Box office: Statham and Stallone’s ‘Expend4bles’ unable to dethrone ‘The Nun II’ based on estimates

It was another weekend where two movies went head-to-head for the #1 spot at the box office, but it also was one of the worst showings this year. Read on for the weekend box office report.

Lionsgate gave the Jason Statham and Sylvester Stallone ensemble action franchise another chance with “Expend4bles,” but after receiving terrible reviews with a 16% on Rotten Tomatoes, it struggled against the horror sequel “The Nun 2.”

Things are way too close to call, but as of now, Warner Bros. says that its franchise offering, “The Nun II,” has won the weekend with $8.4 million, down 42% in its third weekend. It has grossed $69.2 million in its first three weekends, still well below the showing for the previous “Nun” movie in 2018.

SEE Grab the popcorn and sound off in our movie forums

“Expend4bles” made just $750,000 in Thursday previews, not pointing to it making more than $10 million for the weekend. Sure enough, Lionsgate has estimated it to make $8.3 million for the weekend, putting it just behind “Nun II” for second place. Audiences liked the movie about as much (or little) as critics, giving it a “B-” on audience polling site, CinemaScore, which does not point to anything resembling legs during its theatrical run.

Kenneth Branagh‘s murder mystery, “A Haunting in Venice,” took third place with $6.3 million, down 56% in its second weekend, bringing its domestic total to $25.4 million. It made another $14.7 million internationally this weekend to bring its overseas total to $46.2 million and global total to $71.6 million after two weeks.

Denzel Washington‘s own third franchise entry, “The Equalizer 3,” dropped 35% to fourth place with an estimated $4.7 million, bringing it to $81.3 million domestically after its first month in theaters. With another $5.4 million overseas this weekend, “The Equalizer 3” has now grossed $67.4 million internationally and $148.7 million worldwide. (Both previous movies in the franchise made $100 million domestically and around $190 million worldwide.)

Warner Bros.’ decision to release Greta Gerwig‘s “Barbie” onto IMAX screens with extra footage going into its 10th weekend of release proved fruitful, as it had a minimal drop of just 16%, to hold fifth place with $3.2 million. It’s rare for a movie to stay in the Top 5 as long as “Barbie” has, but this weekend will probably end that run with $630.5 million grossed just in North America.

In its third weekend, Nia Vardalos‘ “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3” added another $3 million (down 37%) to take sixth place with $23.8 million grossed so far.

SEE Box office: All time domestic top-grossing movies

On Friday, Neon released the horror film “It Lives Inside” into 2,005 theaters where it grossed an estimated $2.6 million or $1,312 per theater to open in seventh place. It has received mixed reviews since premiering at the SXSW Film Festival back in March, and audiences didn’t seem as thrilled by it either, based on the Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Craig Gillespie‘s real-life stock market comedy, “Dumb Money,” starring Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, Seth Rogen and more, got a bump into 616 theaters on Friday, enough for it to break into the top 10 to take eighth place with $2.5 million. It’s still unclear whether Sony will indeed go nationwide this coming weekend as planned.

“Blue Beetle” took ninth place with $1.8 million, down 28% as it also took advantage of the lack of strong new releases, to bring its domestic total to $69.8 million.

Christopher Nolan‘s “Oppenheimer” enjoyed its last weekend in the Top 10 after 10 weeks with a 10th place showing (tied with “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem”) of $1.6 million, down just 22% with $321.2 million grossed domestically. It has also crossed the $600 million mark overseas to bring its global total to $926 million.

The Talking Heads concert film, “Stop Making Sense,” directed by late Oscar-winner Jonathan Demme, was released into 264 IMAX theaters nationwide by A24, where it brought in $801,000 over the weekend, roughly $3,000 per theater. With the money from its IMAX live presentation on September 11, it has brought in $1.4 million, and it will expand to more non-IMAX screens next weekend.

The fact that neither of the top movies made even $10 million proved this weekend to be one of the worst of the year, maybe not as bad as some of the weekends during the pandemic, but not one that Hollywood will care to repeat, as if it has a choice in the matter.

Only six players picked “The Nun II” to win its third weekend at the box office in the box office prediction game, but the numbers are so close that things might change by Monday afternoon. (Only six players had “Expend4bles” settling for second place, so it will be interesting to see who these six box office geniuses are … if those numbers do stick.)

Three players went 6 for 6 in the Sept. 15 game, but players like “Kraju” and “Raza_Hyder” killed it with the most points, since they played their Super Bets well.

Next Friday sees the release of Gareth Edwards‘ sci-fi epic “The Creator,” and two more sequels, “Saw X” and “Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie,” so check back on Wednesday for a preview of the weekend.

SIGN UP for Gold Derby’s free newsletter with latest predictions