The U.S. box office is continuing its summer recovery. The latest pic to overperform is The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.
The New Line and Warner Bros.’ horror film conjured up $9.8 million on Friday for a projected domestic opening of $23 million to $27 million, well ahead of expectations and enough to top the chart. The film’s performance is all the more impressive considering it is also available at no extra charge to HBO Max customers.
The Devil Made Me Do It is the third Conjuring film, and the seventh film in the franchise, which also includes the Annabelle, The Curse of La Llorna and The Nun spinoff movies. In this latest installment, Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga return as paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, wrestling once again with demonic possession and satanic curses.
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Heading into the weekend, no one was sure whether the latest Conjuring pic could scare off John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place Part II, which opened to a pandemic-era record of $57 million over the long Memorial Day weekend, including a huge three-day gross of $47.4 million. (On Friday, A Quiet Place 3 was dated for March 31, 2023.)
Conjuring 3 has the advantage of stealing away Imax and Premium Large Format screens from Quiet Place II, which came in second on Friday with $6.2 million for a projected weekend haul of $22 million.
Disney’s Cruella is headed for a third place finish in its second weekend with an estimated $11.4 million after grossing $3.2 million on Friday. The family friendly film is doing solid business at the domestic box office for a title that’s also available in the home. (It is launching simultaneously in cinemas and on Disney+ Premier Access for $30.)
That leaves new offering Spirit: Untamed opening in fourth place. The DreamWorks Animation and Universal title grossed $2.4 million on Friday for a projected three-day start of $7 million, in line with muted expectations.
