domestically.

In all, it was another slow output for the box office amid the continuing actors' and writers' strikes.

Final numbers are expected Monday.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Expendables 4' tanks with franchise low of $8.3M, loses to 'Nun 2'