The Conjuring box office shocked the marketplace as The Conjuring: Last Rites opened to $83 million domestically over Sept. 5–7, 2025, setting a franchise record and ranking among the genre’s all-time top openings [1]. The film also debuted to $187 million worldwide, powered by $104 million from international territories and a thrumming turnout across U.S. multiplexes [2].

That $83 million haul is the third-largest opening weekend ever for a horror title, outpacing every Conjuring Universe launch to date and instantly redefining expectations for the saga’s finale [3]. With a reported $55 million production budget, the movie’s domestic start alone equaled roughly 151% of costs, and its worldwide launch was about 340% of budget before ancillary revenue [2].

Key Takeaways

– Shows $83 million domestic opening across Sept. 5–7, 2025, for the third-biggest horror debut ever and a franchise-best performance in North America [3]. – Reveals $34.5 million day one, including $8.5 million in Thursday previews, with previews contributing 24.6% of first-day gross and 10.2% of the weekend [1]. – Demonstrates $187 million global start, with $104 million international contributing 55.6% and domestic 44.4% of opening weekend revenue worldwide [2]. – Indicates $21,831 per-screen average from about 3,802 screens, signaling exceptionally broad demand and strong occupancy across major circuits [2]. – Suggests genre momentum, pushing 2025 horror’s domestic haul past $1 billion while earning a CinemaScore B and 58% definite recommend on PostTrak [2][3].

Conjuring box office by the numbers

Warner Bros. and New Line’s Last Rites posted $83 million from Friday to Sunday, easily clearing the franchise’s prior best opening of $53.8 million set by The Nun in 2018 [2]. The release landed on approximately 3,802 North American screens and averaged $21,831 per location, a high-end per-screen average that underscores robust turnout across regions [2].

Day-one momentum fueled the surge. The film made $34.5 million on Friday, including $8.5 million in Thursday previews, setting the table for a front-loaded yet sustained Friday-to-Sunday run [1]. Thursday previews accounted for about 24.6% of Friday grosses and just over 10% of the full weekend, a healthy conversion indicative of strong general audience interest beyond die-hard fans [1].

Budget dynamics also look favorable. Against an estimated $55 million production cost, the domestic start alone represented roughly 1.51 times budget, while the global debut approached 3.4 times budget, signaling early path-to-profitability once marketing, distribution fees, and downstream revenues are considered [2]. The movie’s calendar positioning in early September added an extra tailwind with minimal genre overlap [4].

Record-setting context in the horror landscape

The $83 million domestic opening is the third-highest in horror history, a feat that reaffirms the Conjuring Universe’s box office clout after more than a decade of sequels and spin-offs [1]. It is also the biggest horror premiere of 2025, setting the bar for fall genre releases and vaulting the property back to peak form [4].

Within the franchise, Last Rites shattered the previous opening crown held by The Nun, topping its $53.8 million start by roughly 54% [2]. That margin emphasizes both the enduring appeal of the Conjuring brand and the outsized audience curiosity surrounding what’s been billed as a culminating chapter [4]. The result shows an IP that can mobilize crowds even amid mixed critical response [3].

Industry trackers credited the blockbuster launch with tipping the 2025 domestic horror box office over the $1 billion mark, a milestone that reflects the genre’s resilience and year-to-date consistency across release windows [2]. In a year where mid-budget thrillers and franchise horror have often outperformed expectations, Last Rites became the galvanizing hit the fall frame needed [2].

Preview and day-one dynamics

Last Rites’ $34.5 million first day illustrates how previews can ignite early momentum without exhausting weekend demand [1]. With $8.5 million in Thursday receipts, the film’s previews represented about a quarter of day one and roughly a tenth of the entire opening weekend—balanced proportions compared to blockbuster norms [1].

The Friday-to-weekend trajectory suggests broad appeal beyond core franchise fans, with strong Friday primetime and sustained Saturday/Sunday turnout contributing to the $83 million frame [4]. Preview-to-open ratios like this tend to correlate with healthy legs, especially when a title maintains event status and competitive positioning in subsequent weeks [4].

Global performance and theater metrics

International markets delivered $104 million, pushing the worldwide opening to $187 million and demonstrating that the Conjuring brand’s halo extends well beyond North America [3]. The domestic share of 44.4% and international share of 55.6% reflect a balanced profile typical of major horror franchises with strong overseas traction [2].

The scale of the U.S. rollout—about 3,802 theaters—combined with the $21,831 per-screen average indicates broad, sustained occupancy through the weekend [2]. Such a PSA at that theater count is consistent with a film that over-indexed in premium showtimes and drew repeat attendance from horror loyalists and mainstream moviegoers [2].

Regionally, the film benefited from a wide base rather than a handful of overperforming major markets, aligning with the franchise’s long-running pattern of widespread playability [3]. The integrated marketing push and the “event” framing around a franchise-capping entry likely amplified urgency abroad and at home [4].

Audience sentiment and legs outlook

Audience metrics were solid if not spectacular: AP reported a CinemaScore of B and a 58% PostTrak definite-recommend rate, signaling satisfaction levels strong enough to support decent second-weekend retention [3]. For horror, a CinemaScore in the B range is common, and recommend intent above 55% typically correlates with respectable multipliers [3].

Entertainment Weekly noted industry chatter that the finale framing could translate into legs as curiosity and franchise completionism bring in holdouts across September [4]. With no immediate like-for-like horror heavyweight dominating the next frame, Last Rites has room to capitalize on premium screens and word-of-mouth outside the core fan base [4].

