New Sydney Sweeney Movie Sets Box-Office Record

The horror movie Immaculate opened in theaters this weekend and took in $5.3 million, and while this number might not be as high as the latest installments in established frightening franchises, this number did set a record for distributor and production company Neon for its best opening. Since its inception less than a decade ago, Neon has focused on more ambitious and boundary-pushing cinema, with its previous opening-weekend successes being Ferrari ($3.9 million), It Lives Inside ($2.6 million), Infinity Pool ($2.5 million), and Spencer ($2.1 million). Its overall top earner is Parasite, which would go on to take in $262.7 million, thanks in large part to earning the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film.

This opening saw Immaculate landing in fourth place this last weekend, sitting behind sequels in familiar franchises Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Dune: Part Two, and Kung Fu Panda 4.

Immaculate is described, "Sydney Sweeney stars as Cecilia, an American nun of devout faith, embarking on a new journey in a remote convent in the picturesque Italian countryside. Cecilia's warm welcome quickly devolves into a nightmare as it becomes clear her new home harbors a sinister secret and unspeakable horrors." 

Also starring in the film are Simona Tabasco, Álvaro Morte, and Bendetta Porcaroli. Immaculate was directed by Michael Mohan, who previously collaborated with Sweeney on the Prime Video thriller The Voyeurs, and was written by Andrew Lobel.

Thanks in large part to Euphoria, Sweeney's star power has been slowly yet surely growing, as projects like Anyone But You and Madame Web took her success to new heights in recent months. While the realm of horror has often proven to be successful with a variety of audiences, Immaculate continues Neon's trend of delivering fans an unconventional and unsettling experience.

"Approaching the production, I was conscious of our singular criterion: it had to be genuinely terrifying. The legacy of auteurs like [Rosemary's Baby's Roman] Polanski, [The Exorcist's William] Friedkin, and [The Shining's Stanley] Kubrick guided my vision -- aiming for a film marked by simplicity, restraint, and a focus on performance that resonates with both the elegance of 1970s horror and the expectations of contemporary viewers," Mohan previously shared in a statement. "Sister Cecilia's journey -- from an emblem of purity to a feral creature, drenched in blood -- spoke to Sydney's natural versatility. From the quiet resilience of Reality Winner [in Reality] to the explosively insecure Cassie Howard [in Euphoria], our protagonist Sister Cecilia would allow Sydney to tap into both; delivering a performance that is as understated as it is unhinged."

Immaculate is in theaters now.  

Are you surprised the film performed so well? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter or on Instagram to talk all things Star Wars and horror!