Weekend Box Office: CONJURING Jump Scares the Box Office With $83M

Key Takeaways

Total 3-Day Weekend Gross:
$123,992,118 | +48.7% Last Week / -16% Weekend 36, 2024

Despite the franchise being on a downward trajectory in recent years, The Conjuring: Last Rites doubled expectations with an $83M opening weekend, easily a series-best and one of the top domestic horror openers of all-time. We saw another over-performer in second place with Hamilton‘s $10M theatrical bow, plus a solid -49% hold on Frame 5 of Weapons ($5.37M). These strong performances helped nearly double the overall take from last week to get us back to the first $100M+ domestic weekend since Weapons opened on the August 8 weekend. It was still not quite enough to beat the year-over-year from 2024, when Beetlejuice Beetlejuice reigned supreme.

Top Title: The Conjuring: Last Rites (Warner Bros.) | $83M / 3,802 Screens / $21,831 PSA | Week 1

Top Opener: The Conjuring: Last Rites (Warner Bros.) | $83M / 3,802 Screens / $21,831 PSA | Week 1

Best PSA: The Conjuring: Last Rites (Warner Bros.) | $83M / 3,802 Screens / $21,831 PSA | Week 1

Highlights From the Weekend

1. The Conjuring: Last Rites
Warner Bros./New Line | NEW
$83M 3-Day Opening Weekend | $187M Global Total

With eight #1 openings and seven $40M+ debuts in a row, the Warner Bros. winning streak continues as the decade+ old Conjuring Universe snuck up on prognosticators who were unsure this new film could beat franchise-best The Nun’s $53.8M opening.

Instead, The Conjuring: Last Rites nearly doubled predictions with an $83M debut on 3,802 screens for a $21,831 Per Screen Average, shattering records as it posts the biggest international horror opening ever at $104M, beating IT: Chapter Two‘s $92M. It’s also the third biggest domestic horror bow under IT ($123M) and IT: Chapter Two ($91M). It’s the biggest horror opening since Beetlejuice Beetlejuice‘s $111M a year ago. Besides breaking the franchise record, the initial three days of Last Rites also managed to either outgross or come in on par with FIVE of the previous nine entries in the franchise’s lifetime totals…

The Nun II – $86.27M domestic total

Annabelle – $84.27M domestic total

The Conjuring: Last Rites – $83M 3-Day opening

Annabelle Comes Home $74.15M domestic total

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It – $65.6M domestic total

The Curse of La Llorona – $54.7M domestic total

It should be noted that The Devil Made Me Do It‘s weaker performance in 2021 was partially due to it being among WB’s slate of films that launched day-and-date in theaters and on HBOMax.

Here’s how the 3-Day looked, including $8.5M in Thursday previews…

Friday – $34.6M

Saturday – $30.3M

Sunday – $18.1M

Premium Large Formats represented 39% of business, with IMAX delivering $9.4M in North America ($14.3M globally, a September best for the format). That $83M number is also, in and of itself, better than the OVERALL box office totals of 12 frames in 2025, including the last two of the summer. WB now owns the top four 2025 grossers in the horror genre with Sinners, Weapons, Final Destination, and Last Rites. Combine those with other audience-pleasing entries like 28 Years Later and holdover business from late-2024’s Nosferatu and you build momentum to something like this.

At a robust $933.5M, horror is the third biggest genre of 2025 with over 15% of marketshare and will likely top a billion before the month is up. The rest of Q3 and Q4 have many more promising entries in store to ride these coattails: The Long Walk, Him, The Strangers – Chapter 2, Black Phone 2, Frankenstein, Predator: Badlands, Keeper, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, and Anaconda.

Critics unleashed their own demons on The Conjuring: Last Rites with a 56% critical score, which crosses and holy water clearly protected the movie from. Audiences were kinder with a 79% score alongside a “B” CinemaScore and 3½ stars out of 5 from PostTrak, all consistent for the genre. Ticket buyers were slightly female-leaning at 51%.

Here’s how demographics looked…

39% Caucasian

38% Hispanic

11% African-American

7% Asian

5% Native-American/Other

The Conjuring: Last Rites – Opening Weekend
Top Ten Locations – North America
1. AMC Burbank
2. AMC Mesquite Dallas
3. Regal Riverpark Fresno
4. Regal Times Square New York
5. Regal Edwards Marq’E Houston
6. Cinemark 17 Dallas
7. Harkins Estrella Falls Phoenix
8. Regal Edwards South Gate Los Angeles
9. AMC Universal Citywalk Los Angeles
10. Harkins Mountain Grove Los Angeles.

