‘The Exorcist: Believer’ scares up box office-topping $27.2 million debut

The Exorcist: Believer, a direct sequel to the 1973 classic and the sixth film in the franchise, topped the North American box office, delivering an estimated $27.2 million in its opening weekend. The film — starring country singer Jennifer Nettles, Fosse/Verdon‘s Norbert Leo Butz and Ellen Burstyn, who reprises her role as Chris MacNeil from the original — snatched up an estimated $17.9 million overseas, for a global haul of $45.1 million.

That knocked, last week’s box office champ, Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie, which earned an estimated $11.8 million, to the No. 2 spot. Its two-week domestic tally now stands at $38.9 million and $87.1 million globally.

Saw X pulled up in third place this weekend with an estimated $8.2 million, bringing its two-week North American gross to $32.6 million and $52.7 million worldwide.

The Creator took fourth place with an estimated $6.1 million, bringing its two-week tally to $24.9 million. The sci-fi flick has racked up $61.9 million globally.

Rounding out the top five was The Blind, a biopic of Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson, which earned an estimated $3.1 million at the North American box office in its second week of release. That brings its domestic tally to $10.5 million.

Elsewhere, Hocus Pocus, the 1993 film starring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy, returned to theaters at No. 10 with an estimated $1.9 million haul.