LOS ANGELES: Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham weren’t enough to save “ Expend4bles ” from a debut box office flop. The fourth installment suffered the action-packed franchise’s worst opening weekend while “ The Nun 2 ” took home the top spot for a third straight week, data firm Comscore reported on Sunday.
The Lionsgate and Millennium’s film, also known as “Expendables 4,” pulled in a mediocre $8.3 million for the big-budget project. It starred several popular names, including Stallone, Statham, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Megan Fox and Dolph Lundgren. It’s been nearly a decade since the franchise released a film, which opened with $15.8 million and eventually grossed $214 million globally.
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But times have certainly changed, as the film barely placed second behind “The Nun 2,” a horror movie that earned $8.4 million in its first week. It’s been a solid start for that Warner Bros.’ project — a spinoff from the lucrative “Conjuring” franchise. So far, the Michael Chaves-directed sequel has grossed more than $69 million.
In third, “ A Haunting in Venice ” earned $6.3 million. Kenneth Branagh’s third Agatha Christie adaptation, following 2017’s “Murder on the Orient Express” and 2022’s “Death on the Nile,” has drawn in over $25.3 million after two weeks.
“ The Equalizer 3,” starring Denzel Washington, only dropped to fourth place with $4.725 million. In four weeks, it has grossed $81.1 million domestically.
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“ Barbie,” the biggest movie of 2023, is still carrying some momentum from the summer into the fall season. The Greta Gerwig box-office smash ranked in the top five, earning $3.2 million this week and a domestic total of more than $630 million after a 10-week period.
Sixth place went to “ My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3,” with $3 million, while “It Lives Inside” opened its first week with $2.6 million. The Sony film “ Dumb Money,” a dramatization of the GameStop stock frenzy, stayed put in the eighth position for a second week in a row with $2.5 million.