\n\tLet the resurrection begin.<\/p>\n
\n\tJolting the domestic box office<\/a> back to life in a major way, New Line\u2019s <\/a>The Conjuring: Last Rites<\/a> topped the weekend chart with a colossal $83 million domestic debut, including a huge $34.5 million Friday, including a record $8.5 million in Thursday previews. <\/p>\n \n\tThat\u2019s by far the best opening in the history of the franchise and the third-biggest horror opening of all time in yet another win for Warner Bros.\u2019 film empire, as well as the best showing of the year so far for any Hollywood horror title. Last Rites is the seventh consecutive WB release to open north of $40 million this year, a first for any Hollywood studio and one of the numerous milestones achieved this year by the once-struggling studio.<\/p>\n \n\tThe news only gets better from there. The R-rated film continued to see its audience grow throughout the weekend. On Friday afternoon, it looked like it was headed for a record $65 million-plus bow. On Saturday, it was on course to open to $75 million from 3,802 theaters, including a lion\u2019s share of higher-priced Imax and other premium large-format screens, which are a boon for the film in accounting for 40 percent of its total gross so far.<\/p>\n \n\tSunday\u2019s estimate of $83 million marks left Warners and New Line reeling, considering they had projected $35 million heading into the weekend, although other box pundits thought north of $50 million was more likely.<\/p>\n \n\tOverseas, Last Rites also came in well ahead of an expected $50 million with a record-shattering $104 million for a terrifyingly great global start of $187 million against a net production budget of $55 million before marketing. It surpassed fellow New Line release It: Chapter Two ($92.5 million) to rank as the industry\u2019s top foreign bow of all time at the foreign box office, not adjusted for inflation, and Hollywood\u2019s second-largest horror bow of all time globally.<\/p>\n \n\tThe Conjuring: Last Rites<\/a> stars Vera Farmiga<\/a> and Patrick Wilson<\/a>\u00a0are in their final turn as real-life paranormal investigators Lorraine and Ed Warren, but that doesn\u2019t mean the franchise is going anywhere. Last Rites is billed as the ninth and final title in Phase One of The Conjuring Universe, which has become the top-earning horror franchise ever after collecting more than $2.3 billion in global ticket sales, not adjusted for inflation. Next up is Phase Two.<\/p>\n \n\tDirected by series regular Michael Chaves, Last Rites \u2014 a sequel to The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It \u2014 is based on the Warren\u2019s investigation of the Smurl haunting in Pennsylvania. Mia Tomlinson and Ben Hardy also star, with Atomic Monster\u2019s James Wan and DC Studios co-chief Peter Safran<\/a> returning to produce.<\/p>\n \n\tIn 2013, the very first Conjuring<\/a> movie opened to $41 million domestically, not adjusted for inflation. No subsequent title in the Conjuring Universe was able to topple that record until The Nun, which debuted to $53.8 million in 2018.<\/p>\n \n\tCritics haven\u2019t been so kind to the new Last Rites movie \u2014 the same could be said for most installments \u2014 but audience reaction is promising. The pic received a B CinemaScore, a great grade for a horror pic. <\/p>\n \n\tThat isn\u2019t the only new offering on the marquee scaring up strong numbers as the fall box office gets underway. Disney\u2019s rerelease of the acclaimed 2021 filmed version of <\/a>Lin-Manuel Miranda<\/a>\u2018s groundbreaking stage musical Hamilton<\/a> is singing to strong numbers, earning an estimated $3.9 million on Friday, including $850,000 in Thursday previews.<\/p>\n \n\tBased on early returns, Hamilton is now on track to come in second for the weekend with a pleasing $10 million, slightly ahead of last weekend\u2019s 50th anniversary rerelease of Steven Spielberg\u2019s Jaws.<\/p>\n \n\tHamilton is booked in 1,825 theaters domestically, including over 100 premium large-format screens.\u00a0Promoted as\u00a0a one-week limited engagement, the run will likely be extended based on demand.<\/p>\n \n\tBetween them, Warner Bros. and Disney own the upper reaches of the box office chart. <\/p>\n \n\tWarners and New Line\u2019s Weapons and Disney\u2019s Freakier Friday, both now in their fifth outings, held steady in fourth and fifth place.<\/p>\n \n\tWeapons took in $5.4 million domestically from 3,284 North American theaters for a domestic cume of $143 million despite fierce competition from Conjuring. Overseas, it earned another $4.6 million as it cleared the $250 million mark in worldwide ticket sales. <\/p>\n \n\tPeople are well aware of Weapons\u2018 staying power, but Freakier Friday\u2018s stamina has also become a topic of conversation. The long-awaited sequel fell only 44 percent to $3.8 million for a domestic total of $87.8 from 3,125 cinemas (that was the best hold of any film in the top 10). Overseas, its foreign tally stands at $55.1 million for a global total of $142.9 million.<\/p>\n \n\tDarren Aronofsky\u2019s star-studded Caught Stealing isn\u2019t as fortunate, at least so far. It tumbled 59 percent in its second outing to $3.2 million from 3,578 locations for a for a fifth-place finish domestically.<\/p>\n \n\tSept. 5, 1:50 p.m.: Updated with revised weekend projections. \n\tThis story was originally published today at 8:28\u00a0a.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Let the resurrection begin. Jolting the domestic box office back to life in a major way, New Line\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":724,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1239,146,1240,85,46,1241,397,1242,1243,1244,1245],"class_list":["post-723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-box-office","tag-entertainment","tag-hamilton","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-lin-manuel-miranda","tag-movies","tag-patrick-wilson","tag-peter-safran","tag-the-conjuring-last-rites","tag-vera-farmiga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Sept. 6, 8:00 a.m.: Updated with revised weekend projections.
Sept. 6, 9:15 a.m.: Updated with revised overseas numbers.
Sept. 7:30 a.m.: Updated with revised weekend estimates<\/p>\n