It's the Warrens' (and Warner's) box office, we're just living in it 

The Conjuring‘s latest box office success all but ensures the series won’t be reading its last rites anytime soon. After nine demon-battling films, The Conjuring: Last Rites exorcised more money from American moviegoers’ wallets than any previous Conjuring for a series-best opening weekend of $83 million, per The Numbers‘ estimates. Not only is this impressive considering Last Rites represents a new series nadir, but also because the film’s opening weekend surpassed that of all other Conjuring-verse outings, smashing The Nun‘s 2018 record-holder by $30 million. It’s another example of Warner Bros. turning its entire movie business around, mainly on the back of horror.

Despite the studio misfiring with a duology of A-listers on double-duty (Mickey 17 and Alto Knights), Warner Bros. has more number ones than any other studio this year. However, while A Mincraft Movie and Superman may be the studio’s biggest hits of the year, Sinners, Weapons, Final Destination: Blood Lines, January’s low-budget, big-return hit Companion, and now Conjuring represent half of the studio’s top 10. Both Conjuring and Final Destination made history as each franchise’s biggest opener. Of course, Bloodlines is a series high point, which helped it draw throughout the summer. Last Rites‘ low quality could lead to a steep drop off—though horror doesn’t suffer from bad reviews the way other genres do. The Warrens were always better at drawing attention than dispelling demons anyway.

Warner Bros.’ horror stable delivered another jump scare at number three: Zach Cregger’s Weapons continues to hold audiences, drawing another $5.3 million. After more than a month in theaters, Weapons has generated $251 million worldwide. Meanwhile, Freakier Friday and Caught Stealing rounded out the top five, with $3.8 million and $ 3.2 million, respectively. Despite the success of numerous dark comedies and comedically-charged horror movies this year, Caught Stealing and The Roses (no. 6, $2.8 million) aren’t grabbing audiences like Weapons has. That’s another testament to Warners. Since hiring executives Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, Warner Bros. has had a better handle on selling these more prickly genre movies. There’s no better point of comparison than the movies they weren’t involved in: Mickey 17 and Joker Folie Á Deux, two ambitiously anti-commercial but worthwhile auteur projects that divided audiences. De Luca and Abdy appear to have a better handle on the mixture than their predecessors, and WB is reaping the benefits.

Conjuring didn’t have much competition this week. Rapping its way to $10 million, Disney’s filmed version of Hamilton from its initial Broadway run came in at number two. This is the Hamilton that premiered on Disney+ in 2020, and the latest specialty release to make a quiet couple of million for a major studio. Last week, 50th anniversary screenings of Jaws generated $8 million, utilizing the space previously occupied by Netflix’s sing-along screenings of KPop Demon Hunters, which earned $20 million over its weekend of showings. Should studios be leveraging their libraries to get people back in the habit of returning to theaters? We implore Disney to test this theory with a re-release of Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit. Hell, make it a sing-along for all we care.

The only other new release this week, Light Of The World, another animated Jesus biopic, came in at number nine and made $2.4 million in 2,000 theaters. That’s a far cry from the $19 million opening weekend of King Of Kings. However, the hand-drawn Light Of The World didn’t have a cast that included Oscar Isaac as Jesus, Forest Whitaker as Peter, Mark Hamill as King Herod, Pierce Brosnan as Pontius Pilate, and, notably, Kenneth Branagh and Uma Thurman as Mr. and Mrs. Charles Dickens. The CG-animated hit grossed $76 million.

Here’s the full top 10:

1) The Conjuring: Last Rites