Warner Brothers’ prayers were answered this weekend as the horror spinoff The Nun clocked in a stunning $53.5 million domestic opening. That’s by far the highest for the Conjuring franchise, topping both main installments and winding up way higher than either of the Annabelle films. Meanwhile, Peppermint got off to a middling start, while Crazy Rich Asians continued its strong performance.

To break down the opening of The Nun, more specifically why it opened so much higher than anticipated, involves a number of different factors. For one, the marketing very effectively sold the film with one big jumpscare at the end of the teaser, as well as stirring up some controversey after a YouTube ad was removed several weeks ago for being “too shocking”. On top of that, New Line decided to delay the film from mid July to the post-weekend Labor Day frame, where they had huge success with It on the same weekend last year. That was a brilliant move on their end, as it not only allowed it to be released in the fall (where horror movies tend to do better business), but it also gave it essentially zero competition, meaning it could have a monopoly on IMAX and premium screens. Still, to open $14 million higher than the main film it was spun off from is a massive accomplishment, especially with the worst reviews in the franchises young history at just 28% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Looking forward, it doesn’t seem particularly likely that The Nun sees the same kinds of legs as the original Conjuring or Annabelle: Creation, but it could close with a 2x multiplier and still wind up the second highest grossing film in the franchise. While the C Cinemascore doesn’t necessarily bode well, it did only drop 11% on Saturday, signifying things may not be as bad as they first seemed. From here, a run of around $120 million seems likely, which is a huge win for everyone involved. This also means Warner has held onto first for five consecutive weeks, with an off chance of holding onto first once again next weekend if The Predator fails to deliver.

Moving into second is Crazy Rich Asians, which came back down to Earth a bit with a 38% drop. That’s by no means a bad hold, but it does mean the reign of sub-20% drops is likely over. Still, with over $136 million in the bank after four weeks of release, Asians still has a lot of cash left to collect.

The other big opener of the week was Peppermint, which got off to a mediocre start in third with $13.2 million. This is by no means a flop in the same vein as STX’s last two films, Mile 22 and The Happytime Murders, mostly because its budget came in at a much more conservative $25 million. Word of mouth should be okay with a B+ CinemaScore, but don’t expect it to wind up much above $35 million.

Last weekends sleeper hit Searching took advantage of its strong debut to expand into 2,009 locations (up about 800 from last weekend) and was rewarded with a healthy 26% dip in its second weekend of wide release. The screen thriller has collected over $14 million thus far, and should wind up well over $20 million by the time all is said and done.

Also in wide release was the religious drama God Bless the Broken Road, which came in well below the lower end of expectations with just $1.5 million from over 1,200 locations. That’s a very poor start, even compared to other similar films. This also doesn’t bode well for next weekends Unbroken: Path to Redemption, which is being released in over 1,500 locations, though don’t be shocked if that number is cut significantly by release time.

Among last weekends releases, neither fared very well; Operation Finale dropped a troubling 50% – made worse by the fact that it opened on a Wednesday before Labor Day. The real loser, though, was Kin, which dropped an atrocious 73% in round two with just $5.3 million after two weeks – a number that would’ve been subpar for a three day opening considering its $30 million price tag.