Expend4bles Can’t Mount Enough Firepower To Defeat The Nun II at Weekend Box Office

Summary

• The Expendables’ latest sequel had its worst opening yet, only making $8.3 million domestically, while The Nun II dominated with $8.4 million.
• The fall cinema season started off on a disappointing note, with the worst box office weekend of the year, only bringing in $49.1 million.
• Critics and moviegoers alike were unimpressed, with Expend4bles receiving a low 16% Tomatometer rating and a ‘B-‘ CinemaScore.

The Expendables were no match for Valak. No, it wasn’t an epic, cinematic crossover event between the respective action and horror franchises. Sadly, it’s a signifier of this weekend’s abysmal box office results. Summertime slips quietly away, and the fall moviegoing season has begun. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a lot of “going” to cinemas happening, and The Nun II edges out Expend4bles by the narrowest of margins.

In its first weekend of release, the Jason Statham-led Expendables’ sequel only managed to make $8.3 million at the domestic box office. That is by far and away the worst opening for the film franchise. The PG-13 rated The Expendables 3 held the dubious honor previously with $15.9 million. Meanwhile, the ninth installment in The Conjuring Universe was in its third weekend of theatrical release, and it still managed to outperform Expend4bles. The Nun II wins the top spot at the box office with $8.4 million.

What’s worse is that the official beginning of fall (September 23) marked the worst box office weekend of the entire year in the United States with only a combined take of $49.1 million (per Box Office Mojo). The previous low came all the way back in the winter (February 10-12) with $52.6 million. Magic Mike’s Last Dance was the winner of that particular weekend, while the 25th anniversary screenings of Titanic finished in third place.

Related: Expend4bles Cast and Character Guide

The Nun Ii Conquers expend4bles at the Box Office

It was an extremely close race, but horror sequel The Nun II did just enough business to help ruin Expend4bles first weekend in United States’ theaters. The action franchise didn’t do itself any favors with Sylvester Stallone’s roles being seriously diminished both off-screen (writer) and as one of the film’s lead characters, Barney Ross. A subpar story and shoddy special effects also played a part in dooming the new Expendables’ adventure, and the movie isn’t just struggling at home.

The action sequel got off to a rocky — not to be confused with a Rocky start, which would have been more hopeful — when Expend4bles only made $10.7 million during its worldwide debut in China. The official overseas numbers haven’t been released, at the time of this writing, but Deadline is reporting Expend4bles has only improved to $20.8 million in Chinese venues. Meanwhile, the film accounted for around $20 million when combining the United Kingdom’s numbers with the $8.3 million the movie cleared in the U.S.

Comparatively, in its 10th weekend of release, Barbie finished in the No. 5 spot with $3.2 million. Thursday, September 21 also marked the bright-pink blockbuster’s first day of theatrical release on IMAX screens, which included never-before-seen footage.

Expend4bles and its $100-million budget didn’t just tank in movie theaters financially. The critics lambasted the sequel with a Tomatometer rating of only 16%, which is another franchise-low record. Moviegoers also torched the new film with another low mark for the series with a “B-” CinemaScore. The only good news Expend4bles received over the weekend was its Rotten Tomatoes’ audience score, which did manage 69% — and that’s the best RT audience score of all the other Expendables films.

The rest of the Top 5 at the domestic box office fell in line this way: A Haunting in Venice placed third with $6.3 million, and The Equalizer 3 managed a fourth-place finish with $4.7 million. Meanwhile, in the Top 10, It Lives Inside debuted at No. 7 with $2.6 million.

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