LOS ANGELES _ Despite the Easter holiday, moviegoers are just biding their time until next week's release of Disney's "Avengers: Endgame" promises to smash box-office records.
In the meantime, the $26.5 million opening of Warner Bros.' "The Curse of La Llorona" dominated the worst Easter box-office weekend in almost 15 years, with a total gross for all films of $110.8 million, according to estimates from measurement firm Comscore.
"La Llorona" unseated the studio's "Shazam!" from the top spot. The supernatural thriller is based on Mexican folklore about "the weeping woman," a spirit who lost her children and terrorizes those she encounters.
The $9 million-budget movie earned mixed reviews with a B-minus CinemaScore and a 32 percent "rotten" rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.
"Shazam!" added $17.3 million in its third weekend for a cumulative $121.3 million.
In third place, Fox's faith-based film "Breakthrough" opened with $11.1 million over the weekend and $14.6 million since its release last Wednesday.
The $14 million film stars "This Is Us" actress Chrissy Metz as a mother who struggles to cope following her adopted son's near-death experience. NBA star Stephen Curry executive produced the picture, which earned an A CinemaScore and a 64 percent "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
At No. 4, Disney's "Captain Marvel" added $9.1 million in its seventh weekend (a 6 percent increase in advance of "Endgame") for a cumulative $400 million. Globally, the film earned $15.6 million for a cumulative global gross of over $1 billion.
Rounding out the top five, Universal's "Little" added $8.4 million in its second weekend for a cumulative $29.4 million.
Also new this week is Disney's Ed Helms-narrated documentary "Penguins," which came in under expectations with $2.3 million earned over the weekend and $3.3 million since Wednesday. It was well received with an A CinemaScore and a 90 percent "fresh" rating from Rotten Tomatoes. Despite that, it is the worst opening ever for a DisneyNature release.
Following a soft third-place opening last weekend, Lionsgate's "Hellboy" dropped a precipitous 68 percent in 10th place, earning $3.9 million for a total of $19.7 million.
In limited release, Neon opened the drama "Little Woods" in 33 locations with $66,415 for an underwhelming per-screen average of $2,013.
A24's "Under the Silver Lake," an L.A. neo-noir starring Andrew Garfield, opened in two locations with $40,157, for a per-screen average of $20,079.
Bleecker Street's "Teen Spirit" expanded into 696 locations (up from four), earning $250,536 for a dismal per-screen average of $360 and a cumulative $305,536.
Neon's Aretha Franklin documentary, "Amazing Grace," expanded into 188 locations in its third weekend with $591,642 for a per-screen average of $3,147 and a cumulative $1.3 million.
Gunpowder & Sky's "Her Smell" expanded into 24 locations (up from three), earning $68,736 for a per-screen average of $2,864 and a cumulative $117,577.
This week, Disney opens the highly anticipated "Avengers: Endgame" with no competition from other studios.
