Box Office Update: A Haunting in Venice scaring up a $14 Million debut

The third (and possibly final) entry in Kenneth Branagh’s Hercule Poirot franchise looks to open with around $14 million in receipts.

Just a quick update for you today as numbers have begun rolling in for this third weekend of September (this is one of those rare five weekend months). Everything seems to be falling perfectly in line with our predictions from Thursday with the most recent Hercule Poirot mystery, A Haunting In Venice looking at a first place finish with a projected 3-day take of $14 million. That number is based off Venice’s $1.2 million in Thursday previews and a $5.3 million Friday (as of this writing). 

That number puts it slightly ahead of 2020’s pandemic ridden debut of Death on the Nile that netted a $12.8 million opening. Yet it is a ways away from the original 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express’s opening of $28.6 million. It seems these sequels are as cursed as some of the characters in them as they seem to always be released with some baggage that affects its performance. For Death on the Nile it was a public that was still unsure about going to the movies unless it was for masked vigilantes as well as having a lead star in Armie Hammer who was more famous for his exploits off screen than on. 

For Haunting in Venice, the film comes at a time when its stars are gagged by an ongoing strike. When it comes to something like Venice, I could absolutely see Tina Fey as a guest on the late night talk shows promoting her film in a comedic way that gets a few more butts in seats. Add to that promotion from recent Oscar winners like Kenneth Branagh and Michelle Yeoh and fans of Yellowstone would love to see Kelly Reilly in a different type of role. Even all those life long Jamie Dornan fans after his roles in the Fifty Shades films would have bought a ticket had Dornan been able to simply tell them about it. I often wondered what type of impact a simple tweet (or X, I still have no idea what to call that format anymore) or a 10 minute segment on a talk show does for a film, but I genuinely believe this is the type of movie that could have benefitted from some type of promotion featuring its star studded cast.

As far as the movie goes, I have been a fan of the series and found this new one to be right up there with the other ones. Granted, I will admit I think the first film, Murder on the Orient Express is by far the best of the trilogy, but you can tell that Kenneth Branagh absolutely loves bringing this character of Hercule Poirot to the big screen. Critics seem to have liked this latest adventure better as it seems to have garnered slightly stronger reviews than the previous two films with our own JimmyO giving the film his seal of approval in his 7/10 review.

Moving down a spot is another tale of the supernatural with The Nun II dropping the horror movie standard of over 60% for a second weekend just shy of $13 million. The good news for this one is that we are just ramping up into the spooky season, so it has a decent shot at holding steady over the next month and a half which can lead the film into a decent domestic finish. With a budget reported to be just shy of $40 million and a solid international turn out, The Nun II seems to be another successful entry in The Conjuring Universe.

Coming in third place is the Denzel Washington led Equalizer 3 which seems to be leveling out with a sub 40% drop and an estimated 3-day take of $7.3 million as it inches closer to that $100 million mark while fourth place goes to the Nia Vardalos directed My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 with an additional $4 million, losing about 60% of its debut audience. Rounding out the top five is, say it with me, Barbie, with an estimated $3.6 million added to her staggering $625.8 million domestic haul. 

Have you made it out to theaters yet or is it still on your list of things to do? Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to check back tomorrow when we have a full rundown on this weekend’s box office numbers.