‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’ jolts field workplace with third-highest opening for a horror film

Getting an early soar on the upcoming horror movie slate, “The Conjuring: Last Rites” topped the weekend home field workplace whereas shattering analysts’ expectations with an $83 million haul.

Industry analysts anticipated the ninth launch of “The Conjuring” universe to earn round $50 million. Its bigger-than-expected opening made “Last Rites” one of the best opening for the franchise, surpassing 2018’s “The Nun” ($53.8 million), and likewise made it the third-highest opening for a horror film, behind 2017’s “It” ($123.4 million) and 2019’s “It: Chapter Two” ($91 million).

Both “It” motion pictures and “The Conjuring: Last Rites” have been launched by Warner Bros. Pictures. Warner Bros. Discovery is the father or mother firm of CNN.

“‘The Conjuring’ represents true, pure horror. The true horror movie experience in a movie theater, and that’s why you’re seeing this $83 million debut,” stated Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.

Horror motion pictures have scored massive for Hollywood this yr. “The Conjuring: Last Rite” helped carry the horror style to greater than $1 billion on the 2025 home field workplace, based on Comscore knowledge.

Among this yr’s excessive grossers are Warner Bros.’ “Sinners,” which opened in April and has grossed $278.6 million domestically, in addition to “Final Destination: Bloodlines,” which grossed $138.1 million. “Weapons,” one other Warner Bros. film, is in theaters for its fifth week and has grossed $143 million.

Horror sequels will stay distinguished at theaters this fall. On October 17, Universal Pictures will launch “Black Phone 2,” adopted by “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” on December 5.

“It’s like the biggest roller coaster in the theme park. It has the longest line because people want to be scared in the communal environment of a movie theater,” Dergarabedian stated of horror sequels.

Countering “The Conjuring: Last Rites” this weekend, Disney launched the filmed model of the Broadway smash hit “Hamilton,” which completed at No. 2 with $10 million.

“This is another completely unique release,” wrote David A. Gross, who publishes trade e-newsletter FranchiseRe, including that earnings for “Hamilton” are “an excellent number” following the musical’s success on streaming platform Disney+ in 2020 and a decade after it debuted on Broadway.