Key Takeaways
- Franchise Performance: The latest Conjuring film is projected to earn $75 million in its opening weekend, setting a franchise record.
- Previous Records: The previous best opening was held by The Nun at $53 million.
- Box Office Trends: Other films like Weapons and Freakier Friday are expected to perform modestly this weekend.
- Future Releases: Warner Bros has delayed Mortal Kombat 2, anticipating it could become a summer blockbuster.
The Conjuring franchise is back and doing way better than anyone expected (including us) at the box office this weekend. According to Deadline’s early estimates, the fourth (and final?) movie in the baseline series (not counting the spin-offs) is on track for a franchise-best $75 million opening. That’s better than any other film in the franchise has made. The previous best opener was The Nun with $53 million, followed by The Conjuring with $41 million. The last movie, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, only opened with $24 million, but it was impacted by both the pandemic and its day-and-date release on HBO Max.
Clearly, Warner Bros’ roll is continuing, with the movie performing similarly to Final Destination: Bloodlines. Interestingly, New Line, the label they use for horror, was going to put out Mortal Kombat 2 in a few weeks, but it was delayed to May as the studio likely thinks it could be a summer blockbuster (they may be right).
Weapons will likely hit third place with $5 million, followed by Freakier Friday with $4 million, while Caught Stealing, sadly, seems like it’s totally deflated at the box office, dropping to fifth place with $3.5 million. It’s always a bummer when good movies fail, but the Labor Day weekend release doomed this one. However, one has to give WB credit for their amazing roll of movies, although many believe their upcoming P.T. Anderson movie, One Battle After Another, will fail. Then again—who knows? People thought Sinners would flop and it definitely DID NOT.
What are you seeing this weekend? Let us know in the comments!