The Conjuring: Last Rites – Opening Weekend
Top Ten DMAs – North America
1. Los Angeles
2. New York
3. Dallas
4. Houston
5. Chicago
6. San Francisco
7. Phoenix
8. Atlanta
9. Philadelphia
10. Toronto

Overseas The Conjuring: Last Rites bettered its already superb domestic performance with $104M on over 23,000 screens in 66 markets, taking the worldwide gross to $187M, more than double the initial global outlook on this title. On the global front the film has already outgrossed Nosferatu ($181.8M) and 28 Years Later ($150.1M). That $187M is also already better than the WW lifetime on The Curse of La Llorona ($123.2M), and should best The Devil Made Me Do It‘s $206.4M by the middle of this week. The biggest global grosser in the franchise is The Nun at $366M, and even if Last Rites takes a -50%+ dive next week it will still be well on its way to beating that. Looks like reports of this being the “final” movie in the Conjuring Universe have been greatly exaggerated.

Other Notable Performances

Disney’s long-awaited theatrical bow of their 2020 streaming release of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway musical Hamilton also did better than expectations, bowing at #2 with $10M in only 1,825 locations for a $5,479 PSA. That number is comparable to the opening of another Miranda play-to-screen title In the Heights, which debuted to $11.5M in summer 2021. Not a bas result for a 5-year-old taped version of a 10-year-old play.

Next Weekend

Focus Features delivers Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, the third theatrical feature based on the TV hit. The original movie opened to $31M in 2019 before taking in $194.69M WW, but 2022 sequel Downton Abbey: A New Era did less than half that. Longtime Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence takes on a literary predecessor to that dystopian franchise with an adaptation of Stephen King’s The Long Walk, which is earning raves so far with 95% on Rotten Tomatoes. Finally, Rob Reiner returns with Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, a sequel to his 1984 mockumentary cult classic about an inept heavy metal band. Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer are all back for more laughs.

Sunday Studio Estimates | Weekend 36 – 2025
Total 3-Day Domestic Gross: $123,992,118 | (-16% vs 2024)

TitleWeekend Estimate% ChangeLocationsLocation ChangePSADomestic TotalWeekDistributorThe Conjuring: Last Rites$83,000,0003,802$21,83183,000,0001Warner Bros.Hamilton$10,000,0001,825$5,47910,000,0001Walt DisneyWeapons$5,370,000-49%3,284-132$1,635143,045,0005Warner Bros.Freakier Friday$3,800,000-44%3,125-350$1,21687,813,6795Walt DisneyCaught Stealing$3,200,000-59%3,578n/c$89414,901,0002Sony PicturesThe Roses$2,800,000-55%2,700n/c$1,03712,284,3112Searchlight …The Fantastic Four: First Steps$2,750,000-45%2,385-400$1,153270,131,3217Walt DisneyThe Bad Guys 2$2,450,000-48%2,602-422$94277,710,0006UniversalLight of the World$2,400,0002,075$1,1572,400,0001Salvation Po…Superman$1,000,000-61%1,187-637$842353,302,0009Warner Bros.Jaws$950,000-90%2,100-1,100$452286,002,0002,621UniversalSplitsville$815,000365%800772$1,0191,231,0883NeonThe Threesome$592,000402$1,473592,0001Vertical Ent…The Naked Gun$545,000-70%931-813$58552,271,0006Paramount Pi…Jurassic World Rebirth$530,000-65%819-533$647339,063,00010UniversalF1: The Movie$500,000-57%394-334$1,269189,014,00011Warner Bros.Nobody 2$335,000-82%949-1,553$35321,415,0004UniversalThe Toxic Avenger Unrated$240,265-86%706-1,289$3402,866,7832Iconic/Cinev…The Legend of Hei 2$225,842348$649225,8421GKIDSLove, Brooklyn$120,000144%110109$1,091180,2032GreenwichHoney Don’t$100,000-89%190-1,148$5265,750,0003Focus FeaturesLilo & Stitch$93,000-92%330-2,110$282423,630,39816Walt DisneyCatVideoFest 2025$48,32953%16-6$3,021962,4516Oscilloscope…The Baltimorons$40,0004$10,00040,0001IFC Entertai…Together$32,000-84%55-149$58221,253,7066NeonA Little Prayer$28,900-59%28-42$1,032145,1842Music Box FilmsRiefenstahl$20,7552$10,37820,7551Kino LorberSketch$19,017-72%73-127$2618,090,3405Angel StudiosLinda Linda Linda$11,0561$11,05611,0561GKIDSMy Mother’s Wedding5,060-21%20-1$253906,3055Vertical Ent…Elio$5,000-79%30-5$16772,984,00112Walt DisneyEden$2,625-98%15-438$1751,572,4913Vertical Ent…

Weekend Box Office: CONJURING Jump Scares the Box Office With $83M

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