The Stephen King horror brand may be well established with a generation of filmmakers and especially Hollywood decision makers.

But audiences? They’re living in the “Annabelle/Conjuring/Amityville/Insidious” universe.

New Line’s inexpensive, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink is haunted (that’s the NEXT movie) “Annabelle: Creation” is opening to a whopping $36 million this weekend, based on late Thursday and all-day Friday results. 

That’s roughly twice what King’s “The Dark Tower” opened with. To add insult to mortal wound, “Tower” has fallen off a cliff its second weekend — dropping to fourth place at the box office. $.7.5 million, if they’re lucky. So much for Sony’s years-in-the-making franchise.

Half-decent reviews helped “Annabelle.” Barely passable. To some. 

“Dunkirk,” Christopher Nolan’s masterful  Oscar contender, added another $10-11 million for second place.

“The Nut Job 2” is opening at a measly $8 million, but in this lackluster summer, in the dog days of August, that’s a third place finish. Doubt if we see any more of those nut-loving squirrels. The worst summer for Hollywood animation in decades winds down with “Leap!” in a couple of weeks. No wonder adult-oriented anime has worked its way into theaters this year like never before, the Hollywood choices have just been deathly.

“Girls Trip” will clear the $100 million mark by Tuesday, Wednesday at the latest. It’s the comedy of the summer.

“The Glass Castle” will not quite reach $5 million, chasing Halle Berry’s “Kidnap” at the bottom of the top ten.

That damned “Emoji Movie” is over the $63 million mark. “Detroit” and “An Inconvenient Sequel” are fading from sight.

And “Good Time” is winning the per-screen average sweepstakes, in limited release. We’ll see that Robert Pattinson picture open wider in the coming weeks.