The Conjuring: Last Rites has broken a horror movie opening weekend record. Many knew that The Conjuring: Last Rites, billed as the final film in the franchise, would be big, but few people expected it would be as big as it was. While initial estimates had it opening in the $50 million range, the movie exceeded those expectations, grossing $84 million in its opening weekend. It became the third-highest opening weekend for a horror movie at the domestic box office, behind only It‘s $123 million and It Chapter Two’s $91 million. Worldwide, however, Ed and Loraine Warren vanquished Pennywise.
Variety reports that The Conjuring: Last Rites grossed $194 million worldwide to become the highest global opening for a horror film, beating the record previously set by It in 2017 ($179 million). The Conjuring: Last Rites brought in $110 million internationally, beating the record previously set by It: Chapter Two as the biggest international opening weekend ($93 million back). This gives Last Rites the highest grossing opening weekend for a horror movie worldwide, as well as the biggest weekend for a horror movie in 2025 in all markets. Of course, Last Rites is also easily the highest opening weekend in The Conjuring franchise.
Horror is Having a Great Year in 2025
The Conjuring: Last Rites‘ box office performance has been good news all around, and not just Warner Bros., giving them their seventh consecutive $40 million-plus opening weekend. Following a lackluster Labor Day weekend and summer 2025 performing a bit below expectations, theater owners were potentially bracing for a quiet few months. Yet The Conjuring: Last Rites’ record-breaking opening weekend has drawn audiences out in a momentum that hopefully can continue with titles like Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, The Long Walk, and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle.
The self-proclaimed final Conjuring film is one of several horror hits for the studio this year. Sinners is one of the highest-grossing films of the year at the domestic box office, with $278 million in domestic revenue and $366.6 million worldwide. Final Destination: Bloodline‘s $307 million worldwide total made it the highest entry in the franchise. Meanwhile, Weapons became the breakout hit of the summer movie season, grossing $251 million against a $38 million budget. Notably, all four films were released by Warner Bros., and three of those from New Line Cinema.
Now, with The Conjuring: Last Rites‘ massive box office performance, the supposed finality of the franchise is called into question. The possibility of Phase Two for the franchise has already been floated. With the It films about to be spun off into a television series on HBO with It: Welcome to Derry, it is not difficult to imagine The Conjuring series returning sometime in the near future.
The Conjuring: Last Rites
2
/5
- Release Date
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September 5, 2025
- Runtime
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135 Minutes
- Director
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Michael Chaves
- Writers
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David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, Ian B. Goldberg, Richard Naing, Carey Hayes, Chad Hayes, James Wan
- Producers
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Peter Safran, James Wan
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
