How ‘The Nun’ succeeded at the box office despite bad reviews

Warner
Bros.

• “The Nun” surpassed expectations and had the biggest
  opening at the box office this past weekend of any of “The
  Conjuring” films, despite being the worst-reviewed film in the
  series.
• Jeff Bock, senior box office analyst with Exhibitor
  Relations, credits the success to a lackluster summer for
  horror and the movie’s foreign appeal.
• The movie stars Mexican actor Demián Bichir
  and its biggest foreign opening was in Mexico.
• Bock also made box-office predictions for this
  weekend’s “The Predator” and next month’s “Halloween.”

“The Nun,” the latest movie in “The Conjuring” horror franchise,
raked in $53.5 million this past weekend, the highest opening in the series,
despite a 27% critic score on review-aggregator site Rotten
Tomatoes, making it the worst-reviewed film of the
bunch.

Even the well-reviewed “Annabelle: Creation” last year, a prequel
to “The Conjuring,” couldn’t muster that much cash at the box
office. In fact, that movie had the worst opening of the entire
series.

So how did “The Nun” capture audiences’ attention to be both a
domestic and foreign box-office success?

Jeff Bock, the senior box office analyst with Exhibitor Relations, told Business Insider it was
a combination of a lackluster summer for horror, foreign appeal,
and great marketing by the studio, Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. has been attracting foreign audiences

Demián Bichir in “The
Nun”
Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. had a trio of hits released within a month of each
other to close out the summer: “The Meg,” “Crazy Rich Asians,”
and “The Nun.” All exceeded initial projections because they
appealed to diverse audiences, Bock said.

“The Meg,” which was a co-production with a Chinese company and
starred multiple Asian actors, has grossed nearly $500 million
worldwide. “Crazy Rich Asians,” which is the first Hollywood
movie in 25 years to feature an all-Asian cast, has been a steady
force domestically, only dropping 6% and 11% in its second and
third weekends after a strong opening. Bock said it’s all about
casting choices.

“It’s the sort of play that many
studios have been going after, by not casting people just so it
will do well in North America, but throughout the world,” Bock
said.

“The Nun,” meanwhile, appealed to
Latino audiences. The movie stars Mexican actor Demián
Bichir and 
had
its biggest foreign opening in
Mexico with $10.7 million. Spain was among the top markets as
well with $3.3 million. The movie has made over $136 million
worldwide so far — not bad for a movie with a $22 million
budget. 

“Horror films don’t traditionally
make it into China because censors don’t allow a lot of horror
films,” Bock said.  “But in South America, and Mexico
specifically, horror films do really well there.”

Moviegoers were deprived of horror this summer

Taissa Farmiga in “The
Nun”
Warner Bros.

The horror genre is the only genre, outside of Marvel/superhero
blockbusters, that consistently gets moviegoers in seats at the
theater. “The Nun” continued a win streak for horror that
stretches through this year and last, with “Get Out,” “It,” “A
Quiet Place,” and even “Hereditary,” which may have divided
audiences but is A24’s biggest box-office hit.

But this summer was lacking for horror fans, according to
Bock. 

“We didn’t really have a
traditional horror film this entire summer,” Bock said. “‘The
First Purge’ was more [about just straight-up] violence than
[traditional] horror. ‘Slender Man’ was out there but it had a
horrible trailer and awful execution of a really good idea. That
one was D.O.A.”

Warner Bros. didn’t hold back
when it came to marketing “The Nun,” and took full advantage of
its horror qualities and connection to “The Conjuring” universe.
YouTube banned a six-second ad for the
movie that played before select videos because it violated
YouTube’s “shocking content policy.” That made headlines, but
Bock said that the film’s full-length trailer  was appealing
on its own.

“How many times were you in the
theater watching that trailer and heard people scream when that
second nun came out?” Bock said. “You knew after seeing that
trailer that this was going to catch on with audiences. People
love to be scared and they love to go to horror films in groups
and that’s an experience you can’t get anywhere else but
theaters.”

Watch the trailer below for
yourself:

Looking ahead

“The Conjuring” series has been a
reliable presence in theaters since 2013 and now includes five
films: “The Conjuring,” “Annabelle,” “The Conjuring 2,”
“Annabelle: Creation,” and “The Nun.” Bock said that “The
Conjuring” series and Blumhouse — which produced “Get Out,”
“Paranormal Activity,” “The Purge” films, and the upcoming
“Halloween” — are the most well-known names in horror among
audiences.

That’s why Bock predicts that when “Halloween” opens next month,
it will make between $50-60 million at the box office.

“No doubt about it, because it’s
not only a franchise but then you add in Blumhouse which knows
how to construct a film and market it,” Bock said. “And you’re
reaching into the past with Jamie Lee Curtis – it’s the nostalgia
factor.”

Once again, casting is important,
and it’s something that Bock thinks this weekend’s “The Predator”
got completely wrong.

“If Arnold [Schwarzenegger, who
starred in the original “Predator”] was the lead, we’d be talking
about a $50 million opening,” Bock said. “It could be a sh–
[movie] but people would go see it.”

The movie will still open No. 1 at the box office this weekend
and dethrone “The Nun,” Bock predicted, but he said it won’t open
to nearly as much as it could have. As for “The Nun,” it will
probably drop about 55% from its opening, but Bock said that’s
okay.

“Warner Bros is making great
money,” he said. “They’re not worrying about that drop.”