Sly Stallone's 'Expendables 4' belly flops with $8.3M, while 'Nun 2' threepeats at No. 1

LOS ANGELES − Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham weren't enough to save "Expendables 4" from a debut box-office flop. The fourth installment suffered the action-packed franchise's worst opening weekend while "The Nun 2" took home the top spot for a third straight week, Comscore reported on Sunday.

The latest "Expendables" pulled in a mediocre $8.3 million for a big-budget project. It starred several popular names, including Stallone, Statham, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, Megan Fox and Dolph Lundgren. It's been nearly a decade since the franchise released a film, which opened with $15.8 million and eventually grossed $214 million globally.

But times have certainly changed, as the film barely placed second behind "The Nun 2," a horror movie that earned $8.4 million in its first week. It's been a solid start for the spinoff from the lucrative "Conjuring" franchise. So far, the Michael Chaves-directed sequel has grossed more than $69 million.

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In third, "A Haunting in Venice" earned $6.3 million. Kenneth Branagh's third Agatha Christie adaptation, following 2017's "Murder on the Orient Express" and 2022's "Death on the Nile," has drawn in $25.3 million after two weeks.

"The Equalizer 3," starring Denzel Washington, only dropped to fourth place with $4.7 million. In four weeks, it has grossed $81.1 million domestically.

"Barbie," the biggest movie of 2023, is still carrying some momentum from the summer into the fall season. The Greta Gerwig box-office smash ranked in the top five, earning $3.2 million this week and a domestic total of more than $630 million after a 10-week period.

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Sixth place went to "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3," with $3 million, while "It Lives Inside" opened its first week with $2.6 million. "Dumb Money," a dramatization of the GameStop stock frenzy, stayed put in the eighth position for a second week in a row with $2.5 million.

"Blue Beetle" fell to ninth, with $1.8 million, and "Oppenheimer" rounded out the top 10 with $1.6 million. The Christopher Nolan film has garnered $321 million domestically.

In all, it was another slow output for the box office amid the continuing actors' and writers' strikes.

Final numbers are expected Monday.