As the summer season comes to an end, it is finally the turn of mid- to low-cost movies to debut one after another. Last weekend, the North American Film Market ushered in the large-scale release of two new films.
The restricted film "The Nun 2" produced by Warner Bros. was screened in 3,728 theaters, and finally received a box office of US$32.6 million, which is almost the same as its production cost of US$35 million; however, compared with the previous film "The Nun" opened with $53.8 million, but it dropped sharply.
"The Nun 2" stills
"The Nun 2" is the ninth work in the "Conjuring" horror series created by James Wan. "The Nun", also released in early September 2018, cost only US$22 million to produce and eventually grossed US$365 million at the global box office, becoming the box office champion in the series. The total global box office of the entire "Conjuring" series before "The Nun 2" totaled an astonishing US$2.2 billion, making it the most profitable horror film series in Hollywood history.
However, this film has previously caused discord outside the screen. In August of this year, actress Bonnie Aarons, who played the role of a ghostly nun in "The Conjuring 2," "The Nun" and "The Nun 2," took Warner Bros. to court, accusing them of violating contract rules and failing to do so. Allocate the sales profits of related derivative products to her.
It turned out that according to the agreement between the two parties, after filming "The Nun" in 2018, in addition to the agreed-upon salary of US$71,500, Warner produced and produced derivative products based on the image of the ghost nun she played, including dolls, clothing, etc. She should also share part of the income. However, according to the actress, Warner's accounting for this part was very problematic. It was neither transparent nor candid, and it never let her know how much the merchandise sold. In the end, she only received a total of US$175,000 in box office dividends, plus a salary of US$71,500. This income of less than US$250,000 was all she earned from starring in "The Nun", which had a global box office of US$365 million.
"The nun character played by Bonnie Aarons is extremely popular with audiences, and a variety of derivative products based on her include toys, dolls, decorations, pins, jewelry, T-shirts, socks, bedding, clothing, beverages and Her likeness was used in all the posters, and she should be paid the agreed dividends," the actor's attorney wrote in the complaint.
Currently, the lawsuit is still ongoing. Of course, despite being dissatisfied with the dividends, this did not affect Bonnie Aarons from continuing to do her "scary" job conscientiously in "Sister 2". Her performance in this film is still impressive, and it has become one of the main reasons why audiences are willing to buy tickets to watch "The Nun 2".
"My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3" poster
Another new film is the romantic comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 from Focus Features. The film was released on a large scale in 3,650 theaters over the weekend and only earned US$10 million at the box office. Comparing the results of "The Nun 2", which is also a sequel, it is enough to show that the romantic comedy movie type has completely lost its ability to attract American audiences. The appeal of money buying tickets.
The first "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" was released in 2002, at a time when romantic movies were still very popular. The film is written by and stars Greek-Canadian Nia Vardalos. It tells the story of a Greek-born Chicago urban woman who is still in her thirties and still has no children. A heartwarming and funny story about her boyfriend getting married. The film was a dark horse at the box office that year, earning a global box office of US$370 million, making Gold Circle Films, which invested only US$5 million in production fees, a huge profit.
However, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2", released in 2016, already seemed a bit lacking in sincerity and novelty, and ultimately only earned US$90 million at the global box office. In the third film released this time, Nia Vardalos not only continued to write and act, but also served as director for the first time. Prior to this, she had only directed, written, and starred in a romantic comedy "I Hate Valentine's Day" in 2009, but the result was not very satisfactory in terms of box office and reputation. The situation of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3" is still the same. Many media have criticized the film for its vulgar jokes and excessive sensationalism. It currently only has a 27% fresh rating on the film review website "Rotten Tomatoes".
