Weekend Box Office Report: August 11-13, 2017

Annabelle haunts first place!

Fresh frights were the main attraction for mid-August as ANNABELLE: CREATION opened on top at the box office with an estimated $35 million!

The prequel to the prequel of THE CONJURING started out with almost the same strength as the $37 million opening for ANNABELLE in October 2014. That spinoff went on to $84 million domestic and $256 million worldwide (on a reported cost of $7 million).

The R-rated doll terror also possessed an additional $36.7 million from international audiences for a worldwide opening of $71.7 million (on a $15 million reported cost). All totaled, THE CONJURING franchise has earned close to $1 billion worldwide.

A good number of critics were satisfied with the scares (from director David F. Sandberg of last summer's horror hit LIGHTS OUT), giving ANNABELLE: CREATION a 68% average on Rotten Tomatoes. The JoBlo review can be found HERE.

Christopher Nolan's war movie DUNKIRK held its ground in second place with $11.4 million on its fourth weekend in theaters. The $100 million WWII drama has reached a domestic total of $153.7 million, with a worldwide total of $363 million.

Opening in third place was the new animated sequel THE NUT JOB 2: NUTTY BY NATURE with $8.9 million.

The PG-rated squirrel antics skittered away with less than half of THE NUT JOB's $19.4 million opening in 2014, which seems even worse considering the sequel was pushed onto 4000 screens. The first movie went on to $64 million domestic and $120 million worldwide (the original and sequel each cost around $40 million).

Critics were not amused by the digital animals (voiced by Will Arnett and Katherine Heigl, among others), giving their return an 11% average on Rotten Tomatoes.

The loose adaptation of Stephen King's THE DARK TOWER dropped to fourth with $7.8 million, crumbling by 59% from its first-place debut last weekend.

The PG-13 action-fantasy with Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey has a ten-day domestic total of $34.3 million (a grave outlook for the purported launch of a major movie and TV franchise).

THE EMOJI MOVIE was in fifth place with $6.6 million as the animated comedy has hit $63.5 million on its third weekend. The R-rated GIRLS TRIP was close behind in sixth with $6.5 million as it parties toward $100 million domestic.

In seventh place was SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING with $6.1 million after a month-and-a-half in release. In addition to crossing $300 million domestic, ol' web-head has crawled over $700 million worldwide (and Spidey has yet to swing into China, where Marvel's movies tend to pull down $100 million without breaking a sweat).

The Halle Berry thriller KIDNAP was in eighth place with $5.2 million, down 47% from its opening last week. The R-rated abduction drama has a ten-day domestic total of $19.3 million.

In ninth place was the new drama THE GLASS CASTLE with an opening of $4.8 million.

Despite its placement on the list, the dysfunctional family with Woody Harrelson, Naomi Watts and Brie Larson opened on 1460 screens for a better per-screen average in the Top 10 than anything other than that demented doll.

Critics weren't overly kind to the adaptation of Jeannette Walls' memoir, giving it a 49% average on Rotten Tomatoes (the JoBlo review is HERE).

The Charlize Theron action movie ATOMIC BLONDE finished up the bottom with $4.5 million. With a domestic total of $48.2 million, the R-rated 80s espionage kicker is now just shy of the $43 million total for JOHN WICK (co-directed by BLONDE's David Leitch).

Outside the chart, WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES dropped from view with the drama DETROIT and DESPICABLE ME 3 (now at $920 million worldwide). In limited release, the Aubrey Plaza comedy INGRID GOES WEST had a strong $47k per-screen average, while the Robert Pattinson crime-drama GOOD TIME made a decent $34k per-screen.

Meanwhile in China, the Jing Wu action sequel WOLF WARRIORS 2 (which also features Frank Grillo) has become the country's highest-grossing release with a whopping $682 million.

Next weekend has Ryan Reynolds teaming with Samuel L. Jackson for R-rated action in THE HITMAN'S BODYGUARD, and Channing Tatum plans a heist with Adam Driver and Daniel Craig in director Steven Soderbergh's LOGAN LUCKY.

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