The Nun 2 Box Office Will Win The Weekend, But Comes Up Short When Compared To Original

The Nun 2 will be No. 1 in its opening weekend, but it’s still doing worse than its predecessor. The movie, which opened in theaters on September 8, is the ninth entry in the Conjuring Universe since it began with The Conjuring in 2013. It is a direct sequel to 2018’s The Nun, and features the return of young nun Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) and her former companion Frenchie (Jonas Bloquet) as well as the demon Valak, whose preferred form is that of a terrifying nun (Bonnie Aarons).

Per TheWrap, the Nun 2 box office is currently projected to nab an opening weekend gross of $32 million. This is enough to earn the movie the No. 1 spot this weekend, knocking last weekend’s top title The Equalizer 3 to No. 2. However, it nevertheless pales in comparison to the original The Nun, which had a $58.3 million opening on its way to a total worldwide gross of $365.5 million, which makes it the highest-grossing entry in the Conjuring Universe.

Although The Nun 2 can’t match its illustrious predecessor, it still marks an upswing in the box office prospects of the overall Conjuring Universe. In fact, it has earned the best opening of any movie in the franchise since The Nun itself. It has handily outgrossed the openings of 2019’s The Curse of La Llorona ($26.3 million) and Annabelle Comes Home ($20.2 million) as well as 2021’s The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It ($24.1 million), though the latter movie’s box office was compromised by a simultaneous release on HBO Max for the first month it was in theaters.

It has accomplished this result in spite of a lack of promotion from its stars. As the SAG-AFTRA strike continues and actors fight for fair pay, they are refraining from promoting any struck projects. If the union’s needs were met and the Nun 2 cast – which includes Storm Reid and Anna Popplewell in addition to Farmiga, Bloquet, and Aarons – had been on hand to promote the project, it surely would have grossed even higher.

This opening weekend could be a stepping stone toward a bright future for the Conjuring Universe despite the middling The Nun 2 Rotten Tomatoes score of 45%. If the upcoming The Conjuring: Last Rites proves to be even more commercially successful, the franchise will prove to be on an upswing that could result in even more sequels and spinoffs. While that all remains to be seen, this opening weekend result for the movie, while relatively lukewarm, is far from a bad sign.