Given the success THE CONJURING and THE CONJURING 2 had with their July and June releases, it seemed like perfect timing to me that the CONJURING 2 spin-off THE NUN was set to be released on Friday, July 13th. Apparently the strategists at distributor Warner Bros. disagreed, as the studio has decided to push the film back almost two months, re-scheduling it for a September 7th release.
It does make sense that Warner Bros. has confidence in releasing a horror movie that post-Labor Day weekend, as that's the weekend when IT was released last year. That film went on to make over $700 million at the global box office.
Centered on a supernatural character introduced in THE CONJURING 2, THE NUN is directed by Corin Hardy (THE HALLOW) from a script by Wan and Gary Dauberman (ANNABELLE, ANNABELLE: CREATION). The story begins when
a young nun at a cloistered abbey in Romania takes her own life, with a priest with a haunted past and a novitiate on the threshold of her final vows sent by the Vatican to investigate. Together they uncover the order’s unholy secret and confront a malevolent force in the form of the same demonic nun from “The Conjuring 2.”
Demian Bichir stars as Father Burke, with Taissa Farmiga as the deceased nun, Bonnie Aarons as the demonic nun, Jonas Bloquet as a villager, Charlotte Hope as Sister Victoria, and Ingrid Bisu as Sister Oana.
THE NUN isn't likely to reach the box office heights that IT did, but hopefully this move will work out for it. As of right now, the film has the September 7th weekend to itself. Shane Black's THE PREDATOR will then come along the following weekend.