Key Insights
- Box Office Predictions: The Conjuring: Last Rites is expected to earn $35 million in its opening weekend.
- Current Standings: Weapons has accumulated a domestic total of $132.4 million.
- Upcoming Releases: The Long Walk, an adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, will premiere next week.
- Special Screenings: Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton could generate an additional $3 million this weekend.
The spookiest season of the year is fast-approaching, and you know what that means. The box office will get much scarier as studios treat audiences to jump scares, demented family members (Hello, Aunt Gladys), and things that go bump in the night. The onset of Autumn also marks the back-to-school rush, with financial priority changes, wardrobe updates, and photos of kids offering up too much personal information on their parents’ social media. Interestingly, the beginning of this season kicks off with an ending, thanks to The Conjuring: Last Rites, which stands to claim the top spot at the box office.
Michael Chaves directs The Conjuring: Last Rites from a screenplay by Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, and David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick. Promoted as the final film on “Phase One” of the Conjuring franchise, Last Rites revolves around paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga), who take on one last terrifying case involving mysterious entities they must confront. According to JoBlo’s editor-in-chief, Chris Bumbray, The Conjuring: Last Rites could summon $35 million during its opening weekend, making it the clear box office winner among other titles.
Finally stepping down from on high after several outstanding weeks is Zach Cregger’s Weapons, which loaded $10.2M to its chamber last weekend, bringing its domestic total to $132.4M. The supremely spooky horror film banked $239M worldwide at the close of last weekend, making Cregger one of Hollywood’s most in-demand filmmakers. We expect Weapons to add $7 million to its chamber this weekend.
Darren Aronofsky’s well-reviewed Caught Stealing is still pilfering from pockets at the cinema and could add $4 million to its domestic total this weekend. Sony chose to open Caught Stealing over Labor Day weekend, a bizarre choice, as the film now must fight for attention while The Conjuring: Last Rites gets people in the mood to decorate and contemplate Halloween costumes.
Special screenings of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton return to theaters this weekend, which could earn the theatrical version of the groundbreaking musical another $3 million. Finally, The Roses, a mediocre remake of the classic Danny DeVito film The War of the Roses, could pluck another $2 million from audiences, adding to the film’s $18.8M global take.
The Long Walk, an adaptation of Stephen King‘s first novel, will be released next week. It was excellent, and we recommend hoofing it to a theater to see it. Other films coming to theaters include a 30th Anniversary presentation of Pixar’s Toy Story, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, and the anticipated sequel, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, directed by Rob Reiner and starring Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer.
What will you see in the theater this weekend? Let us know in the comments section below.
Here’s how we see the top five shaping up:
1. The Conjuring: Last Rites: $35 million
2. Weapons: $7 million
3. Caught Stealing: $4 million
4. Hamilton (special run): $3 million
5. The Roses: $2 million
Source:
JoBlo.com
