Why The Conjuring: Last Rites Blew Everyone Away At The Box Office

After 12 years of ensuring audiences can't look at either vintage dolls or nuns the same way ever again, "The Conjuring: Last Rites" has brought this franchise in for a landing. The films focusing on real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) have generated lots of box office business since 2013's "The Conjuring," but "Last Rites" brought this era of the saga to a close. At the box office at least, this meant the series went out with a bang. While other horror movie "final chapters" like "Paranormal Acitivty: The Ghost Dimension" grossed only a fraction of what their biggest predecessors amassed, "Last Rites" had by far the biggest "Conjuring" opening ever with a staggering $84 million debut.

The fourth-biggest September opening weekend ever in North America and one of 2025's best domestic bows, "Last Rites" absolutely obliterated all pre-release box office expectations and financial norms for "Conjuring" films. How did this happen? Where did such a gargantuan opening come from for the "Conjuring" saga's swan song? There's a lot behind "The Conjuring: Last Rites" blowing everyone away at the domestic box office, including this franchise's theatrical history, the strong track record Warner Bros. has with early September horror movies, and 2025 being a great year for horror fare. Even with a multitude of factors fueling this tremendous debut, it's abundantly clear that "Last Rites" did everything right.

Though the saga never delivered multiple billion-dollar worldwide grossers in a single year like the MCU at its peak, the "Conjuring" movies have been impressively durable at the worldwide box office. That initial outing, "The Conjuring," racked up $316.1 million worldwide and spawned four subsequent sequels and four spin-offs that each grossed between $257 and $367 million worldwide. Even June 2021's "The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It," though simultaneously debuting on HBO Max in the United States, still grossed a robust $206.4 million globally. Neither COVID-19 nor streaming launches could hamper this franchise's box office prowess.

This is extra stunning since titles like "The Nun" and "Annabelle" weren't well-received by critics. As the "Terminator" movies proved, poor reception can quickly turn a foolproof brand name into yesterday's news. Rather than derailing the franchise's box office momentum, though, the "Conjuring" movies just kept on going and consistently secured audience investment, even with spin-offs like the "Annabelle" trilogy. These titles consistently delivered what audiences wanted (jump scares with some emotional heft rooted in characters like Ed and Lorraine Warren) while also being preceded by memorable marketing campaigns that washed away any lingering toxicity of subpar entries like "Annabelle."

"The Conjuring: Last Rites" built on that box office legacy to deliver by far the biggest domestic opening weekend in the saga's history. 

Among the few reliable sources of box office moolah in summer 2025 were horror movies that weren't titled "I Know What You Did Last Summer." "The Conjuring: Last Rites" distributor Warner Bros. kicked the season off just right for the genre, thanks to the explosive performance of "Final Destination Bloodlines," while "28 Years Later" performed solidly for Sony in June. Even low-budget indie film "Together" cracked $21 million in its domestic run. Then there was August 2025 sleeper hit "Weapons," which closed out the season with a bang. It's set to exceed $150 million domestically before it leaves theaters, an astounding feat for an original title in any genre.

All these hit features put audiences in a good mood for more scary cinema once the air turned a little crisper in September. Plus many of those titles, including Warner Bros. releases like "Bloodlines" and "Weapons," often featured trailers for "Last Rites." Thus, horror geeks were very much aware a new "Conjuring" installment was on the horizon once they went to the theater for some summertime frights. Better yet, the supernatural scares of "Last Rites" ensured it offered something different from the zombie carnage of "28 Years Later" or the darkly humorous body horror of "Together."

Impressively, "Last Rites" left all of the opening weekends for summer 2025's horror fare in the dust. However, earlier 2025 horror titles like "Bloodlines" were essential in getting people ready for the Warrens' last case.

Ironically, Warner Bros. Pictures' recent fondness for releasing horror movies over the post-Labor Day weekend started with adult dramas. The studio first found financial success within this timeframe thanks to titles like "Contagion" and "Sully." However, it was 2017's "It" that cemented this weekend as a go-to launchpad for Warner Bros. horror fare. One year after "It" became the first September release to reach $100 million+ domestically over its opening weekend, "The Nun" debuted to a massive $54 million in its debut.

Since then, Warner Bros. has found tons of success with further frightening features on this weekend, including 2019's "It: Chapter Two" and 2024's gargantuan success, "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice." Even Disney's 20th Century Studios used this weekend to get "Barbarian" to a $10 million bow in 2022. Post-Labor Day's been a fruitful spot for horror films, since it's the first weekend when summer's over and people are gearing up for autumn (read: Halloween). The dearth of big movies in late August and over Labor Day weekend also gives these titles extra room to flourish.

"Last Rites" was so big that it likely would have excelled in any spot on the calendar. However, its immense numbers continued the hot streak Warner Bros. has had with a frame previously reserved for titles like "Sully."

As its title would suggest, "The Conjuring: Last Rites" was promoted as the grand finale to the "Conjuring" franchise. After 12 years of adventures chronicling Ed and Lorraine Warren's supernatural exploits and related tales, "Last Rites" promised long-time fans of this saga closure. Going down that route has often been a solid means to inspire box office success in long-running movie franchises. Just look at fellow 2025 moneymaker "Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning" and how it bettered its predecessor's box office run with a promotional campaign that emphasized the end was near.

For "Last Rites," this aesthetic also promised potential moviegoers intense frights rooted in the Warrens' uncovering a case that brought their careers to a halt — the "Last Rites" poster even had a tagline ominously proclaiming it "The Case That Ended It All." Similarly grim messaging abounded in the trailers and TV spots, all of which coalesced to hammer home to viewers that the end was near for the Warrens. This was one franchise that wouldn't end in a celebratory dance party, like "Shrek Forever After." More spine-tingling terrors than usual were coming for these paranormal investigators.

Even beyond that, the promise of seeing how the Warrens' story finishes was likely enough to get some fans (even those who might have missed other recent "Conjuring" entries) back in the theater for one last ooky ride.

The biggest box office hits of the 2020s have often been driven by young people and women. While older-skewing titles like "Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter One" have absolutely cratered, titles skewed towards audiences under 35 with heavy female fanbases, like "Barbie," "Five Nights at Freddy's," and "A Minecraft Movie," have been licenses to print money. "The Conjuring: Last Rites" continued that trend with aplomb. Over its opening weekend, 51% of its audience was women, while folks in the 18-34 age range made up a whopping 69% of its Thursday night preview audience. Compare that to the 69% male audience that showed up for "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" on opening weekend, the 61% male preview night audience  for "Ballerina," and the 62% male opening weekend share for "Captain America: Brave New World."

Even as Hollywood frustratingly takes steps backwards in how many movies it produces made by and/or starring women, "The Conjuring: Last Rites" radically overperforming is another sign of how important this demographic is to modern box office success. It's also worth noting that Hispanic audiences made up 38% of the "Last Rites" opening weekend crowd, just a smidge below Caucasian moviegoers (39%) as the biggest ethnicity seeing "Last Rites" domestically. 

This is another sign of who drives the biggest modern hit films, as resonating with Latino and/or Black audiences almost always leads to remarkable box office numbers. Drawing in marginalized moviegoers solidified how massive "The Conjuring: Last Rites" turned out to be.