The series-best opening provides cushion against typical genre drops, with the film’s preview/day-one balance suggesting that the debut wasn’t overly front-loaded despite robust Thursday turnout [1]. If it can convert its recommend rate into multi-quadrant interest, a healthy path toward a high multiple remains plausible [3].

Conjuring box office momentum and market impact

Beyond franchise milestones, the Conjuring box office splash had immediate effects on the broader marketplace, lifting overall weekend traffic and catalyzing a post-Labor Day surge for exhibitors [2]. BoxOfficePro specifically credited the film with pushing 2025’s domestic horror tally past $1 billion, an attention-grabbing benchmark for the genre’s commercial vitality [2].

Competitive positioning was favorable. UPI reported that Last Rites easily topped the charts, with Hamilton at $10 million and Weapons at $5.4 million, meaning Last Rites earned roughly 8.3 times the second-place title [5]. That dominance helped concentrate premium-format demand and freed the film from heavy same-genre cannibalization in its opening frame [5].

The film’s early-September release date also provided a clean runway ahead of several adult-leaning dramas and action titles, a distribution calculus that maximizes horror’s weekend efficiency and nighttime traffic [4]. With audience enthusiasm running high, the movie could leverage that runway into above-average weeknight holds [4].

Conjuring box office perspective: records, risks, rewards

Being the third-largest horror opening ever confers halo effects that can extend to premium screen retention and international expansion, particularly in territories where the franchise has established brand loyalty [1]. In addition, the $187 million worldwide start reinforces the IP’s cross-border asset value for Warner Bros. Discovery and New Line [2].

Still, the genre’s volatility means multipliers vary widely, and mixed critical notices can sometimes flatten second-weekend holds [3]. Here, the B CinemaScore and 58% definite-recommend rate offer a middle path, implying potential for steadier legs than more divisive shockers while stopping short of breakout WOM outliers [3].

With a $55 million production budget, the film’s economics look strong, even as marketing and distribution outlays will temper near-term profitability [2]. Nonetheless, the opening’s scale substantially de-risks the run and primes ancillary windows—PVOD, streaming, and physical media—to capture incremental yield [2].

Competitive frame and week-two watch items

Heading into its second weekend, Last Rites’ key watch items include premium screen retention, daily holds from Monday–Thursday, and market depth as college and high school sessions resume [4]. Titles with similar preview-to-Friday ratios often find a steadier cadence than those front-loaded by fan screenings [1].

Hamilton’s $10 million and Weapons’ $5.4 million show a marketplace willing to spread spend across genres, but neither appears positioned to siphon core horror demand from Last Rites in the near term [5]. A more meaningful test will come from the next horror or thriller with comparable scale and rating, but that head-to-head is not immediate [4].

The film’s near-term milestones include crossing $100 million domestic and $250 million worldwide, both reachable in short order if weekday and second-weekend declines track to genre norms [2]. If legs align with the genre’s stronger performers, Last Rites could cement one of the year’s most profitable mid-budget theatrical runs [3].

Studio calculus and franchise future

For Warner Bros. and New Line, the opening validates the strategic bet on an above-the-line finale, with creative and marketing signifiers that spurred both nostalgia and urgency to see the chapter theatrically [4]. The franchise-best start offers negotiating leverage with premium large formats and underscores the brand’s continued theatrical pull [2].

Even without granular post-theatrical revenue modeling, the 3.4x worldwide-to-budget opening ratio creates a favorable trajectory for recoupment and profitability as the film cycles through global theatrical, PVOD, subscription streaming, and television windows [2]. The out-of-the-gate dominance also refreshes the value of the broader Conjuring Universe library for both catalog sales and platform engagement [4].

Conjuring box office in historical context

A third-highest-ever horror opening situates Last Rites among a small cohort of genre megahits that break beyond core audiences to galvanize casual moviegoers [1]. That cohort status matters because it drives downstream multipliers, advertising efficiency, and exportability across language markets where jump-scare storytelling translates cleanly [2].

Franchise-wise, surpassing The Nun’s $53.8 million by roughly $29.2 million closes the circle on a decade-plus of world-building with a culminating chapter that still finds growth [2]. The robust $21,831 per-screen average across 3,802 locations confirms that this was a broad-based event rather than a narrow fan surge [2].

If current sentiment holds, Last Rites is well positioned to remain a fixture near the top of the charts for multiple weeks, especially as industry chatter points to the finale’s staying power through mid-September [4]. The next data checkpoints—weekday drops and second-weekend hold—will clarify just how high the ceiling goes [3].

Sources:

[1] TheWrap – ‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’ Explodes to $83 Million Opening Weekend, Third Highest Ever for Horror: https://www.thewrap.com/conjuring-last-rites-83-million-box-office-opening/

[2] BoxOfficePro – Weekend Box Office: CONJURING Jump Scares the Box Office With $83M: https://www.boxofficepro.com/weekend-box-office-conjuring-jump-scares-the-box-office-with-83m/ [3] AP News – ‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’ creeps its way to another box office win for horror genre: https://apnews.com/article/c7c3d8e3c6781dc45f334904db281096

[4] Entertainment Weekly – The Conjuring: Last Rites becomes biggest horror premiere of 2025 with $83M opening: https://ew.com/the-conjuring-last-rites-2025s-biggest-horror-box-office-premiere-11805065 [5] UPI – ‘Conjuring: Last Rites’ tops North American box office with $83M: https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/Movies/2025/09/07/conjuring-tops-box-office/8161757283713/

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