‘The Curse of La Llorona’ tops dismal Easter box office as clock ticks to ‘Endgame’

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- CinemaScore and a 32% “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% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

At No. 4, Disney’s “Captain Marvel” added $9.1 million in its seventh weekend (a 6% 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% “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% 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.

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