The same team behind the Conjuring franchise is responsible for The Curse of La Llorona.
Made by New Line for a modest $9 million and produced by James Wan, The Curse of La Llorona is based on a spooky Latin-American supernatural tale about a vengeful ghost who tries to steal kids.
The movie is opening ahead of expectations at the box-office, earning up $11.8 million from 3,372 theaters Friday for a projected debut of $24 million-$26 million.
But the R-rated horror picture can’t rescue the box office from the slowest Easter weekend in more than a decade as Hollywood studios hold back releasing their bigger event movies. The reason: Disney and Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame, which hits theaters on April 26. No one wants only a week of play before the juggernaut opens.
Linda Cardellini, Raymond Cruz and Patricia Velasquez star in the film, which was helmed by Michael Chaves in his feature directorial debut.
La Llorona isn’t an official installment in the Conjuring franchise, despite the film’s 1970s setting and the appearance of the character Father Perez (Tony Amendola), who also showed up in Annabelle.
Hispanics made up nearly 50 percent of Friday ticket buyers.
Audiences gave the picture a B- CinemaScore.