“Annabelle: Creation” Scares Up $35 Million Debut

A small budget? No stars? It's not a problem when you're a horror movie, especially one tied into one of the most successful scary franchises. Annabelle: Creation, the sequel to 2014's Annabelle (itself a spin-off of The Conjuring), opened with a surprising $35 million. That's slightly less than what Annabelle opened with two years ago, when it debuted closer to Halloween. This one cost only $15 million, by far the smallest-budgeted movie of the summer to open at No. 1. With little in the way of competition this month, it's sure to come close, if not surpass, its predecessor's $84.2 million.

Dunkirk held strong at No. 2, passing $150 million. Along with Wonder Woman, it's been one of the most consistent movies week-to-week at the box office. The Nut Job 2 – bearing the groan-worthy subtitle Nutty by Nature – is the sequel to the 2014 original, which surprised audiences and prognosticators alike by beating out the heavily promoted Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. That seems like a lifetime ago, and by opening with less than half of what that film did, this means it's probably the end of the line for this series, too. (Though, like Jack Ryan, don't be surprised if it eventually becomes a streaming show.)

The Dark Tower fell all the way to fourth place, a nearly 60 percent drop. It's unlikely to recoup its $60 million budget, small compared to most blockbusters. Expect lots of hand-wringing over this and Valerian at the end of the year. If you want to feel even worse for it, it's definitely going to make less than the reviled The Emoji Movie, which finished in fifth place this weekend.

Outside the top 5:

• This Weekend's Indie Champ: Ingrid Goes West, the dark comedy starring Aubrey Plaza. It averaged a staggering $47,062 on three screens. That's even better than last weekend's impressive Wind River (which expanded strongly), meaning it's now No. 3 for the year.
• The Glass Castle marks Brie Larson's second stumble of the year. Though her performances have been singled out for praise, both this and Free Fire have debuted horribly. That's a real shame for such a great actress, who just won the Oscar last year.
• Congratulations are in order for Edgar Wright. Baby Driver finally crossed $100 million. That's more than all his other films combined. Since I think he's one of the best directors working today, this makes me extremely happy.

Next weekend: The Hitman's Bodyguard takes on Logan Lucky. Both look very funny, but the former hails from the director of The Expendables 3 (yikes) and the latter comes from Steven Soderbergh, one of the best directors ever. So of course people are going to flock to the first one, while the latter will have to settle for stronger reviews. I think $35 million is certainly doable for the Ryan Reynolds-Samuel L. Jackson comedy, while the Adam Driver-Channing Tatum team-up will only make $10 million.