Two upcoming nun movies in the form of ***Immaculate*** *(Mar 22)* and ***The First Omen*** *(Apr 5)* are going to grace the box office within the space of two weeks from each other.
***The First Omen*** is one of the many legacy prequels in a long running horror franchise IP which have been resurrected in recent times including the likes of ***The Exorcist: Believer*** and soon to follow ***Apartment 7A*** *(prequel to ***Rosemary’s Baby***)*.
Much like ***The Exorcist***, only the first film in ***The Omen*** series is well known and well regarded with the upcoming film to feature no returning legacy characters with a relatively unknown *Nell Tiger Free* to lead the legacy prequel.
***Immaculate*** is an original independent horror pic which features *Sydney Sweeney* as the main character who in addition to starring in the movie is also producing it
The movie has recieved rave reactions from the *SXSW* crowd though response from mainstream publications have been far more muted. It currently stands @ 70% on *Rotten Tomatoes* and 47 on *Metacritic* which is decent for a horror pic.
Though the movie could easily be embraced by the audiences just like ***The Nun*** movies which had far more harsher critical reception but were box office hits anyway.
*Sweeney* just tasted box office success with ***Anyone But You*** *(which she also produced)*, also an original movie with similar critical reception as this movie but emerged as one of the biggest sleeper hits of last year.
Though with ***Late Night with the Devil***, another horror pic which holds an incredible đź’Ż% on *Rotten Tomatoes* opening the same day as ***Immaculate*** may prove to be a problem though it remains to be seen how much of a theatrical presence *IFC Films* gives it with the film slated to be released as a *Shudder* exclusive just four weeks away from its theatrical premiere on April 19.
Another thing in ****Immaculate***’s* favour is its shorter runtime of 89 minutes coming in half an hour under compared to ****The First Omen***’s* 119 mins.
So between these two religious Catholic horror nun movies, who is going to deliver the *coup de grâce* at the box office ?
