‘The Nun’ is a box-office hit with audiences but has bad reviews

Warner
Bros

• “The Nun” made $5.4 million in Thursday night
  previews.
• It’s on its way to a nearly $50 million opening
  weekend, which would be a “Conjuring” franchise best.
• It’s already a hit with audiences, but critics are
  calling it “dull” and an “empty thrill ride.”

 

“The Nun,” the fifth movie in “The Conjuring” universe, opened to
an impressive $5.4 million at the box office on
Thursday night, a franchise best for Thursday previews.

It’ll have to fight off poor reviews from critics if it wants to
sustain its dominance over the weekend, but considering that it’s
already outpaced the other four films
in the series combined in Fandango pre-sale tickets, that may not
be too difficult.

The movie has a 29% Rotten Tomatoes critic score as of Friday
afternoon, tied for the lowest in the “Conjuring” series with
“Annabelle.” The horror series includes “The Conjuring,”
“Annabelle,” “The Conjuring 2,” “Annabelle: Creation,” and “The
Nun.”

The movie is a prequel to “The Conjuring 2,” and takes place in
1952. It follows a nun, played by Taissa Farmiga, and a Catholic
priest, played by Damien Bachir, who are investigating a suicide
in Romania. 

USA Today‘s Brian Truitt said
that “most of the film is a disappointingly dull and
arduous journey” until its climax, and fails to properly utilize
the title character: the demon nun.

“The one cardinal sin a horror movie with a demon nun can
commit? Not having enough demon nun,” he wrote.

“Despite its clammy atmosphere and two credible and
appealing leads, the movie is mechanical in its rhythms and
unimaginative in its terrors,” said the Los Angeles Times‘ Justin
Chang.

Christy Lemire, for RogerEbert.com, compared the movie to
“Minions,” in that the Minions are the best part of “Despicable
Me,” and “there is a similarity to the shallow nature of these
crucial supporting characters that reveals itself when a feature
film focuses on them.” She added that the movie “feels like an
empty thrill ride” compared to “The Conjuring” films.

 “Once it stops and you step off, you may still feel a
little dizzy, but you’ll have forgotten exactly why,” Lemire
said. 

“The Nun” is expected to rake in nearly $50 million at the box
office this weekend. That would be a franchise-best opening, and
would continue the strong box office for the horror genre the
last two years that’s included “It,” “Get Out,” “A Quiet Place,”
and “Hereditary.”