Box Office Report: ‘Expend4bles’ Disappoints

Box Office analysis is provided by Daniel Garris of BoxOfficeReport.com.

Weekend Estimates Update - September 22nd, 2023 to September 24th, 2023:

Warner Bros. and New Line's The Nun II is set to pull off a second consecutive upset victory at the domestic box office after taking in an estimated $8.40 million this weekend. While The Nun II currently has a lead of just $100,000 over Lionsgate's Expend4bles, that is with Expend4bles already being estimated to have the stronger Sunday percentage hold of the two films, so it is likely that The Nun II will end up in first place when actuals are released on Monday. The Nun II has now led the weekend box office for three consecutive frames. The Nun II declined a solid 42.2 percent from last weekend and that was with the film taking a (somewhat surprising) significant hit to its showtimes per location average from last weekend. The Nun II continues to display stronger holding power than its predecessor did, as The Nun declined 45.4 percent to gross $9.97 million in its third weekend back in September of 2018. The 17-day domestic total for The Nun II stands at $69.22 million. The Nun II will have to deal with new direct competition for horror fans next weekend with the release of Lionsgate's Saw X.

This weekend saw The Nun II surpass the $200 million global mark. The Nun II grossed an estimated $20.8 million from 74 international markets this weekend, including a $3.2 million debut in Germany. Respective totals for The Nun II stand at $135.0 million internationally and at $204.2 million globally. Additional totals for The Nun II by international market through Sunday include $18.7 million in Mexico, $8.7 million in Brazil, $8.7 million in Indonesia, $6.7 million in Italy, $6.4 million in the United Kingdom, $5.8 million in India, $5.6 million in Spain, $5.4 million in France, $4.3 million in Argentina, $3.7 million in Australia, $3.4 million in Malaysia and $3.3 million in Colombia. The Nun II will open in South Korea this coming Wednesday (September 27).

Lionsgate's Expend4bles came in well below expectations with an estimated second place start of just $8.30 million. In addition, the fourth installment of the action series opened a lackluster 47.7 percent below the $15.88 million start of 2014's The Expendables 3 (which was already down a significant 44.5 percent from the $28.59 million launch of 2012's The Expendables 2). This weekend's debut for Expend4bles looks even worse than it already does when taking into account that the film received a fairly high amount of showtimes at many locations this weekend (Expend4bles looked to be receiving the type of showtimes count you would typically see for a $25 million opener). In hindsight, there clearly just wasn't demand for a fourth Expendables film. Critical reviews for Expend4bles have been largely negative and when it comes to audiences, the film's modest B- CinemaScore rating represents the lowest CinemaScore rating to date for the Expendables series. On top of the soft opening weekend performance, poor critical reviews and mixed word of mouth, next weekend Expend4bles will have to deal with three new wide releases in the marketplace (as well as the wide expansion of Sony's Dumb Money). Expend4bles was directed by Scott Waugh, sees the return of series regulars Jason Statham, Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren and Randy Couture, and also features a number of new cast additions to the series, including Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson, Megan Fox, Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais and Andy Garcia.

Disney and 20th Century's A Haunting in Venice placed in third with an estimated $6.30 million. That represented a sizable 55.9 percent decline from last weekend's debut (which was already towards the lower end of expectations). In comparison, last year's Death on the Nile declined 49.1 percent in its second weekend to gross a similar $6.56 million, though that film did have the advantage of its second weekend falling over Presidents Day weekend (after opening over Super Bowl weekend). While critical reviews and word of mouth have both been solid for A Haunting in Venice, the film took a hit this weekend from losing a sizable percentage of its showtimes per location from last weekend (including losing IMAX screens). With a ten-day domestic start of $25.35 million, A Haunting in Venice is running just a tad ahead of the $25.29 million ten-day gross of Death on the Nile.
A Haunting in Venice remained more impressive internationally this weekend with an estimated $14.7 million from 52 international markets. That brings the film's international total to $46.2 million and the film's current global haul to $71.6 million. Estimated totals for A Haunting in Venice by international market through Sunday include $6.1 million in the United Kingdom, $5.4 million in Italy, $5.0 million in China, $3.2 million in France, $2.4 million in Spain, $1.9 million in Germany, $1.9 million in Japan, $1.5 million in Australia, $1.4 million in South Korea and $1.3 million in Mexico.

Sony's The Equalizer 3 held up nicely this weekend by declining just 34.6 percent to place in fourth with an estimated $4.73 million. The Equalizer 3 likely received a bit of a boost this weekend from Expend4bles ultimately proving to be soft new competition. The 24-day domestic total for The Equalizer 3 stands at a very solid $81.26 million. That is 9.3 percent behind the $89.55 million 24-day gross of 2018's The Equalizer 2 (which declined 38.2 percent in its fourth weekend to gross $5.41 million). Internationally, The Equalizer 3 grossed an estimated $5.4 million this weekend from 53 international markets. Respective totals for the film stand at $67.4 million internationally and at $148.7 million globally. Estimated totals for The Equalizer 3 by international market through Sunday include $9.1 million in the United Kingdom, $6.8 million in Germany, $6.5 million in France, $5.5 million in Australia and $4.9 million in Saudi Arabia.

Warner Bros.'s Barbie grossed an estimated $3.20 million to place in fifth for a third consecutive weekend. Thanks in part to playing on IMAX screens this weekend, Barbie declined a slim 16.3 percent from last weekend. While the IMAX release no doubt helped Barbie this weekend, at the same time the IMAX release didn't make a huge impact either, likely due in part to coming too late in the film's overall run. The 66-day domestic total for Barbie stands at $630.45 million. Internationally, Barbie grossed an estimated $3.4 million this weekend from 73 international markets. That brings the film's international total to $797.0 million and the current global haul for Barbie to a massive $1.427 billion.

This weekend also saw NEON's PG-13 rated horror film It Lives Inside debut in seventh place with an estimated $2.63 million and Sony's Dumb Money finish closely behind in eighth place with an estimated $2.50 million upon expanding to moderate release (in 616 locations). It Lives Inside had a modest per-location average of $1,312 (from 2,005 locations), while Dumb Money had a solid per-location average of $4,058 for the frame. Dumb Money is scheduled to expand to wide release this coming Friday.

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