‘The Curse Of La Llorona’ Leading Easter Weekend With $19M-$20M Opening

2ND UPDATE, Friday 1:12 PM: Here’s what we know at this point in time and we’ll have further updates: New Line’s The Curse of La Llorona is eyeing a $9.1 million-plus Friday for a $19M-$20M opening at 3,372 theaters  The studio’s Shazam! will settle for second for the Easter frame at $15.7M (a 36% dip), at 4,183 theaters, off a third Friday of $6.3M and a running total by Sunday of $119.7M.

Since Llorona is an R-rated horror, expect this movie to play into the late hours, natch. Llorona‘s production cost before P&A was a thrifty $9M net, hence a solid result here. That $9.1M today includes last night’s $2.75M previews.

Llorona‘s Friday bests Escape Room‘s first day plus previews ($7.6M), and it’s just under Pet Sematary‘s $9.9M and right on the money with Lights Out‘s $9.1M.

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The last time in recent memory New Line made a genre pic on a shoestring budget was 2014’s Annabelle, made for $6.5M before P&A, which opened to a huge $37.1M and finaled at $84.2M domestic, $257M global.

Meanwhile, Disney-Fox’s Breakthrough is seeing an estimated $3.5M today for a three-day total of $10M, and a five-day cume of $13.5M.

Disney will own spots four and six as well, respectively, for the frame, with Captain Marvel ($7M, -18% and $398M cume) and Dumbo ($5.9M, -37%, and a $100.3M).

Universal’s Little is seeing a second weekend of $6.8M, -56%, for a 10-day total of $27.7M in fifth place.

Disneynature’s Penguins is eyeing $650K today, $1.77M over FSS and $2.7M over five days.

PREVIOUSLY, Friday 7:32 AM: Before Avengers: Endgame snatches away the under-25 demo next weekend, Warner Bros is looking to hook them over the Easter weekend with New Line’s James Wan-produced horror pic The Curse of La Llorona, which made $2.75 million last night from previews that started at 6 PM.

That figure is slightly higher than the $2.3M Paramount’s Pet Sematary posted in previews two weeks ago, as well as Escape Room‘s $2.3M Thursday night back on January 3 and the Wan-produced 2016 horror pic Lights Out ($1.8M). On the Thursday after Labor Day last year, The Nun previews rang up a record Thursday night for The Conjuring universe with $5.4M off 7 PM showtimes.

Llorona is billed as being from The Conjuring producers Wan and The Nun EP and Annabelle scribe Gary Dauberman. It is not a part of that genre series universe, but Warners is hoping those credits on the Llorona one sheet will draw fans of that franchise. Even though Annabelle priest Father Perez (Tony Amendola) makes a cameo, Llorona is not part of The Conjuring series. (Essentially, anything that’s part of that horror universe specifically involves, or is connected to, paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren.)

Tracking has Llorona opening between $15M-$17M, making a run at Shazam!‘s two-weekend streak at No. 1. It wouldn’t come as a surprise if Llorona hits $20M-plus given Wan’s name on the pic and the fact that it’s Good Friday, a huge moviegoing day with 74% K-12 schools off and another 29% from colleges. As such, most pics in the top 20 yesterday saw gains over Wednesday.

Among Wan’s producer credits, he has had only one movie open below $20M, and that was Saw VI ($14.1M). In regards to Llorona‘s Thursday night comps, both Pet Sematary and Lights Out continued on to posts three-days that were north of $20M with $24.5M and $21.6M, respectively. Also, Monday boasts 37% K-12 off and 8% colleges on break, so there should be an extra B.O. cushion on Easter Sunday.

Among regular releases yesterday, Shazam! led all titles with $2.55M, +33% from Wednesday for a two-week running total of $104M. The DC superhero is expected to post a third weekend around $15M.

Disney’s Fox faith-based release Breakthrough held quite well in its second day earning $1.54M at 2,764 in the No. 2 spot, -18%, for a running total since its Wednesday opening of $3.4M. The DeVon Franklin-produced movie is pacing very close to the $3.55M two-day running total of his March 2016 faith-based title Miracles From Heaven, which made $18.3M in its first five days of release, $14.8M over Friday-Sunday. Breakthrough carries an estimated net production cost of $14M before P&A.

Disney’s Captain Marvel was No. 3 yesterday with an estimated $1.3M, +37% from Wednesday, for a running total through six weeks of $390.9M.

Universal’s Little was fourth yesterday with an estimated $1.23M, +19% over Wednesday, for a first-week total of $20.9M.

Disneynature’s Penguins fell outside Thursday’s top 10 in the No. 11 spot with $456,000 in its second day of release, -9% from Wednesday, for a running total of $956K at 1,815 theaters.