The Nun box office day 1: Conjuring spin-off breaks franchise record in India

The Nun has registered a record-breaking opening day at the Indian box office. The fifth instalment in the Conjuring Universe of films has made Rs 8 crore on its first day of release, a record for the Conjuring movies in India.

According to trade analyst Taran Adarsh, the horror film is off to an ‘electrifying start’ and has ‘eclipsed all releases’ including new ones this week. By comparison, Annabelle: Creation, the last film in the series, had made Rs 4.5 crore on its first Friday (excluding the Rs 2.7 crore it made in previews). Conjuring 2 had opened to Rs 5.2 crore. Each of these three films had debuted at the number one spot at the Indian box office.

Meanwhile, last week’s holdover, Stree, sustained its positive word of mouth and made Rs 4.3 crore, pushing its total to Rs 64 crore. Adarsh expects the film to cross Rs 75 crores by the end of the week. With the top two movies belonging to the horror genre, he declared, “Horror is the new Hero!”

The Nun is expected to register the Conjuring series’ biggest opening weekend abroad, too. The film could touch the $50 million mark in its first three days, according to experts. The film made a franchise record $5.4 million in Thursday previews and an estimated $21 million on Friday, according to Deadline.

The reviews for The Nun, however, haven’t been as great. While the film is creating new box office records for the franchise, it has also become the lowest rated Conjuring film on review aggregator site, Rotten Tomatoes. The film currently holds a ‘rotten’ 29% rating, while the highest rated film of the series remains the original Conjuring (86%).

The Hindustan Times called it the ‘final nail in the Conjuring series’ coffin’ in its two-star review.

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